About OpWall.

Operation Wallacea is an organisation, funded by tuition fees, that runs a series of biological and conservation management research programs in remote locations across the world. These expeditions are designed with specific wildlife conservation aims in mind - from identifying areas needing protection, through to implementing and assessing conversation management programs. What is different about Operation Wallacea is that large teams of university academics, who are specialists in various aspects of biodiversity or social and economic studies, are concentrated at the target study sites giving volunteers the opportunity to work on a range of projects. The surveys result in a large number of publications in peer-reviewed journals each year, have resulted in 30 vertebrate species new to science being discovered, 4 'extinct' species being re-discovered and £2 million levered from funding agencies to set up best practice management examples at the study sites. These large survey teams of academics and volunteers that are funded independently of normal academic courses have enabled large temporal and spatial biodiversity and socio-economic data sets to be produced. They provide information to help with organising effective conservation management programmes.

I have been selected as part of a team of 16 from my grammar school, to take part in a research expedition to Honduras in July of 2015. I am ecstatic and believe that this expedition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will aid my future towards a career within the medical field. 

In my first week in Honduras, I will spend around 10 days in the last cloud rainforest on this planet, where I will be working alongside a range of different field scientists and learn about the many species encountered. I will also take part in lectures, that will provide me with information about the habitats and species we may find along the way. We will complete aspects of forest survival training. I will be assisting in medical aspects whilst on the expedition, that's part of my work experience.

The next 10 days consist of moving towards Utila, where we will be scuba-diving next to the corals and investigating mangrove lagoons and carrying out surveys from manatees. For this week, I will have needed to qualify for my PADI open water referral. 

Here's a link to the Operation Wallacea website: www.opwall.com