training courses

"The course provided me with just the concentrated, context – rich, contextual training I was looking for !’’                                                Participant ESR 2008 course ITC, Jersey

Our aim is to build capacity for conservation of some of the world’s most threatened species and their habitats. To achieve this we run courses both at the ITC and overseas in partnership with local institutions.

One of our flagship courses is the Durrell Endangered Species Management Graduate Certificate (DESMAN- GC), a 12 week post-graduate course accredited by the University of Kent. The course is designed for post-graduate level conservation biologists and conservation practitioners with experience of working in the wild. As biodiversity conservation requires groups of people to work together towards a common goal we have also developed our Facilitator Skills Workshop, designed to enable participants to run their own stakeholder workshops. Our three-week long Endangered Species Recovery (ESR) course has been created to provide an arena in which participants can discuss, debate and develop their understanding of some of the main threats facing wildlife and how we should address them.

In partnership with the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) we run a week-long Species Conservation Course, again accredited by the University of Kent. Most recently we have launched The Masters degree in Conservation Science in collaboration with Imperial College, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the Institute of Zoology of the Zoological Society of London.

‘This course has enabled me to understand what conservation is all about’
                                                                                               Participant, ISLA course Seychelles

Our overseas programme of courses includes the two-week long Island Species-Led Action (ISLA) course, designed for conservation practitioners and students working to conserve island species from extinction. This course is tailored to the needs of the host country. The course covers topics such as the application of small population biology to species conservation and how we should be controlling, eradicating or managing the spread of introduced invasive species. ISLA has been run in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean and is currently completing a three year programme in the Pacific. The destination for 2009 is the island of Fiji.

In January 2009 we ran the third iteration of the Amphibian Biodiversity Conservation (CBA) course in Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This iteration was run entirely in Spanish. The course brought together amphibian conservationists working in the field and in captivity to share experiences and develop new skills in the monitoring and management of threatened amphibians. We are in the process of identifying suitable future locations for the Amphibian Conservation Husbandry (ACH) course, which was launched in Jersey in Spring 2008.

This course is targeted at amphibian biologists working to establish and manage populations of endangered amphibians in captivity for conservation purposes. If your organisation is interested in hosting this or other of our short courses in subsequent years, please contact us at itc@durrell.org.

Courses currently being offered:

Full details on all our courses and facilities can be downloaded here

Application procedure for all courses

To apply for any of the above courses please click here to download the application form. Please ensure that you include your family name in the file name. Applications should be sent either via email to itc@durrell.org or posted to the address on the application form. All applications must be supported by your CV, references and letters of support. The ITC team will endeavour to respond to your application within 14 days.