Research projects and University credits with Blue Ventures
Blue Ventures’ Andavadoaka site regularly hosts visiting scientists conducting independent research projects. Over the past year undergraduate and postgraduate students from a wide range of Universities in Europe and North America have undertaken research whilst on site as part of dissertation and thesis projects.
If you are interested in undertaking a research project with Blue Ventures please click here to read our guidelines beforehand.
A wide range of research subjects can be pursued by volunteers during the course of a 6-week volunteer expedition. Past research projects have focussed on diverse subjects such as ecological monitoring of coral reefs or feasibility studies for tourism development in Andavadoaka.
Blue Ventures does not offer funding for the completion of independent research projects, but staff on site and in our London office are able to provide supervision and guidance to undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in undertaking individual research projects as part of a formal degree programme. However, we suggest that undergraduate students choose a project which can utilise current and archived databases and is not dependent on data collection due to the logistical and time constraints of working in remote regions. Depending on the amount of supervision required, there may be a small fee associated with covering supervision time from BV's UK and overseas research teams.
Project ideas must support and contribute to the overall conservation goals of Blue Ventures. Current project proposals are available here, although we welcome any other ideas or suggestions you may have. For further information on any of the listed projects, or queries regarding other research aspects please email us.
For North American students, attendance as a research volunteer on a Blue Ventures expedition is able to provide credits towards University courses. Please contact the London office for more information about this.
Research memories from Andavadoaka
This is a message we received from Jon Galton, a student from Cambridge University who carried out research on Andavadoaka's artisanal fishery for his undergraduate research dissertation. After finishing his studies, Jon was travelling in inland Madagascar, some 500 miles from Andavadoaka, when he sent us the following note: "I was wandering around a dried fish market in Fianarantsoa, generally minding my own business (and showing off my knowledge of Malagasy fish names!), when one of the fish-seller guys with a familiar face said to me “Salut camarade! Andavadoaka?” and I said “Oui!”. It transpired we’d met on one of my pirogue monitoring jaunts, when he’d come down to collect fish. I fired a list of names at him, and we remembered that he’d collected from Ngezy (one of the fishermen that helped with my study) and he waved at pile of varilava (herrings) that he’d collected from him. As Ngezy and I worked together regularly on fish monitoring studies, I think there was a strong chance that I’d measured those same varilava a few weeks back on the beach! " |
