[KodamaLlama]

Here's the deal; I've been studying Human Biology in the UK at London South Bank University. I have completed my first year and I'm now eligible to transfer. I've always wanted to leave London for a bit, to be torn away from friends and family so I can finally spend the next few years focusing on my degree without distractions. The unfortunate part about this is I'm not entirely sure what my desired career path is, I have a vague idea of what I want to do but I can't put a career title on it.

I have an extreme desire for travel so I've been trying to think of careers that would enable me to travel, by travel I mean taking expeditions through jungles, forests and other landscapes. I generally would prefer doing field research of some sort, taking samples and readings, studying animal activity or other natural occurrences. I'd like to be a scientific mercenary, the Bear Grylls of natural science, I want to be there, experience what's out there and understand it instead of Google searching everything I learn.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind working in some lab, or working within some company as long as I get to do field work every now and again.

Generally I can think of three ways of doing this;

A. Working towards a degree, granting me access to work within a scientific company that allows me to do field research.

B. Having a source of income that doesn't come from my scientific background (i.e. Natural photography.)

C. Working as a volunteer in various places over the world, being sat in the desired locations for research and work, just without the science and finances.

I've taken a look into volunteer work and I've found that generally you end up volunteering most of your own money on flights, accommodation and other external expenses, and since I'm a student from a low income family I find it hard to find the finances to cover any travelling at all.

I have thought about using a hobby or something related to the media to fund travelling and my own research, natural photography is a good example I can think of that enables both travelling and work.

Even though I consider the above to be my best ideas so far, I know that actually studying would be my best bet at doing this, I'll definitely require a degree to work for anyone but this is where I get stuck.

So far I've followed biology as a general subject but eventually I'm going to have to get more specific but I can't think of a job that suits my description, does anyone have any advice? What Universities within the UK are generally best for biological degrees? Any advice for transferring? Can you think of a career title that fits my description?

I'm leaving London which means that I'm going to have to sacrifice my three year relationship with my girlfriend, leave all my friends behind, and start fresh at a University outside of London. I want to do this because I find it unbelievably hard to study with everything here, but I don't want to transfer blindly, giving up everything I am, to study something I'll only regret doing.

Thank you very much. I'm grateful to any advice, everything will help me succeed.

[Mbob]

(Original post by KodamaLlama)
Here's the deal; I've been studying Human Biology in the UK at London South Bank University. I have completed my first year and I'm now eligible to transfer. I've always wanted to leave London for a bit, to be torn away from friends and family so I can finally spend the next few years focusing on my degree without distractions. The unfortunate part about this is I'm not entirely sure what my desired career path is, I have a vague idea of what I want to do but I can't put a career title on it.

I have an extreme desire for travel so I've been trying to think of careers that would enable me to travel, by travel I mean taking expeditions through jungles, forests and other landscapes. I generally would prefer doing field research of some sort, taking samples and readings, studying animal activity or other natural occurrences. I'd like to be a scientific mercenary, the Bear Grylls of natural science, I want to be there, experience what's out there and understand it instead of Google searching everything I learn.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind working in some lab, or working within some company as long as I get to do field work every now and again.

Generally I can think of three ways of doing this;

A. Working towards a degree, granting me access to work within a scientific company that allows me to do field research.

B. Having a source of income that doesn't come from my scientific background (i.e. Natural photography.)

C. Working as a volunteer in various places over the world, being sat in the desired locations for research and work, just without the science and finances.

I've taken a look into volunteer work and I've found that generally you end up volunteering most of your own money on flights, accommodation and other external expenses, and since I'm a student from a low income family I find it hard to find the finances to cover any travelling at all.

I have thought about using a hobby or something related to the media to fund travelling and my own research, natural photography is a good example I can think of that enables both travelling and work.

Even though I consider the above to be my best ideas so far, I know that actually studying would be my best bet at doing this, I'll definitely require a degree to work for anyone but this is where I get stuck.

So far I've followed biology as a general subject but eventually I'm going to have to get more specific but I can't think of a job that suits my description, does anyone have any advice? What Universities within the UK are generally best for biological degrees? Any advice for transferring? Can you think of a career title that fits my description?

I'm leaving London which means that I'm going to have to sacrifice my three year relationship with my girlfriend, leave all my friends behind, and start fresh at a University outside of London. I want to do this because I find it unbelievably hard to study with everything here, but I don't want to transfer blindly, giving up everything I am, to study something I'll only regret doing.

Thank you very much. I'm grateful to any advice, everything will help me succeed.

Working in wildlife research/conservation maybe? That would seem to be a good match for your degree (biology) and desire for field work. It's very competitive and low paid though.

[KodamaLlama]

That's the problem, how can I even begin to think about supporting my future if I'm getting in debt through education to receive a low income. I wanted to take a trip to Peru for Wildlife Research / Jungle Conservation, but the costs for volunteer work is unbelievable, I even e-mailed a company asking how can I afford this being a student. They said "We're always looking for younger people to help our cause." and their response to my e-mail was "Here's $100 off." when it'd cost me about $3000, great.

[pheonix254]

Well, in my view, you'll have to either find a way of being paid to do what you want to do, or bleed yourself dry funding it yourself.

There are no easy solutions to this problem. I'll start by being harsh, to the situation - this is not personal.
No one owes anybody else a job. Those who have careers which align with their hobbies are in the minority; they're very few, and very far between, they do exist however. Jobs exist for the vast majority of people, not for pleasure, but to put food on the table, a roof over your head, and clothes on your back. Photography does not strike me as an industry which pays well, not well enough to cover the costs of frequent overseas travel, anyway. Legislation to protect photography is the same legislation that protects music from allegedly illegal downloading. In the age of the internet, it doesn't work nearly as well as it used to, so for me, photography as a means to cover the ends of travel is not a good idea. Volunteer work, as you're discovering, can be a bottomless money pit. Personally, I've seen too many "voluntary" organisations ripping well-intentioned people off.

THAT said - it can be done, make no mistake, it is one hell of challenge to do it, but it can be done. Of all the people I know, say of 300 facebook friends, I would say maybe 2, maybe 3 of them would be able to pull it off. so are you one of the 1%?

So, how would I do it? I'd say you have a few options. 1 - get academia to pay for it. Here you're going to have to choose a university who is actively studying what you're interested in doing - maybe say studying something in the amazon, running a 5 year research program. you need to align yourself to that, get yourself on that course, go out and get yourself experience with that research team. This will involve a lot of leg work on your part - you'll need to find out which academic staff are doing what, what opportunities you might have if you were a student with them, and how the best way to get on these projects are. I have a friend who does conservation on reefs in trinidad - did the degree and is now working on a PhD on location, who has just done her divemaster qualification. living the dream, indeed, but it is work, nonetheless. rough with the smooth and all that.

The second option I can think of is going out and finding another team who are doing this sort of thing, outside of academia. Perhaps the BBC, or the discovery channel, or something like that. I would have no idea where to start, you'll need to break in somehow (figuratively speaking), getting a work placement anywhere that you can, and then getting contacts for the Attenborough team or something. It's a start - and might be a dead end, but hell, it sounds interesting. Perhaps see what requirements you'll need to work at a zoo, and whether they have conservation projects overseas - I'm just thinking of every possibility here. Do the same - find an angle, see what work is required. It'll take you years to get there, be under no illusions, but it can be done.

Third option - work towards a job that will earn you enough money to fund it yourself. This is what 99% of us have to do to be able to live the dream. Get a well paying job, and use the proceeds to do what you like doing. Me? I didn't do a gap year, went headfirst straight to employment following my engineering degree. My weekdays are spent in an office in Singapore, following leg-work on my part to get a placement overseas. My weekends are spent on cheap flights to Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, to name the countries I've visited in the last few months.

Fourth option - if it's for charity - get other people to pay. Set up sponsorship drives, fundraising events, a pub quiz, fun-runs, garage sales, bag packing at a supermarket - plenty of ways to get pennies off people in the street, even if you annoy them slightly by doing it.

So yeah - it's possible, I'm living proof. It takes time. It costs money. The trick is finding a way of doing it within your grasp and means.

Oh, and photography? Excellent hobby. Do that regardless, you can pick up an SLR nowadays for a few hundred quid. If you need it to pay for itself, go around a few nightclubs as a photographer to start with, it's easy enough to sell photos online nowadays.

Anyway, best of luck - it's all an adventure, you don't know where you'll end up (and it probably won't be where you thought it would be) but take the opportunities as they arise, and don't have regrets.

Stu Haynes, MEng MIET MIEEE