Friend looking to get into conservation

[APC]

Hi there,
A friend of mine is looking at quitting work as a nurse and retraining to work in the conservation sector. It's early days right now but she is most interested in marine conservation. I've recommended the ND in Countryside Management, said that need to build up a portfolio of NPTC's and get the volunteer hours in.

Aside from the ND, she is also interested in going back to uni and going straight into a specific marine biology type course, by distance learning. This would be fine but I've warned it will take quite a few years if not full-time. The other option she suggested was doing an OU degree in Environmental Science. While I respect OU courses, I don't think it will be specific enough and once it's finished she will want to be doing another course and so will be in education for longer than she needs.

Say she wanted to work on the coast, perhaps doing getting involved in some sort of marine monitoring, some education work and general site management work, what would you guys suggest would be the best way forward? If she didn't express the specific interest in marine stuff, I could have answered it easily, but I feel if she did the ND she would miss the marine stuff.

I don't think money is much of an issue, but I think that it will need to be part-time if possible. Preferably in Hampshire/Dorset/Sussex/Berks, maybe further afield.

Thank you!

[tom00_uk]

take a sabbatical from work and try out a role coastal education. this seems to be a growth area at present with pgl, local councils etc offering roles for the summer months.

then they will know if they like it, going in as a consultant is going to take a lot longer to get established and might not like it at the end of the day