If professional conservationists could go back in time and replay the clock what useful information would they have learnt sooner, that would have helped them in their careers? What things might be very different to the expectations of someone just starting out in conservation, and useful to know? Sadly we haven't worked out how to time travel just yet, but we can share our career reflections with YOU!  In this episode we discuss what we wish we'd known about working in conservation and wildlife biology, before we started working in the sector. Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía – or Nando he’s often known – and Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist.

Conservation Careers Podcast

I wish I knew sooner

Getting experience - whether volunteering, interning or even starting your own project - can do a lot for you in the early stages of your career. It can help you understand yourself, test drive different options, grow your network, demonstrate your passion and commitment to prospective employers, build your skillset and make you more employable. But... how do you get experience of conservation when no one's hiring you? If you can’t get a job without experience, and yet it’s hard to get experience without a job, it can feel like a vicious cycle... In this episode we discuss how to get conservation experience, when you're not working in the sector. Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía – or Nando he’s often known – and Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist.

How to get conservation experience?

 As conservationists, one thing we’ve seen a lot of on the news in recent years is forest fires.   Huge blazes in Australia, California, the Amazon razing forests to the ground and decimating wildlife unlucky enough to be in its path.  Today we’re speaking with someone who works on the front line as an expert on fires and forest ecology within California.   Dr Hugh Safford is a Regional Ecologist for the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region and Research Faculty at the University of California-Davis.  Hugh manages a staff of ecologists that provide expertise in vegetation and fire ecology across 18 National Forests in California, and is also Director of the Sierra Nevada region of the California Fire Science Consortium.  In this episode we talk about forest fires in California, and how they used to be much more common in the past.   We also discuss how our historical management of forests has caused many of the issues we are experiencing today.  Hugh also shares his career insights and advice, for people like you, who might be seeking to work in the US Forest Service or following similar paths.  

Dr Hugh Safford | US Forest Service

 Have you ever considered working as an environmental consultant?   Do you know what one is and does, and what skills they are looking for?  Today we’re speaking to Nancy Thomson, who’s the Director and founder of Thomson Environmental Consultants – a very well known name within the industry.   Nancy has set up two consultancies already. The first she sold, before going round the world on a boat for five years, and now heading her second company which is already turning over £20 million, as it seeks to expand rapidly.  We talk about the what it’s like to work as an environmental or ecological consultant, and the typical projects they get involved with at Thomson.   We also discuss the types of people they’re seeking to hire, along with hearing her career story of how she setup Thomson, and where the company might be going next.  Nancy's a real visionary, modest in character but big in ambition, drive and ability.  It’s a hugely enjoyable and inspiring chat.  

Nancy Thomson | Thomson Environmental Consultants

In this episode we’re discussing what it’s like to study and work within academia, how to survive it, enjoy it and more..! Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía – or Nando he’s often known - and Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist.   

How to survive academia (& enjoy it!)

 What would have happened if we’d started engaging young people in the conservation movement much earlier? Would we be seeing more action, impact and progress within the sector now as a result?  And how can we address diversity and inclusion issues, in a sector that traditionally has been dominated by white men from relatively affluent backgrounds?  These are some of the topics we discuss in today’s episode with the President of IUCN Canada, James Bartram.   James is an inspiring figure within the conservation movement.   He describes himself as a change agent, building high functioning teams with real impact, always striving to work himself out of a job.   He believes youth are the hope of the world, and has lead teams of over 100 educators - tripling annual budgets from $3 to $9 million, and taking program participants from 200,000 to half a million.  We cover a lot of really interesting ground in this chat, and it’s one of those episodes where the pre-recording chat was so fascinating that we just hit record and kept going.   

James Bartram | President of IUCN Canada

 Today we’re talking to a hugely inspiring figure within the UK ecology scene, who enjoys disrupting the market, and doing things differently.  Professor David Hill CBE is chairman and founding owner of The Environment Bank which he set up because of his concerns at the way wildlife was being treated within the planning and development sector.  In this episode we cover a lot of ground, and discuss the work of ecological consultants, and the constraints they often face when working within a set area of land – often termed the development boundary.  David talks about his innovative work seeking to secure payments from developers to establish large-scale and long-term conservation areas – separate from development sites – which will really help nature to flood back into our landscapes, on a scale not seen before.   Helping to pay for rewildling projects, and others like them.  He also announces the exciting news that he’s currently seeking to hire people to join him at The Environment Bank, following a large recent investment of funds. If you’d like to find out more about these roles, please contact JSM Associates.  And it’s worth mentioning that David also helped to get Dr Nick Askew, Director of Conservation Careers, his first job out of university nearly 20 years ago, where Nick worked as an ecological consultant for the company David set up and later sold. He’s a great guy.  As always, it’s a wide-ranging, inspiring and hugely enjoyable discussion.  Enjoy.  

Professor David Hill CBE | The Environment Bank

 In this episode we’re delving deeper into the conservation sector and exploring what conservationists need to be better at, in order to save more species, habitats and sites.   Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía – or Nando he’s often known - and Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist.    During this third episode of a new format of the podcast, the conservation career super-team share their thoughts on where conservationists might be going wrong? And what do we need to be better at, if we’re really going to turn the tide to tackle biodiversity losses across the planet…  

Making Conservation Better

 Have you ever met someone and feel like you’ve known them for years? You just clicked? That happened with today’s guest for me.  Marnix van Holland is the WWF Global Programme Manager for their Youth & Education work.  Before the podcast we were chatting and getting to know one another, and in the space of about 10-15 minutes we’d covered so many interesting topics that we took the call to include it in the interview for you guys to listen to.  Marnix oversees WWF's youth oriented work , with an emphasis on countries in the global South in Latin America, Africa and Asia.   Through his work he identifies, negotiates and formulates partnerships in order to mobilise millions of people and dollars to better conserve wildlife across the globe.  During the discussions we explore his work in detail, and opportunities the presented through a greater focus on involving young people more within the conservation movement.   We also discuss topics such as innovation, enterprise, sustainable hunting, parachuting conservation into countries from outside, and much more besides.  It’s a wide-ranging, fast paced, and highly enjoyable conversation and we join it before we’d decided to start the podcast formally.  

Marnix van Holland | WWF

 In this episode we’re delving deeper into the world of applying for jobs in the conservation sector. Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía - or Nando he’s often known and Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist.   During this second of a new pilot format of the podcast the conservation career super-team talk about their own experiences of applying for jobs, and share their opinions and advice on how to make your applications more successful and less painful to produce.  

Podcast | Applying for Conservation Jobs

In this episode we’re exploring a new format which we hope you’ll enjoy. We’ve had 2 years of 1:1 podcast interviews and spoken to over 50 amazing conservationists about their careers, the industry and shared their advice. We love it and will continue to do this. However, through the podcast we’ve often felt the need for some topics to go deeper into the discussion – there's lots more to say, and we're just scratching the surface. We wanted to share our advice more, and to hear from other key figures in the wildlife careers space. So that’s what we’re going to try and do in this pilot episode. We’re going to pick a topic of interest to discuss in detail and to help me we’ve assembled a super team of wildlife career gurus, who have kindly agreed to share their thoughts, experience and advice. And if you’re a fan of the podcast, you’ll already know them. First up is Dr Fernando Mateos-González of Bioblogía, or Nando as he’s often known. Nando is fond of knowledge, advice and inspiration for people seeking careers in conservation biology. Making up this career-supergroup is Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist. Stephanie is an unconventional wildlife biologist, entrepreneur, and careers adviser who has spent nearly two decades studying all over the world.

Pilot Podcast | Exploitation in Volunteering

 How do you conserve a species which is incredibly hard to see? A ghost species?  That’s the challenge faced by today’s guest Helen Turnbull, CEO of The Cape Leopard Trust in South Africa.  The Cape leopard is the stuff of legends.   It’s seldom seen and highly elusive, surviving in some of the most inhospitable habitat possible – the rugged mountain ranges of South Africa’s Western Cape.  And here they can come into conflict with people, or more specifically farmers, who can see them threats to their livestock.  This is where the Trust comes in, to ensure the long-term survival of leopard populations by promoting peaceful coexistence and the protection of landscapes, empowered by scientific research, positive community partnerships, education and advocacy.  In today’s episode I talk with Helen about the amazing work of the Trust, and how they tackle such a complex issue.  We also discuss her fascinating career which has taken her from working for an airline for nearly two decades, to being a business owner working in sustainable tourism, to where she is today, leading conservation efforts for cape leopards.  It’s a great story, and we start with Helen providing an overview of the work of the Trust.  Enjoy.  

Helen Turnbull | The Cape Leopard Trust

 What unique challenges do women face in conservation?   Are self-sabotage and imposter syndrome more common in women, and how can female conservationists gain more support in their careers?  Today’s episode is something a little bit different…   It’s a recording of a recent webinar by Conservation Careers where we explored the barriers and opportunities for the women, who have dedicated their careers to conserving ‘mother Earth’.  We’re joined by Kirsty Crawford and Laura Cuppage of & another thing, which is an open and honest platform for discussing conservation issues like these.   The webinar is hosted by our own Kristi Foster, who leads us through a really fascinating discussion looking at issues of inequalities and opportunities for women in the conservation movement.   It’s in aspiring and thought-provoking chat … so let’s dive in.  Enjoy!  

Women in Conservation

Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, how has this person done so much in such a short space of time? I felt like that speaking to today’s inspiring guest – Josh Powell. Joshua is a conservation biologist and presenter for the WWF Voices campaign on global biodiversity, covering conservation issues from the High Arctic to the Antarctic. In 2017, as a National Geographic Explorer, Josh co-founded Rangers Without Borders, a conservation research programme working with wildlife rangers in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Josh is currently completing a PhD at the Zoological Society of London and UCL on Amur Tiger conservation in north-eastern Asia. And as an advisor for The Queen's Commonwealth Trust on environment and society, Josh was recently named one of The Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World.  He’s a busy guy. In this episode we talk about what drives him in his career, how he’s managed to open so many doors to opportunities and he shares some fantastic advice for what you can do to follow in his impressive footsteps.

Josh Powell | National Geographic Explorer & WWF Voices Presenter

In this episode we’re speaking with Dr Stephanie Schuttler from the world of Fancy Scientist. Stephanie is an unconventional wildlife biologist, entrepreneur, and careers adviser who has spent nearly two decades studying all over the world. She’s also author of ‘Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know’. In this podcast episode we explore what it’s like to be a wildlife biologist. We also discuss her top tips for getting started in your career in wildlife biology. Enjoy.

Dr Stephanie Schuttler | Fancy Scientist

Nick Askew from Conservation Careers uncovers what it's like to work in wildlife conservation. He explores how to get a conservation job, and discusses the latest industry news, by speaking to professional conservationists who share their career stories and advice. So if you want the inside scoop on the life of a professional conservationist and their industry, are feeling lost in your conservation job hunt and need some direction, or wanting to switch careers into conservation but don't know where to start - this is the podcast for you! Conservation jobs, conservation volunteering, conservation internships, conservation careers, conservation news, conservation stories. Check us out at conservation-careers.com to find the most conservation jobs and the best conservation careers advice.

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Conservation Careers Podcast

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