Will Antonia follow a career in conservation after her PhD?

Antonia Otte, a third-year student based at UEA completed her placement in April 2025 with Ebony Forest, a not-for-profit organisation protecting the endangered flora and fauna of Mauritius with a rehabilitated endemic forest.

With her placement, Antonia wanted to gain an insight into the work of a conservation organisation and explore if this could be a career option after her PhD.

Antonia worked with the conservation team at Ebony Forest where her duties were feeding the birds (both captive and post-release), monitoring wild bird populations (by observation and camera traps), planting endemic species and monitoring survival, plus feeding other captive endemic animals such as tortoises and geckos. This was a team effort and after initial training, Antonia then had her own responsibilities besides taking over weekend shifts. She also had two smaller projects: monitoring feeding stations for the Olive White-Eye, the smallest endemic bird, and analysing a data set of 5 years for an endemic snail species.

Antonia gained significant knowledge of the local endemic species along with its evolution in Mauritius with its fragile ecosystem. She learned about different approaches to conservation and admits observing birds quickly became one of her favourite activities.

Being part of an international team meant she experienced different perspectives and how this shaped team decisions. There was a 4-day training course in Team Management for Nature Based Solutions where Antonia learnt how the conservation sector works differently to a corporate one, besides developing an awareness of different management styles and how they impact a team, and what it achieves.

Antonia found her placement duties both very enjoyable and meaningful. She was surprised how her PhD skills could be applied to a different work environment.

Dr Nicolas Zuël, Conservation Ecologist and Intern Coordinator plus Antonia’s placement host supervisor commented, “Antonia jumped in with genuine enthusiasm and quickly became an invaluable part of the team. Not only did she consistently go above and beyond her share of the work, but she was also warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated by everyone.”

Antonia’s advise for students about to organise their placements, “be enthusiastic, open-minded and use the opportunity to leave your comfort zone. I greatly appreciated that I did not only experience a new work environment, but also a different country and the (work) culture that comes with that.”