Our academics love being out in the field, working with our students teaching practical skills and providing the real-world context that helps with learning.

For staff and students alike, one of the best teaching and learning experiences is being out in the field, studying nature, either on our bushland campus or in one of the amazing natural landscapes that we are fortunate to live and work amongst in Western Australia.   

Every year our undergraduates join Dr James Tweedley and Professor Rachel Standish to undertake seven days of intensive and enlightening fieldwork. Our teaching camps expose our students to conservation conundrums or management dilemmas that ecologists face working in consulting, management and related industries. Students are given a problem to work through, and they are charged with data collection, and following the camps, analysing and interpreting the data they have collected. These skills are critical for ecologists and moreover, help them to pursue a diversity of career pathways after graduation.

The Ecology Camp at Albany offers students a unique opportunity to experience what it's really like to be an ecologist—learning directly from experienced staff who integrate their own cutting-edge research into the program. Not only does the camp take learning beyond the classroom, it allows students to apply and understand what they’ve learnt in a real-world setting, create lifelong bonds with fellow students and connections with researchers in the industry, but it also provides them with the necessary skills and knowledge to prepare them to become the next generation of ecologists.

All three majors in the Bachelor of Environmental and Conservation Sciences offer opportunities for field work in every year of the degree.  Student feedback indicates the success of these camps for student learning and a real drawcard for study at Murdoch University.