The importance of volunteer-funded research

CONSERVATION or biological research projects funded through fees from volunteers or students are common in many countries, especially in developing nations, and on projects working with charismatic mega-fauna.

“Voluntourism” projects, as they are sometimes known, often have a bad reputation as little more than gapyear holidays for wealthy kids to pet lion cubs or engage in “white saviour” fantasies, although core concerns mainly pertain to projects working with humans and especially children (Smith & Font 2015, Freidus 2017).

Although no industry is perfect, we argue that this approach to project funding wildlife research projects is valuable, reasonable, and for many projects essential.

Although there is considerable scope within this sector, we focus our commentary on projects with a scientific biological research focus rather than “conservation”, “rehabilitation” or “community engagement”.

We focus on three marine research groups within South Africa, the (SSRC (Social Science Research Council), Dict (Dyer Island Conservation Trust) and OR (Oceans Research), although the arguments apply elsewhere. A significant amount of the primary research on marine mega-fauna here since 2010 has been conducted by these organisations – all of which are funded partially by “voluntourism”.

A brief review of publications listed on these projects websites reveals 69 scientific papers or reports, in a wide range of international journals and most with international collaborators.

None of the investigators leading these projects hold permanent academic or government research positions and several were completing their Phds over this time.

Funds from volunteers and visiting students (ie those also doing a thesis as part of their visit) contribute to both direct project costs and salaries, without which many of those 69 contributions to science (and associated theses) would likely not exist.

These field focused projects provide budding scientists with exposure to field skills and project realities not easily incorporated into time-limited and theory-focused undergraduate courses of 100-plus students.

Project fees are functionally the same as any university or course fee, but come with the added bonus of multiple wildlife experiences, which if undertaken by the students on commercial tours, would be substantially more expensive.

Increasingly, many university students are required to conduct internship or extended off-campus placements as part of their degree, especially those in the growing number of course-work based Master’s degrees available in Europe / UK.

Research organisations can provide access to long-term data, project concepts, supervision, field training and often support students onto their first publications with limited input from overworked supervisors at their home university.

It is only reasonable to charge a fee for this service. Pro rata, internship fees are typically less than those paid for an MSC in the UK which don’t include accommodation and food and “optional field courses may incur additional costs”.

Do paid internships bias “gaining experience” towards wealthier students? Yes, but the same argument applies to any form of tertiary education that is not free.

Do paid internships take away opportunities from local or poorer students or limit job creation? In our experience, no. In most cases, the fees generated allow the organisations to exist, contribute to the salaries of project members and associated staff and allow for the support of local students.

Without these training fees, organisations such as ours would likely not exist in their current form. They’d be smaller, run shorter field seasons, probably and train far fewer students.

We argue that if research projects are conducted in alignment with good academic and ethical standards, funding from “voluntourism” enables research, student training and collaboration opportunities in areas which would otherwise not exist.

We fully support the promotion of diversity in science, but caution that blanket calls to ban unpaid internship positions or advertisement as they are “a barrier to diversity and inclusivity” may be counter-productive outside of the developed world.

Elwen is the director, Sea Search Research & Conservation and the Namibian Dolphin Project and is a research associate in the Department of Zoology and Botany at Stellenbosch University and Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria