Anna Bettini

PhD

Describe your board/organization, their objectives, and your responsibilities during the NPBI internship.

The organization I interned with is the Aquarium Society of Alberta, whose mission is to educate, inspire and empower people to play an active role in the conservation of our aquatic ecosystems. In 2018 the organization began to work on an exciting new project called The Aquatic Biosphere Project, to establish a conservation Aquarium in the Prairies. A project that will represent the opportunity to tell the story of water, from icecap to ocean. My responsibilities as an intern were: to attend the board meetings and help assist with new upcoming projects aimed at scientific public outreach. 

Can you describe your project and how you think it will benefit your board?

During the duration of my internship, I collaborated with the Director of Conservation of the organization to create a podcast called Water We Doing. This is a new project exploring any issues related to water and the aquatic environment. My tasks included: finding contacts of possible interviewees; setting up some of the questions for specific episodes; and writing descriptions for those episodes. This project benefits the board as it is connected to its core values and mission of educating on conservation topics, and it will help them reach out to a wider audience and create awareness on issues related to the aquatic environment and its ecosystems, as well as encourage people to support their vision of their aquatic biosphere project in the Prairies.

What stands out for you as key learning moments as a result of volunteering on a board?

This experience has helped me to learn more about other ways to share knowledge regarding science and the environment. I enjoyed learning more about non-profit organization’s structures, board governance, and exploring a world I hadn’t had a vast knowledge about before.

Would you recommend this program to U of A students and why?

I would recommend this program to U of A students. Through the workshops and the activities, and by participating in the board meetings of the organization you intern for, you have firsthand experience, gaining tips and tricks on the non-profit world, and it allows you to understand more about the difficulties of navigating such a world. It opens up opportunities you did not think of before and gives you a chance to learn new skills, connect with new people, and use what you have learned in academia outside of it, and see a more visible impact. As students we struggle at times to see the immediate impact from the projects we undertake in our courses and degree programs. Through this internship you can feel you are making a contribution to the wider society.