Operation Wallacea

This section describes the undergraduate dissertation or senior thesis topics where academic support is provided on site and these topics can be developed into research questions for dissertations or senior theses. About 25% of students on Operation Wallacea expeditions use their time on site to gather data for their undergraduate or Masters level dissertations or theses. Doing it this way means that you still have the benefit of working in some of these remote environments but can also use your time over the summer to collect data for your degree dissertation or senior thesis. Over the last couple of years, 95% of the students doing dissertations with Opwall have gained the top two grades for their dissertations and some have even won the best dissertation for their year! One of our students from the Indonesian project has also recently been awarded a prize from the RGS-IBG for their Island Biogeography dissertation, Comparison of olive-backed sunbird across the Wakatobi Archipelago, commended as an "outstanding study".

The 100+ topics have been separated into subject areas (e.g. mammal ecology topics, genetics topics, etc.) and the topics within each subject area are often drawn from a range of countries. Each topic describes an area of study from which students can develop their own research questions. Thus for any particular topic a small number of students can complete theses on different research questions. Some of the topic areas involve data collected as part of the general monitoring effort. In such cases, the data-collection sites and methods are fixed, and the range of possible research questions is therefore limited. However, it also means that the likely sample size of the data collected is large, allowing a variety of research questions to be addressed using the data. Other subject areas, which are not part of the general monitoring effort, allow a much larger range of possible research questions and flexibility in the planning of the work. The main constraints for these projects are logistical (vehicles, safety guard cover, dive launches, etc.).

How do I select a suitable dissertation topic?

The first stage is to decide which topic area(s) is of most interest to you If you then go to the relevant section on the website you can watch a short video describing each of the topics and also more detailed project descriptions and initial reading lists for each topic. After reading through these, you should be able to narrow your selection to one or two topics. Throughout the autumn period (September to December), there will be online webinars where lead academics in each subject area will be available to consult and help narrow down your choices. Once you have a general sense of your proposed research question, you need to consult with your academic tutor/advisor at your university to check that you are able to complete an off site dissertation/senior thesis as part of your degree and to get their input on your initial ideas.

How do I prepare well before coming out to the site?

Once you have selected your preferred topic and booked on to the expedition, you need to start preparing a draft research proposal that needs to be submitted by 28th February 2012 to our Senior Dissertation Advisor (dissertations@opwall.com). The research plan should contain the following sections:

· a project title

· review of current literature relevant to your project, rationale for your project and the specific aims and hypotheses of your research

· proposed data collection methods

· how the data will be analysed

· equipment requirements

· reference list

At this stage, you also need to talk to your university tutor/advisor to identify who your internal university supervisor for the research project will be. You will then be sent a dissertation assessment form that will need to be signed by your university supervisor. Once we have received this form and the draft research proposal, the Opwall Senior Dissertation Advisor and the academic who will be providing your specialist supervision in the field will contact you with comments on the draft and the practicalities of completing the proposed research. Once you have these comments, you can submit the final research proposal to the Opwall Senior Dissertation Advisor, your Opwall field supervisor and your internal university supervisor. The final proposal has to be completed before 15th April 2012, otherwise Operation Wallacea has the right to refuse you the opportunity to complete a dissertation or thesis on site. Having agreed your project plan, you will then need to complete a risk assessment for the project. Note that this risk assessment should also be submitted to your university before departing for the project.

How will I be supervised in the field?

Once you are on site, an experienced Senior Scientist will be introduced to you. You will meet with your specialist field supervisor as well as the Senior Scientist to discuss your proposed project plan in detail. You will then be asked to draft a timetable for the implementation of the project plan, which ensures that data are gathered, any necessary interviews scheduled, background information collected and spare time built into the timetable to allow for problems. During your field work, you will be supervised on a daily basis by your specialist project supervisor, but will also have to report on progress regularly to the Senior Scientist.

What will I be expected to do on site?

Ensure that you give completion of your dissertation or thesis the highest priority. You will be staying in some of the most beautiful reefs and/or forests in the world and it is important that you don't get distracted. It is best to work hard early on in your stay, complete your research and then if there is spare time at the end, relax. As a minimum, you will need to spend 4 weeks working on your thesis/dissertation topic if it is for an Honours project or 6 weeks if it is for a Masters. Since skills and safety training inevitably takes 1-2 weeks, you will need to stay for 6 weeks for an undergraduate dissertation or thesis, although 8 weeks would be better and is essential for a Masters project. Enter data, analyse results and start drafting sections of your dissertation during your stay. Often, when you start writing, you realise that there is additional information that you need to collect and it is typically not possible to gather this information once you have left site. You will be asked to write a short report and to give a short oral seminar to other students and staff about your research at the end of your stay. These are very useful parts of the research process because of both the scientific feedback obtained and the experience of doing them.

What will I be expected to do when I return to university?

We strongly recommend that you finish writing up your dissertation or thesis as soon as you can while it is still fresh in your mind. If you leave it for a few months, it is often very difficult to get back into the detail of the project. You must send a digital copy of your dissertation to Operation Wallacea as soon as it is completed. This copy is forwarded to various in-country organisations who are interested in the results of the work and to publish your report on the Operation Wallacea website. Remember that you are part of a wider project and your results are needed! Please also let the Senior Dissertation Supervisor know the grade you get for your dissertation.