ARC is occasionally able to offer or help with students needing work placements and/or who want to do a first or Masters’ degree dissertation on reptiles or amphibians.

If you are interested in a placement at ARC please fill in the placements form and email an up-to-date CV to [email protected]. 

Placements are limited and preference will be given to students showing the initiative with ideas or particular interests they would like to pursue.

Natacha, a student studying Wildlife Conservation at the University of Kent undertook a 9 month placement with ARC with the species team. Here's what they had to say during their placement:

"As I am working under ARC's Data and GIS officer, I am regularly tasked with the cleaning, checking, and input of data. For example for ARC's Species Licence returns, and the Reptile Gene Bank project. I’ve learnt a lot about ecological data, how to handle it, and how to tell when data is useful or not.

The main bulk of my work so far has been creating tutorial videos for our surveyors and volunteers on how to use the various apps and survey forms created by ARC for our surveys.

I also regularly aid on tasks and other site visits with the Dorset field team. Helping them manage sites, through surveying and vegetation clearing. Most recently helping select appropriate locations for new artificial cover objects at a new survey site. The most fun part was finding a deer’s skull, however! Working under the field team, I’ve learnt a lot about the UK's reptiles and their habitats, as well as how we as conservationists work to manage those habitats to promote reptile populations. I am excited for the spring season to start, and to finally encounter some of our native species currently in hibernation!

Being in the office surrounded by species experts is also quite educational, I’ve found that I’ve learnt a lot, both about our native herpetofauna, as well as the world of conservation and herpetology, just by paying attention to what others are doing around me. I’ve also had the opportunity to attend and work at multiple conferences, including the Herpetofauna Worker's meeting in Llandudno, Wales.

I can clearly see how this placement with ARC and the skills I have gained here will be useful to me, both in my upcoming dissertation, as well as my career in wildlife conservation."