Kiran Bhandari

I chose to study marine biology at Liverpool because of the city and I really liked the curriculum that was on offer, with the potential to do several field trips and get practice at conducting our own projects prior to undergoing our honors projects. It also had slightly higher entry requirements than other Universities which gave me more incentive to do well in my A-Levels. I really liked the range of topics and subjects covered by the course; ranging from ecology to physiology to behavior and genetics. An additional factor was the size of the classes being considerably smaller than other universities which allowed for better one-on-one communication and making it easier to get to know other people on the same course.

The best part of my course was being given a subsidy by the University to go abroad and ask an institution/government body questions about their work and producing a briefing note for an UK minister. I enjoyed this not only because it gave me the opportunity to travel but also because it gave me good practice for something which I may be asked to do in real life. I made good contacts out in Hawaii and I hope doing this has improved my chances of being employed there in the future.

I now work for the Sea Watch Foundation in Newquay as a research Intern (unpaid volunteer). I have a range of duties which change every week. Interns are expected to undertake cetacean land watches from the pier and go on visitor boat trips to record dolphin group size, behavior, movement and behavior towards boats. We photograph any dolphins so that they can be identified using photo-ID back in  the laboratory. Weekly tasks include photo-ID, entering data from boat trips into spreadsheets, maintaining and cleaning the equipment, assisting with public awareness and monitoring and editing the national sightings database on the Sea Watch website.

Two key aspects of my degree training help me in my current role. Firstly, the lectures that provided me with basic ecology in my first year were useful for giving me the basics, and the mammal physiology and behavior covered in second and third year has proved very useful for getting my current job as I have lots of important knowledge about cetacean behavior and ecology as a result of the course, which is good for both research and also for public awareness. Secondly, the key skills such as reading, assessing and analyzing scientific reports have proven useful for keeping me up-to-date with research involving marine mammals and have helped in  the scientific article discussions we have  on the job. Basic scientific data collection and field skills gained during field trips and laboratory sessions have also proved to be highly beneficial to me.