Duration of Internship: September 2020 – November 2020
Funded by ERASMUS+
Qualifications
B.Sc. Marine Biology and Oceanography, University of Plymouth (2018 – 2022)
During her placement year as part of her undergraduate degree (BSc) Elsa completed a 3-month internship with us at MER. She actively participated in many of our running projects, including partaking in RELIONMED LIFE+ project aiming to tackle the invasive lionfish in Cypriot waters, helping in the Artificial Reefs project aiming to evaluate their efficiency in terms of biological productivity and marine biodiversity enhancement in the oligotrophic waters of Cyprus. As well as learning to use software not previously used in her degree like processing photographs using Photoquad software to assess the % coverage of taxa within photo-quadrats.
In her first month she participated in the project “‘Mapping Key Marine Habitats and Assessing Their Vulnerability To Fishing Activities (MEDKEYHABITATS II PROJECT)”- through RAC-SPA (The Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas). She morphometrically analysed samples of Posidonia oceanica and inputted the data to excel, as well as assisted in some deliverables by creating graphs and photo appendices.
She also assisted with the running of the sixth RELIONMED lionfish removal derby at Cape Greco. Which she said was an interesting and exciting event and she loved observing the action and proceedings.
She stated: “Actively contributing to and observing these important marine conservation/ecology projects is an amazing opportunity and I am thoroughly enjoying my work placement with MER. I gained field and laboratory experience that I would not have previously been able to take part in. Improved my understanding and ability to process physical data. Specifically adding to and improving my marine biologist skills and general teamwork/workplace skills will be highly beneficial going forward into this industry and I am very grateful to MER for this opportunity.”