Field courses are one of the Tropical Biology Association's flagship activities that have launched careers worldwide.  However, we receive 400 applicants a year for our field courses so many aspiring conservation scientists miss out on this incredibly opportunity. 

So we have developed a brand new field course that you can participate in - entirely online!  

Field courses are one of the Tropical Biology Association's flagship activities that have launched careers worldwide. The 2022 field course was based at the Mpala Research Centre in the savanna and grassland ecosystems of Laikipia region, Kenya.  The course lasted almost four weeks, and to help prepare students for the course we  included this online element.  Here students could get to know their fellow students and tutors, learn about savannas and get to know some of the fauna and flora they would see during the course.  

The need for robust conservation projects has never been more acute as we confront the global climate emergency and biodiversity crisis.

That is why TBA has developed this course on designing projects and measuring impacts. The online course is designed to be dynamic, interactive, and provides ample opportunity for sharing ideas and mutual learning. 

We use examples and case studies and our teaching draws on the inspiration and challenges associated with many years of working in Africa.

Fundraising skills are essential if project managers are to attract the resources they need to carry out priority conservation projects. 

The TBA developed this online course to give people the expertise and tools that will help them write winning fundraising proposals.   The online course is designed to be dynamic, interactive, and provides ample opportunity for sharing ideas and mutual learning. 

This course is designed to help conservation scientists communicate the importance and impact of their work. Participants will learn how to write engaging copy and present results. The course will include modules on how to select scientific journals and engage with editors and reviewers. This addresses the issue that conservationists from tropical countries have relatively low publication rates. 

This course is based on our in situ and online courses that TBA has run for young conservation scientists who were able to publish papers afterwards.  You will gain tools and approaches that you can apply to your own scientific writing, and learn about best practice and common pitfalls to avoid.

This is the online component to our Project Design field course, which focussed on practical skills and know-how for designing field-based projects.  The course was based at the Mpala Research Centre in the savanna and grassland ecosystems of Laikipia region, Kenya.  The course lasted 10 days and to help prepare students for the course we included this online element.  Here participants could get to know their fellow students and tutors and learn about some of the fauna and flora they would see whilst on the course.  They also learnt the foundations of designing projects, from asking the research question to thinking about the sampling design.  This would be built on further during the field element of the course.

Our online and field element of the course aims to: give students first hand experience of conservation and ecological issues of tropical ecosystems; provide them with skills essential to conducting field research; enable them to learn from each other and form a dynamic network; inspire and support them in developing their career in ecology and conservation. 

Ecosystem services and natural capital, and the application of nature-based solutions is receiving a growing profile among conservationists and decision makers worldwide. This course will help fill the capacity gap in understanding these concepts (they span both ecology and economics) and in how to measure them so they can be used in conservation management and advocacy. 

The course will cover the links between nature and human well-being, and stimulate thinking about how conservationists can use this in their projects on the ground. 

Ensuring gender equity in natural resource management remains a barrier in many African countries. Yet, the contribution of women is critical to the long-term and successful conservation of natural resources in the continent. 

This masterclass will tackle the challenges women-leaders working to conserve the Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot face. It will build the women's capacity in strategic fundraising,  leadership, and gender and equality in conservation.  All of these are key pillars for sustainable organizations. The masterclass will take place online with live zoom sessions each week.

This masterclass is particularly suitable for heads of emerging civil society organizations working with communities at the grassroot level.  This includes senior managers, directors and presidents who are responsible for their organization’s strategic missions.

Lasting about three weeks, the masterclass will strength organizational capacity around strategic planning; leadership and governance; and gender, communities and social diversity.