MMCA: Crowdfunding, river dolphin and mountain gorilla - MCA on Tour

Information afternoons on the master programme in Management of Conservation Areas in Vienna (14.10.), Klagenfurt (7.11.), Berne (21.11.), and Frankfurt (27.11.)

"Welcome here on the roof of the Natural History Museum", Dr. Brigitta Schmid welcomes the participants on the information afternoon in front of the magnificent backdrop of the Vienna Ringstrasse. Schmid is responsible for the public relations of the museum, a "treasure chest of our republic". A few years ago, she completed her studies herself and successfully completed her master thesis on natural monuments. The master programme has always offered opportunities to "look behind the scenes and open up new perspectives".

"Almost a fifth of our planet is protected areas, national parks, biosphere reserves and world heritage sites. Highly qualified professionals are needed to provide professional care for these sites and preserve them for future generations. And it is precisely their training that the master programme addresses," explains Michael Jungmeier, scientific director of the course at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. The master programme in Management of Conservation Areas is aimed at employees in protected areas worldwide and focuses on development cooperation. According to Jungmeier, the training opens career paths in protected areas, in research and education, as well as in NGOs and international organisations.

The information events offer ample opportunity to ask questions. The guests are particularly interested in the scientific theses of the programme. "The master theses examine the subject of protected areas from very different perspectives. The spectrum ranges from classical nature conservation biological work to sociological, technical and legal topics to business, regional and economic studies," explains Prof. Michael Getzner, member of the scientific advisory board. For example, protective measures for threatened river dolphins in Nepal, for mountain gorillas in Uganda or shrinking lion populations in Tanzania have been developed. Students analysed the ecosystem services of national parks in the Czech Republic, Bangladesh and Croatia. Crowdfunding for Austrian protected areas was investigated as well as the relocation of illegal settlements in the Simien Mountain National Park in Ethiopia. Most of the papers are available in the publication series Proceedings in the Management of Protected Areas: https://e-c-o.at/books-en.html.

The afternoon in Vienna marks the start of a series of information events. Further information days are planned for Klagenfurt (7.11.), Berne (21.11.) and Frankfurt (27.11.). Interested people can learn everything about contents, key topics and career prospects, which graduates and graduates of the master study, unique in Europe, expects. Afterwards there is the possibility for individual consulting discussions, for which the training course leader is personally available.

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