Work Experience

The Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project is based in New Quay, West Wales, and supports the conservation management of the bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise and grey seal populations of Cardigan Bay, monitoring their abundance, distribution, reproductive success and population structure using a combination of vessel-based, land-based and acoustic surveys.

In recent years, Sea Watch has taken on a number of aspiring marine biologists from all around the country to allow them to gain an insight into the work of a conservation charity. Sea Watch’s work experience program is open to students from GCSE level upwards and placements may last between 3 days and 2 weeks. 

Work is highly weather dependent and depending on the time spent with Sea Watch, experiences will vary but most work experience students will learn about and take part in:

  • Data entry
  • Land based cetacean surveys
  • Opportunistic surveys from wildlife boat trips
  • Public awareness events 
  • Blog writing 

The Sea Watch field season runs from April to October. Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate work experience outside this period. The 2024 field season  is divided into 4 research periods:

Period 1: April 1 – May 26
Period 2: May 27- July 14
Period 3: July 15 – September 1
Period 4: September 2 – October 27

We can accommodate 2 students for each period, please note in your application the period you are applying for, as well as the proposed duration of your work experience.

Please be aware that we cannot provide accommodation for work experience students and are unable to supervise students outside of office hours or during lunch hour. Students under the age of 18 will require a signed consent form from a parent or guardian to allow them to take part in field work such as land based and boat based surveys. 

To apply, please download the application form and return it to katrin.lohrengel@seawatchfoundation.org.uk by the 28th January 2024 with decisions being made by the end of the month.