Home / Our work / Education and training
Education and training
We’re working towards a society where everyone understands and appreciates the importance of British mammals and their habitats, with communities actively contributing to mammal conservation.
A local school dissecting owl pellets to monitor small mammal populations.
Through our training and education programs we hope to level the playing field and bring mammalogy to all schools, universities and local communities.
Why does this matter?
Mammals are an integral part of our ecosystems. But they are vulnerable, they are less numerous, longer-lived and slower breeding than other wildlife. When their populations decline it can be difficult for them to recover, and the impact on the wider ecosystem can be huge. We often don’t have the information we need to act before it’s too late.
Mammals are elusive, often nocturnal and present in small numbers - it is no wonder they are severely under—recorded! This is bad news for conservation as we may not be aware of an issue until it is too late, and don’t always have the data to inform policy, land management, protection and reintroduction actions.
Getting an accurate picture of mammal populations needs people power. People who can spend the time to get skilled up on the techniques for monitoring and recording, get to know the local ecosystem and the particular species or issues to monitor, and conduct long term consistent monitoring of the same sites to build up an accurate picture of trends as well as a snapshot.
Did you know?
1 in 4 of our native terrestrial mammals are at risk of extinction.
We need your help to gather vital data on the mammals in your local area.
A day out in the field recording harvest mice (Micromys minutus) with Cornwall Mammal Group
What the Mammal Society are doing
We’re working with schools, students and communities to encourage a love of mammals and a passion for monitoring and protecting their populations.
We see a huge benefit in engaging young people while they are able to come together around school or university projects. The benefits of training and the experience they gain monitoring mammals on campus can be taken on so that they are our mammal monitoring champions for the future, wherever they may end up living, working or visiting.
We are committed to fostering inclusivity and addressing the lack of diversity in our field. By creating opportunities for underrepresented groups and ensuring that our programs are accessible to all, we aim to build a diverse and inclusive community of passionate conservationists dedicated to protecting mammal populations.
Our training programme
We offer a range of high-quality courses, both in-person and online, designed for participants at all levels of involvement. Our training program is committed to advancing the Mammal Society’s vision and projects. We ensure inclusivity by making our courses accessible to a diverse audience and maintain excellence through expert delivery.
What we offer schools
Our aim is to foster a society where young individuals and their communities are informed and passionate about British mammals and their conservation. We work to involve students from pre-school to university in the recording and monitoring of mammal species, both on school grounds and within their communities. By doing so, we inspire young people to take active roles in mammal conservation and consider it a viable career path.
We have a number of curriculum-based resources available to help bring the world of mammalogy to your classroom - why not try out the Schools’ Mammal Challenge?
Although we are a small team, we are happy to organise in-person visits with either our staff or a local mammal group where possible. We can also host live lessons via zoom and can arrange online sessions tailored to your school or class.
If you’re ready to take your mammal monitoring a step further why not encourage your school to form a School Mammal Group?
If you have any questions relating to our schools work or would like support to bring mammalogy to your classroom our Education and Training Officer, Fiona, would love to hear from you, you can reach her by email (fiona@mammal.org.uk).
-
Take your mammal monitoring a step further by setting up a school mammal group.
-
This initiative aims to engage students in mammal recording activities, empowering them as advocates for wildlife protection and champions of biodiversity conservation.
-
Check out our range of resources for learning about mammals and mammal monitoring!
What we offer students
We are dedicated to supporting Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) institutions, aiming to open doors to careers in mammalogy for everyone, with a strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
Through our Young Ambassador Scheme, we offer comprehensive support to students aged 16-18, including mentoring training, equipment, and resources to facilitate their involvement in mammal conservation. Find out more about our Youth Ambassador Programme.
We also assist student mammal groups by providing the necessary tools and resources to thrive. Student Mammal Groups form part of our Local Groups Network connecting passionate Local Mammal Champions at the grassroots of conservation.
Our annual competition, University Mammal Challenge encourages participation and friendly competition among university students in mammal monitoring, engagement and fundraising. UMAC is open to all students not just those interested in a career in conservation and provides a great opportunity to become part of a team, learn new skills and gain hands on experience of mammal monitoring!
For those interested in research our suggested student projects list offers guidance and resources for academic endeavors. Additionally, we provide opportunities for students to share their research work, helping to showcase their contributions to the field.
Our commitment extends to offering practical experience through our Training Events Intern position, which provides valuable hands-on experience in organising and managing events.
For those early in their careers, we occasionally offer short-term freelance work contracts, giving aspiring mammalogists a chance to gain professional experience and build their portfolios.
Our goal is to equip the next generation of mammalogists with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their careers, ensuring that our programs are accessible and inclusive to all, regardless of background or circumstance.
If you have any questions relating to our work with FE and HE learners or would like support to bring mammalogy to your campus our Education and Training Officer, Fiona, would love to hear from you, you can reach her by email (fiona@mammal.org.uk).
-
-
The University Mammal Challenge, or UMAC, is our annual competition that sees teams of up to 5 students recording the mammals on their university or college campuses. There are prizes up for grabs, so you can contribute to UK mammal conservation whilst enjoying some friendly rivalry with other university campus teams!
-
You can share your research in a number of ways:
Submit a paper to Mammal Review, our quarterly international scientific journal of mammal research and review studies, covering all aspects of mammalian biology and ecology. It is owned and published by Wiley and has an impact factor of 4.927. You can find the author guidelines here. Any UK-based researcher at a participating institution may be able to publish open access at no direct cost to you. Click here to see if you are eligible.
Submit a short paper to Mammal Communications, our online, open access journal with no publication charge. This provides a great opportunity for anyone currently researching mammals to publish a short paper on their work.
Write a guest blog post about your research on our blog. If you’re a student working on UK mammals (although we’ll throw in a few exotic mammals here and there!) and want to share your research, please get in touch with our Education and Training Officer, here.
-
Are you an undergraduate or masters student looking for an idea for your research project? You can view our list of project ideas here.
Just make sure to let us know if you are planning to carry out one of our suggested projects. Or if you have another project idea you’d like support with, we’d be happy to help! Get in touch here.
-
Did you know?
In 2024 our UMAC teams raised over £500 for Mammal Society and hosted 20 events across their campuses.
Our education strategy
Find out more about our education work.
Find training courses
See what courses we have coming up!
Resource library
View our resources for schools and young people.
Want to stay in the loop? Sign up to our youth opportunities newsletter here to find out how you can get involved.