TVERC believes that working closely with the fantastic science and environmental organisations in Berkshire and Oxfordshire is essential to maximise the impact we can collectively make on improving our environment. TVERC has been a Micro-Internship partner of The University of Oxford since 2016, and has consistently hosted dedicated students every year taking on specific projects
Through the micro-internship, students gain valuable experience that will benefit their career progress, and, at the same time, helps support TVERC’s ongoing work in data management and analysis. In June, we welcomed 6 students, and Jess Lindop tell us more about her placement:
I recently had the opportunity to complete a micro-internship with TVERC, analysing the distribution of bird records across Oxfordshire. My project initially focussed on bird records over the past five years, using R coding to create a record distribution map, which I used to identify any areas of Oxfordshire and Berkshire that had the highest densities of records, along with those that could benefit from more records. As this was a very large dataset, I was also given the flexibility to choose specific areas to focus on in more detail. For this I selected 10 bird species from the dataset to analyse in more depth, which I chose based on the Oxfordshire Species Priorities List. These are species that require specific conservation actions to support their populations, and for these I was provided with any TVERC records from 1970 to 2025. For each of these species I also created record distribution maps that demonstrated how record distributions have changed over time, along with a graph of how record numbers in Oxfordshire have changed for each species since 1970. I used these to identify key areas to monitor for each species, and considered the relevance of this to their conservation. At the end of the week I collated this data and analysis into a report summarising my results and key conclusions.
I found it especially interesting to look at the distributions of the most vulnerable species from the Species Priorities List, including some which had very few records due to their small population sizes. For example, there were just 5 Montagu’s Harriers and 3 Turtle Doves recorded in Oxfordshire over the past 5 years. Creating graphs of yearly record numbers since 1970 was useful to see how record numbers have changed over time for each of these species. The record distribution graphs with different coloured points depending on when the record was collected also allowed me to identify the areas where most records are currently concentrated for these species, which could be important to monitor further as part of their conservation.
During my micro-internship I was given a lot of support from TVERC, with daily meetings to check in on my progress and allow me to ask any questions I might have. I was also invited to attend the weekly team meeting, which gave me a greater insight into the organisation and allowed me to meet the rest of the team. I have also been invited to present the results of my project at TVERC’s annual conference in October, which is a fantastic opportunity that I am really looking forward to. Overall I really enjoyed my internship experience with TVERC, and know that even in the short time I was there I learnt so much. I loved being able to analyse the dataset in detail and really developed my R coding skills through this. I was also given the opportunity to focus on the areas that I was most interested in, and enjoyed putting this together into a report. This has been a great experience, and I am grateful for all of the support that I have been given from TVERC throughout this project.