Internship - Designing a Practitioners’ Guide to DNA-based Biodiversity Methods

Are you passionate about biodiversity, science communication, and creative design? Do you want to contribute to making DNA-based biodiversity monitoring accessible, practical, and visually inspiring — bridging science and practice across the globe? This internship offers a unique opportunity to turn complex molecular ecology methods into clear, practical guidance that real-world conservationists need and can use.

Project idea:

Develop a concise Practitioners’ Guide to DNA-based Methods for Studying Biodiversity. You will review and synthesise scientific articles, NGO manuals, governmental and company protocols, and online resources to produce a clear, visually engaging publication that will help practitioners apply DNA-based approaches in biodiversity monitoring. The final product will combine concise written guidelines with visual infographics (cheatsheets).

Why this matters:

DNA methods (DNA barcoding, environmental DNA, metabarcoding, transcriptomics, genomics) are revolutionising biodiversity assessment, yet practical implementation varies widely. Practitioners often struggle to decide which DNA-based method applies best to the relevant field applications. Your guide will help bridge this gap — turning research insights into actionable, standardized workflows that improve data quality and comparability across projects.

Key tasks:

• Conduct a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature, technical booklets, NGO guidelines, and industry protocols.
• Compare DNA-based methods in terms of their scope, advantages and limitations
• Develop clear, step-by-step written and visual instructions tailored for field and lab practitioners.
• Design supporting visuals: flowcharts, infographics, cheatsheets.
• Deliver a practitioner handbook and editable graphic elements.

Collaboration & publication opportunities:

Through this project, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with international researchers and nature practitioners working at the interface between research and applied conservation. The results will serve as the foundation for a scientific publication, and the intern will be invited to co-author and contribute to the paper.

Ideal candidate profile:

• Interest/experience in ecology, environmental science, molecular ecology, or a related field.
• Keen interest in literature review and scientific synthesis.
• Experience or interest in graphic design (CorelDraw, Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator, or similar) would be desirable.
• Basic understanding of DNA-based methods for studying biodiversity methods is an advantage.
• Independent, organized, and motivated to create usable outputs for real-world practitioners.

Learning outcomes:

• Deep understanding of modern DNA-based biodiversity monitoring methods.
• Experience translating research into accessible, practitioner-oriented guidelines.
• Collaboration with international experts and potentially the first hands-on experience in preparing a scientific publication. •
• A polished, design-rich portfolio piece valuable for future conservation or communication careers.

Deliverables:

• Practitioners’ Guide.
• Set of graphical files in editable format (SVG/AI).

Start date: Flexible — earliest from 1 January 2026.

Interested? Send a short CV and a brief motivation letter via e-mail to Dr. Kamil Hupało.