Applications open for:
- Overwintering Birder (2x positions)
- Overwintering Sealer (2x positions)
The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) Egagasini Node, based in Cape Town, Western Cape, requires the services of 2 suitably qualified individuals to be responsible for collecting field data on birds, and 2 suitably qualified individuals to be responsible for collecting field data on 3 seal species, to be used for conservation and academic purposes as part of the South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI). The Seabird Field Researcher / Birder positions will be contributing to the project ‘On-island impacts of climate change on the Southern Ocean’s iconic seabirds’ run by the FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town.
All overwintering positions involve undertaking fieldwork under very rigorous and extreme conditions (cold, wet and windy 95% of the time). Meticulous observation, note-taking and record-keeping abilities are important. As is being able to manage large electronic datasets, electronics, (e.g. satellite relay data loggers) and a storage facility.
As per job advertisement:
Key Responsibilities for the Birder position:
- Collecting field data on surface-nesting seabirds including albatrosses and giant petrels to be used for conservation and academic purposes
- Carrying out physiology work with petrel and albatross nestlings including handling, blood sampling and isotope work
- Collecting behaviour observations on nestlings of surface-nesting albatrosses and giant petrels
- Monitoring nestling survival in Wandering Albatrosses
- Deploying and maintaining camera traps and temperature dataloggers
- Assisting with monitoring of long term study populations of petrels and albatrosses when necessary
- Remote field work without direct supervision
- Field work will encompass 75% of the time, with a lot of walking (4000 – 6000km) in gumboots during the contract time frame
- Office and laboratory work for sample management and data analysis
- Data capturing, analysis, and reporting
- Rigorous outdoor activity in harsh conditions
- Management of equipment
- Teamwork at the base i.e., the research station
Key Responsibilities for the Sealer position:
- Counting, handling, sampling, mark-recapture of seals
- Satellite device deployment and removal, weighing, sampling, measuring, observations
- Remote field work without direct supervision
- Field work will encompass 75% of the time, with a lot of walking (4000 – 6000km) in gumboots during the contract time frame
- Office and laboratory work for sample management and data analysis
- A proportion of time is allocated to assisting with dedicated killer whale observations
- Data capturing, analysis, and reporting
- Rigorous outdoor activity in harsh conditions
- Management of equipment
- Teamwork at the base i.e., the research station
About The Employer:
The National Research Foundation ( NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities. SAEON is a research platform funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and managed by the NRF since 2002. SAEON is mandated to observe and research ecosystems on land, in coastal regions and the oceans to understand how those systems function and might change over time and space when influenced by socio-economic driving forces including climate change. We deliver our data online and offer tools, services and advice for informed environmental policy-making.
The Marion Island research station is managed and administered by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).
Apply before 8 October 2024:
Seabird Field Researcher Position(s)
Seal Field Researcher Position(s)
Rabia Mathakutha, South African Polar Research Infrastructure, 25 September 2024
