Field courses

Field courses are one of the Tropical Biology Association's flagship activities that have launched careers worldwide. Our 2026 field course is based at the Makerere University Biological Field Centre in the Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda. The field course will last four weeks, and to help prepare students for the course we have included this online element. Here students can get to know their fellow students and tutors, and learn about some of the fauna and flora they will see during the course. The TBA courses aim to: increase understanding of the conservation and ecological issues of tropical ecosystems - providing students with skills essential to conducting field research in the tropics; enable participants to learn from each other and form a dynamic network; inspire and support students in developing their career in ecology and conservation. 

This is the online component to our Ecology Masterclass field course, which is focussed on practical skills and know-how for designing field-based projects. The course is based at the Mpala Research Centre in the savanna and grassland ecosystems of Laikipia region, Kenya. This online element helps students to prepare by getting to know their fellows and tutors, and learning about some of the fauna and flora they will see on the course. There are also resources to build the foundations for designing projects, from asking the research question to thinking about the sampling design. These will be built on further during the field element of the course. In combination, the online and field elements will: 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.