Name of Organisation: Thousand Year Trust
Description of Organisation:
The Thousand Year Trust’s mission is to triple the amount of Atlantic Temperate Rainforest growing across Britain over the next 30 years from the current assessed 330,000 acres to 1 million acres.
Name of Employer: Ennia Bosshard
Job Title:Ā Research Co-Director
Internship Scheme used: Access to Internships
How did your interns make a positive contribution?
Rosie made a fantastic contribution to improving how we coordinate research on site. She created a detailed and professional site map in GIS entirely from scratch, which has been incredibly helpful for onboarding visiting researchers, volunteers, and other stakeholders. She also supported us in streamlining our processes for onboarding and offboarding researchers, which has given us a much clearer overview of ongoing work on site. This helps us better coordinate research, ensure that visiting researchers have a positive experience, and maximise the impact of their work by aligning it more closely with our restoration priorities in temperate rainforest habitats.
Summary of your experience:
The A2I scheme has been an absolutely fantastic opportunity for us as a small, young charity. Without this funding, we simply wouldnāt have been able to offer the internship – and yet we believe the experience has been hugely valuable for both the intern and for us as an organisation. As a growing team with limited capacity, having such a proactive, talented and well-supported student involved made a real difference to our work, especially in terms of improving how we manage research on our restoration site, and raise awareness of temperate rainforests in the UK.
Weāre also really passionate about supporting the next generation of conservationists, particularly here in Cornwall where paid opportunities can be limited. Itās been brilliant to be able to offer that early-career insight. Weāre so grateful the scheme exists and really hope to be involved again in future.
If you would like to find out more about the A2i scheme, you can contact the team via a2i@exeter.ac.uk, or can visit the student and employer facing webpages here.