Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch (Isle of Man) are seeking one Volunteer Research and Outreach Assistant for the 2024 season. This position is being re-advertised so please only apply if you have genuine interest and availability to join us for the full season. Placement start date 6th May. End date 13th September. Closing date for applications: Friday 5th April. Online interviews to take place early the following week OR if you are attending the ECS Conference, we can meet in person. For more information and to apply please visit https://mwdw.net/vacancies/ This is a unique opportunity to join our small but active team, becoming involved in all areas of research and outreach work whilst running our busy Visitor Centre.Your time will be split between five core activities: manning the Visitor Centre, land-based surveys, boat-based surveys, office work, and outreach/education events. - General: All office work takes place at the Manx Whale and Dolphin Visitor Centre which you will assist in managing. We provide information about local species, recent sightings, spotting tips, and sell merchandise. The centre is busy during the summer months with tourists as well as locals. Regular craft and educational workshops for children take place in school holidays. - Daily admin: Consists of maintaining our busy public sightings network; logging sighting reports of cetaceans and basking sharks and responding to social media messages and emails. You will create public interpretation materials and social media content using design software and video editing tools. You will enter and analyse data collected on land and boat-based surveys, keeping spreadsheets up to date. A major task this year will be updating our photo-identification catalogues, reaching out to cetacean groups across the UK to collect images from other regions to compare with the Manx catalogue. - Land-based surveys: You will conduct land-based surveys from dedicated coastal sites whenever the weather is calm enough. This is a fantastic way of observing cetaceans and basking sharks behaving naturally in their environment without causing them any disturbance. All data contributes to our long-term dataset and understanding of how local species are using Manx waters. - Boat-based surveys: These will take place as the weather and other factors permit. These surveys allow us to collect photo-identification images and offshore data. You may also have opportunities to join local tourist boat operators, guiding passengers whilst collecting data and photographs. Volunteers must be aware that all boat trips are extremely weather dependent and can be infrequent. We will not guarantee you a certain number of trips during your stay. - Public outreach and awareness: Raising awareness is a key element of our work. We run frequent public watch events where you will communicate with the public about local species and help them spot cetaceans, basking sharks, and seals. We also attend events such as carnivals and fun-days with our travelling information stall.