Hello @Frank_van_der_Most , 

Thank you for your reply. 

The idea of the MSc course would be to cover the use of conservation technology (camera traps, satellites, UAVs, LiDAR, TLS, acoustic monitoring, microclimate monitoring, AI, cloud computing etc.), and their correct use and validation, for ecology conservation. The course would run out of the Department of Biological and Forensic Science at the University of South Wales. The course would include modules in ecology and conservation, computing and AI and then specific remote sensing and earth observation modules, for example.

The course would not be linked specifically to a particular research project, but students would have the opportunity to contribute to research projects within the university. 

I would be happy to send a course outline via email, if you wish. Any comments and thoughts would be very much appreciated. At present we are putting a case together to the university to support such a course, and as part of this would need sector, expert and employer thoughts on the course, whether it would be valuable, for example. 

I would be happy to send an outline of the course to your email?

Thank you, 

Emma 

Hi Emma,

Thank you for your outline. Feel free to send me an outline ( I sent you my email in a private WildLabs message ), but from your description I would like to give two comments already,

1) Besides learning about these technologies, the course should in my view also include learning the skills of finding out about new technologies and assessing them. The list of technologies that you are giving seems state of the art, but in the course of the students career it is likely to change completely a couple of times over. Much of what is on the list would not be there ten years ago. Even only three years ago AI (as we now think of it ) would probably not be on the list, but ML would.

2) Perhaps you were planning this already, but when it comes to 'correct use and validation', in my mind, that should definitely include the social/societal aspects of these technologies, no matter if it is about use in the global North or global South. What I am after is Technology Assessment.

Hopefully, this is of use to you

cheers

Frank

Building on Frank's comments, I'd also think about including some conversation about the ethical use of technology - Trishant's talk at Tech Tutors a little while ago sparked a really important conversation here in our community, one that would be valueable to have with your students.