Seeking ecologists with a #fieldworkfail to share
If you’re an ecologist who has ever worked in the field, I’d love to hear from you.
The funniest things happen when you’re out the middle of a field – or bog, jungle, desert, wood, moor, alpine meadow, etc., etc. – trying your best to do science. Sometimes, the science doesn’t want to be done and your equipment stops working. Sometimes your target species doesn’t play ball. Sometimes the weather intervenes. Sometimes, you just have a giant brainfart that derails everything. Rarely does everything go exactly to plan.
Fieldwork can be a deeply enjoyable and satisfying experience, even when things go awry. It’s also essential from a scientific point of view, providing opportunities to study organisms in their natural habitat and expanding our understanding of how to conserve species and combat climate change.
The Fieldwork short film project aims to not just capture some of the hilarity of fieldwork, but to communicate the importance of ecology as a career and the essential scientific role that fieldwork plays.
I’m looking for ecologists who’ve worked in the field and would be up for having a chat about their experiences – the good, the bad, the funny and, in particular, the scientific. I’d love to know what you’re studying and why it’s important, as well as where you go to do fieldwork and where you stay. And, of course, I’d love to know about the times things went amusingly wrong, and why.
If you’d like to take part in this project then you can either email me to arrange a time to talk, or book an interview via Calendly. Or you can fill in as much or as little of our survey as you’d like.
What’s all this about, then?
Fieldwork is a short comedy film project that aims to both to entertain and to increase awareness of ecology as a subject and as a career path. I am interviewing ecologists to develop a clearer understanding of how fieldwork really works, the scientific questions that you’re finding answers to, and the challenges you face along the way.
Although my first output is a short film script, I will also be looking at other opportunities to develop the concept in other media.
Fieldwork is part of the International Collaboration on Mycorrhizal Ecological Traits, organised by the University of York, University of Edinburgh, Dartmouth College and Ada Lovelace Day. It is funded by the National Environment Research Council (NERC), Grant Number: NE/S008543/1. Click for full participant information, including consent and privacy policies.