A skilled aerial drone user is sought to assist the SEA MARVEL project team between April and September 2023 (400 hours) at €20 per hour, exclusive of VAT.

Specific tasks would include:

• Working with researchers of the SEA MARVEL team to take footage of nature and seascapes using an aerial drone

• Working hours would depend on favourable weather conditions.

• Sharing of skills with the research team to allow for better opportunities to use the drone efficiently.
  

A total remuneration of €8000 exclusive of VAT will be spread during the year. The payments will be against an invoice. The applicant must be VAT registered.

The applicant should be willing to work flexibly and with dedication on the required application of an aerial drone during fieldwork.

Interested applicants are invited to send in their letter of application with their CV (including short clips taken using an aerial drone) by the 31 March 2023 to Prof. Adriana Vella, Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biology, University of Malta by email.

The Italia-Malta Interreg project SEA MARVEL joins forces between organisations that, in Sicily and Malta, work to reduce knowledge gaps and promote timely, concrete, and feasible actions and campaigns to aid nature protection for innovative sustainable development. The geographical position of these islands allows for strategic analyses pertinent to the understanding of Mediterranean pressures and challenges caused by climatic and environmental changes. SEA MARVEL aims to raise awareness of the risks and mitigate the effects of plastic pollution, declining populations of marine species, alien species invasion and climate change effects to maintain and reactivate the ecosystem and protected Natura 2000 sites.

SEA MARVEL’s fieldwork, under the scientific guidance of the University of Malta, shall assess the presence of and promote actions toward the repopulation of vulnerable indicator species such as cetaceans. It will also target timely interventions to identify and reduce alien species and plastics in the selected Natura 2000 sites in line with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive’s Good Environmental Status. Under the guidance of the University of Catania, challenges that stimulate the participation of the new generation and coastal communities towards the development of sustainable management plans shall be set-up.