Education outreach officer report
Working at the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery this season has spring-boarded my career in conservation education and science communication. This opportunity has allowed me to develop my skills in creating educational content, public engagement, and working with young people, while working hands on for a cause that I have a passion for.
Starting a career in marine biology can be challenging; obtaining paid work is near impossible unless you are able to pay your way into volunteering roles or travel further afield. This job created an accessible opportunity to do hands on, paid, marine conservation work which was local to me. By being paid for my work from the offset, I felt valued by the organisation and motivated to help with its goals. I was also excited to work for a local charity that has a clear conservation goal and is having a direct, positive impact on the marine ecosystem around the east coast of Scotland.
Working with the general public while at the hatchery has allowed me to develop my communication skills and tailor educational content to a target audience. Marine conservation is an enormous topic which ranges from apocalyptic statistics to children’s mythical stories of selkies and mermaids – finding the right balance of information is key, and this role allowed me to work with a range of ages and experience levels to equip me for future roles.
This job has also given me an excellent opportunity to expand my digital skills through the creation of posters, booklets, social media posts and activity sheets. I was able to design and create these myself, allowing me to carefully tailor each piece to the target audience and grow my confidence in using online graphic design tools. As part of this role, I was also able to work closely with professional graphic designers in the creation of the new education cabin. I now feel equipped to create engaging content and have expanded my graphic design skills.
The freedom with which I was allowed to create educational content, in particular the redesign of the education cabin, helped me gain confidence in my work and create a portfolio of work. This will enable me to showcase my work to future employers and help to kick start my career in science communication. I greatly enjoyed the challenge of creating a space which emphasises the importance of the work at the hatchery, while widening the focus to include ideas of sustainability, culture and heritage of North Berwick. I aimed to widen our target audience to increase engagement, as well as creating an interactive space that would be more accessible to neurodiverse learners. The complete process of research, planning, designing and building the education cabin will be essential experience in my future work.
Part of my role at the hatchery involved working with the Scottish Seabird Centre on school visits and workshops. I gained valuable knowledge from their staff, which allowed me to go ahead and create my own activity; be a marine biologist for a day. This experience gave young people a feel for what it is like to work in marine science by granting them access to the hatchery to take part in our work, as well as field work investigating biodiversity in the intertidal zone. This program has had excellent uptake, inspiring children (and parents!) about marine biology and has also been a great fundraiser for the hatchery. Creating this experience from scratch, working out the safety protocols, and advertising to the public has taught me skills in research, communication and organisation as well as growing my confidence hugely in being able to create an enjoyable, educational experience.
As well as the experiences I have gained in education and outreach, I have also enjoyed working with and mentoring our student volunteers. They have received hands on experience in aquaculture, and I have enjoyed discussing their future career plans and advising them on their research projects. This was an unexpected but important part of this role, as it has given me renewed confidence in my future career despite the challenges of marine conservation and climate change.
