Re: Volunteer Field Assistant with the Santa Rosa Primate Project – Capuchins – Costa Rica
Alexandra Mirkovic
SANTA ROSA PRIMATE PROJECT - VOLUNTEER FIELD ASSISTANT
Job Description:
We are accepting applications for volunteer field assistants (volunteers herein) to conduct research exploring health metrics and the sensory and behavioral ecology of white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator) in the Santa Rosa Sector of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, Costa Rica. These projects are supervised by Dr. Katharine Jack from Tulane University, USA, Dr. Amanda Melin from the University of Calgary, Canada, and Dr. Fernando Campos from the University of Texas in San Antonio, USA, and managed in Costa Rica by Suheidy Romero and Saúl Cheves. Volunteer contracts are renewable every 3 months, with preference for volunteers who would be interested in renewing several times and making a commitment of 12 months or more.
Volunteers will help locate groups of monkeys based on known home ranges, follow groups of monkeys and collect detailed behavioral data, collect urine and fecal samples using sampling tubes, and quantify morphologies through digital photogrammetry in adult males and subordinates. Volunteers will learn to identify individuals based on natural markings and will be trained on site in all data collection techniques.
Field shifts will typically be four days each week plus a night search for monkeys on Sunday late afternoons. Data cleaning and sample processing days will typically be one day a week at camp. Field shifts typically involve intense hiking in a tropical dry forest, waking up before dawn, or returning to the field station after dusk. A five-day break will be given every three months.
The field site is remote and field volunteers will live in a research project house equipped with internet, a full kitchen, bathrooms with showers, and a washing machine. Applicants must be clean and tidy, responsible, respectful, and have experience living communally with housemates. There are snakes and other wildlife that volunteers must be able to face, and hopefully enjoy.
All members of our research team wear snake guards (gaiters) in the forest to prevent bites, but no one has been bitten in the near 40-year history of the project. Wasps, large spiders, scorpions, mosquitoes, chiggers and ticks are all common and non-lethal, but bites and stings will happen. Medical attention is available, approximately 40 or 60 minutes by car from the entrance of Santa Rosa National Park to the nearest medical center. However, it is 7 kilometers from the field house to the nearest highway, and researchers are often deep in the forest without immediate access to a vehicle. For this reason, applicants with a history of anaphylactic reactions to wasp/bee stings must have undergone treatment (e.g., immunotherapy) and allergies must be at a manageable level.
Volunteers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to their participation in the project. When following groups of monkeys, all researchers must wear a face mask and stay at least six meters away from the monkeys. The successful applicant will be notified of additional details regarding the project's COVID-19 mitigation plan.
Qualifications / Experience:
- A high level of physical fitness is required. The terrain is rough with dense vegetation, and the climate can be very hot and humid. Researchers are often required to hike quickly off-trail through varied terrain while following the monkeys.
- Extensive field experience is not required, but priority will be given to applicants who have experience conducting research on primates or other wildlife.
- Current Standard First Aid and/or Wilderness First Aid Service certifications are strongly recommended.
- Interest in scientific research and primate behavior is required.
- A background in biology, anthropology, or a related field is preferred.
- Conversational level Spanish is required.
- The ability to live away from friends and family for an extended period is required.
Support Provided:
- $500 USD per month to offset living expenses while volunteering on the project.
- Accommodation in the project's field house.
- Field equipment will be provided for data collection while volunteering on the project (Snake guards, GPS, Tablet, Radio, Binoculars)
Volunteers are responsible for paying for:
- Health insurance (International coverage for international volunteers, or Grupo INS Compulsory Occupational Risk Insurance and CCSS for Costa Ricans).
- Volunteers will pay for their own food.
- Personal field equipment (including sturdy field clothing, water bottles, hiking boots, field backpack, etc.).
To apply, please submit the following:
- Curriculum vitae
- Minimum 2 letters of recommendation
- Declaration of interest (half page; please explain why you would like to volunteer with the project, your availability, and describe relevant experiences).
Email all application materials to project coordinator, Suheidy Romero, at cebus.im...@gmail.com with the subject line "SSR Primate Field Assistant." If you have questions about this position, feel free to email.
We strongly encourage applications from Costa Ricans and members of underrepresented groups in the research community, including members of visible minorities or racialized groups and members of LGBTQIA+ communities. We are committed to working with you to ensure that your experience is as safe and positive as possible.
The position will be available until the vacancy is filled.