Role Description

Skills required

You’ll need:

• the ability to carry out detailed work accurately and methodically 
• the ability to plan research, analyse and interpret data, and write reports 
• practical and problem-solving skills 
• patience, perseverance and the ability to concentrate for long periods 
• the ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team 
• strong communication and IT skills

What you'll do

• You could work in a range of areas like:
• developing and testing new drugs 
• improving agricultural crops and livestock 
• disease and pest control 
• conserving endangered habitats and species 
• animal welfare and education 
• developing policies and enforcing regulations for government agencies

You’ll usually specialise in an area like ecology (animal environments), herpetology (reptiles), entomology (insects), parasitology (parasites) or paleozoology (fossil remains).

Your day-to-day tasks will vary depending on your role, but may include:

• carrying out field and laboratory research 
• studying animals in their natural environment or in captivity 
• identifying, recording and monitoring animal species 
• gathering and interpreting information 
• using complex procedures, like computerised molecular and cellular analysis, and in-vitro fertilisation 
• producing detailed technical reports 
• giving presentations and publishing information in journals and books 
• supervising technicians