Each year, students enrolled in Environmental Science & Management, Marine Biology, and Conservation & Wildlife Biology step out of the classroom and into the field at the Ecology Camp. The camp is an opportunity for students to work alongside academics in the field for a week of research projects that inspire learning while enabling students to develop a skill set that is applicable across a variety of career pathways from wildlife consultancy to environmental advocacy.  

This year's camp took place at Camp Quaranup, located in Albany in WA’s southwest offering a diverse cross section of flora and fauna which serves as the perfect location for students to explore and research the ecology that makes the region unique among natural places in the world. 

“Albany offers the opportunity for students to study both terrestrial and marine systems. Life on land is radically different to life underwater. Yet thinking through the factors that limit where species live and reproduce, their ecology, is common to both. It’s lessons like these that help to bring to life the theory we cover in lectures” Professor Rachel Standish has been running the camp for ten years, having visited Camp Quaranup for the past six years.  

Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology, Dr James Tweedley, sees the camp as an opportunity for students to experience what it means to be an ecologist. “I think the camp provides students with the chance to think about what it’s like to be an ecologist and whether that's something they want to pursue in the future.”.  

Whether students know the direction they want their career to go or are looking for taste of what it could look like, Ecology Camp is the perfect opportunity to gain hands on experience that helps to shape their future.