Training & Education

I want to learn botany...

Professional Development

For a career in ecology, the place to start is Manchester Metropolitan University, which has relaunched the highly acclaimed biological recording programmes that the BSBI was influential in setting up over fifteen years ago. The university will be offering a Certificate in Biological Recording and a Master Degree, and they will also be administering our FISCs next year.

We understand that MMU will be recruiting to the MSc this year, so if you are interested in a career in ecology, this is a great opportunity to acquire a unique degree that is highly sought-after by employers.

Contact Emma Hopkisson for details.

Short Identification Courses

There are many short identification courses available from various providers throughout the country. These are a good way to start out in botany, or to learn a new group of plants. BSBI experts and referees teach on many of these. Try...

>> Field Studies Council

>> Ptyxis Ecology

>> Species Recovery Trust

Other University courses

Not many universities offer degrees in botany these days, but here are some that do:-

FISCs

Over the last 5 years, Training & Education Committee has developed Field Identification Skills Certificates, to test how good you really are at botany. Turn to the FISC page...

Grants and Bursaries

Training grants

Grants of up to £250 are available for aspiring botanists who want to go on short training courses. You do not need to be a member to apply. Typical applicants would include recent graduates looking to start a career in botany, or take part in interest-led botanical recording.

Grants for 2013 are now available

>> Application form

Study Grants

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Study Grants of up to £1,000 are available to botany students.

>> how to apply

Conference Bursaries

Students can apply for bursaries towards the cost of conferences.


Email Dr Sarah Whild with any queries.

 

New online plant identification course for beginners.

Would you like to help beginners in your own area as a tutor?

>> Go to online course

This online course was started in Hertfordshire in 2011 to train volunteers wanting to join the Wildlife Trust’s group of wildlife site surveyors. It provides a foundation in classification, terminology, the use of keys and the features of the most important plant families.  Course units are delivered online and participants have to find common plant species and answer questions about them.  Their answers are checked, and advice given, by a tutor.

The course is proving very successful in Hertfordshire so, with the support of the BSBI’s Training and Education Committee, it is now to be offered generally via the website, where there is more information including a course sample.

This is an opportunity to help beginners in your own area by becoming a tutor.  The course units are all delivered online so the tutor receives the same information as the students. The tutor’s role is to check and comment on their answers. All correspondence is online; the tutor does not have to take phone calls or go into the field.

You may wonder whether you are good enough to be a tutor.  If you can handle the BSBI recording card for your own vice county the answer is almost certainly yes.  Answer sheets come in at intervals throughout the summer so this role is not suitable for anyone who will be away for a large part of the season, without access to the internet, but shorter breaks are no problem. Also, you would probably tutor only one, two or three students in the first instance so the commitment would not be too great.

The course will commence in February 2013 and run throughout the season. You might have beginners in your own area who would enjoy and benefit from it. Why not suggest it to them and consider becoming their tutor? if you are interested please contact Brenda Harold for more information about the tutor’s role.

Training & Education Committee

Members of the committee are: Sarah Whild (chair), Sue Townsend (secretary), Paul Ashton, John Bailey, Ian Bonner, Peter Gateley, Brenda Harold, Alex Lockton & Clare O’Reilly.

Resources for beginners

A leaflet written by Clare O’Reilly with suggestions for beginners on how to get started in botany.

Careers Advice

Are you hoping to study to be a botanist but don't know what degree to take or how to specialize? Download the Connexions Botany Careers Leaflet here.

Schools

For a web site aimed at school age children, visit SAPS.

BSBI Library

Our library is hosted for us at Manchester Metropolitan University‘s premises in Shrewsbury.

Most of our books and journals come from donations, and we can guarantee to take responsible care of anything that we receive. Duplicates and surplus material is found a good home at Field Centres around the country. We also digitize our own publications and books that are out of copyright, copies of which are held in the library.

If you are interested in donating, to the library, please contact Sarah Whild.

We are grateful to the following for contributions:

Mike Atkinson, Ian Bennallick, Chris Boon, Michael Braithwaite, Mary Briggs, Karl Crowther, Trevor Dines, Bob Ellis, Gwynn Ellis, Jean Green, Simon Leach, Audrey Locksley, Ian McNeill, Roy Maycock, Richard Middleton, Richard Pankhurst, James Partridge, Sharon Pilkington, Mike Poulton, Richard Pryce, Paul Reade, Clive Stace, Wiltshire Botanical Society, Goronwy Wynne, Brian & Barbara Ballinger, The University of Hull, William Peter Wheldon and to the estates of Alan Underhill, Alice Lambert, John Lavender, John Ounsted, Melody Ryle and Max Walters.