IDS 369:
Internship in Conservation Leadership

Introduction

The course is a mandatory course for the Minor in Conservation Leadership. The interships in this course are conducted either as part-time of full-time internships. The intership mandates 300 hours at the host institution. Each student was required to submit an individual application to ensure that the student could be matched to requirements of a particular internship. After submission of the application and resume, an interview was scheduled with the advisors to ensure that there is an optimal match between the host, project, location, etc., and the student's interests and qualifications.

Each internship will focus on a wicked problem related to a "real-world issue" that constituted a leadership challenge in conservation. The student is expected to use the concepts of adaptation and sustainability science to analyse the wicked problem and to develop options of how to tackle this problem. The MARI case study template will be used for that. Each student will be mentored in the context of the course and will have a dedicated supervisor at the host institution. Weekly reports (bi-weekly for part-time internships) and weekly conversations of mentor and student will ensure that the mentor can provide guidance and support the student when needed. All submissions of reports and other documents have to be made in the workspace.

Student Experiences

Elton van Buskirk

Orientation Workshop

Prior to starting the internship, participation in an Orientation Workshop is mandatory. For this course, the Orientation Workshop took place in July 2019, see here for details.