Hi Wildhub members,
I’m Chloe, and I’m a Conservation and International Wildlife Trade MSc student at DICE.
My background is a bit different though, as my BSc was in Veterinary Nursing and Applied Animal Behaviour, and I also have 2 years experience within the NHS COVID-19 services.
My undergraduate was social-science based, looking at the well-being of veterinary nurses in England. I’m switching to natural sciences for my MSc, looking at the behaviours and activity of Bermuda skinks with Chester Zoo.
If you’d like to connect, please feel free to reach out here, or connect with me on LinkedIn!
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A warm welcome to WildHub, Chloe! Great to see you here! If you’re willing to share, what were your main research findings on the well-being of veterinary nurses in England? Conservationists may benefit from these insights as little research has been done on this topic in our field.
I had to be quite careful with how I conducted this research, but my main findings across RVNs in England were the following:
On a daily basis, RVNs well-being was affected by the amount of hours worked; being in sole charge (working alone), the responsibility of patient care; managerial expectations; workplace relationships and client expectations.
No participants felt relaxed; had energy to spare; thinking clearly and felt close to others on a daily basis. Alternatively, some participants never felt optimistic about the future; had never been dealing with problems well and had never been thinking clearly.
Whilst this was very much a veterinary-focused dissertation, I feel perhaps leaders and managers could benefit from some of the results, regardless of the job sector!
Welcome to WildHub, Chloe!
Thanks so much, Lara!
Hi Chloe, welcome to WildHub!
You have some really valuable finds! Thanks for sharing. As project managers, it is very important that we understand how our team is feeling and how to motivate and support them. It's an interesting topic that I'd like to explore further.
The wildlife trade in Bolivia is an illegal activity that happens in front of our eyes, without any legal consequences. Informal markets are easy to access and have power over the authorities. I wonder if you have any ideas on how small projects can focus their communication efforts to promote awareness and behavior change to reduce the popularity of this activity?
Hi Andrea,
Thank you so much! I definitely think it’s a topic which often gets avoided across all job sectors, but it’s arguably one of the most important ones to face.
Illegal wildlife trade is always a difficult aspect of conservation, especially without the support from authorities. I wonder if applying some theories (such as the Theory of Planned behaviour) may be beneficial in this situation? Especially if there’s minimal funding. I read this paper once, and found it extremely interesting in being able to understand the rational of certain behaviours and how to try and change “harmful” behaviours.
I also think it depends on who you’re trying to target - if it’s members of the community (and sometimes, even the lowest people in the trade chain) are unaware and do not have knowledge on the ethics, welfare and conservation issues surrounding wildlife trade. I wonder if understanding the motivations of the harvesters/buyers/sellers through education and outreach programmes may be of use?