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Environmental Law & Policy

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Environmental Law & Policy

Background

The Aegean Sea is one of the most important marine biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean, with some of the most extensive and pristine seagrass meadows and coralligenous assemblages hosting populations of keystone species. Unfortunately, these biodiversity hotspots and keystone species are at increasing risk of anthropogenic activities such as illegal fishing, tourism and climate change. Archipelagos aims to protect and conserve the Aegean nature with frontier science for conservation and we need spatial analyses in achieving our goals.

Environmental policy & law team

The biodiversity hotspots and keystone species of the Aegean Sea are at increasing risk of anthropogenic activities such as overfishing, uncontrolled shipping and tourism. Archipelagos works to protect and conserve Mediterranean biodiversity by combining the results of field research with targeted lobbying at the national and international level. Archipelagos focuses on promoting environmental conservation in practice. Research is undertaken on a case-by-case bases to determine the legal parameters of specific instances of environmentally destructive human activities which are reported to the competent authorities. We conduct comparative analyses to construct arguments to promote necessary law and policy regime reformations for the effective conservation of the Aegean and the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment.

Examples of recent internship projects

  • Research on EU fisheries legislation and Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fisheries, and sustainable vs destructive aquaculture practices.
  • Promotion of the enforcement of existing EU and international legislation for the protection of protected habitats (eg. seagrass meadows and coralligenous reefs) and species.
  • Promotion of the enforcement of existing EU and national legislation for addressing plastic pollution.
  • Combating the illegal trade of endangered plants and animals, as well as environmental crimes, pollution incidents and the destruction of natural habitats and wildlife.
  • Assess the impact of the uncontrolled use of live ammunition by the armed forces on public health and wildlife.
  • Development of management schemes for fisheries protected areas.
  • Research for the promotion of sustainable fish consumption.
  • Research on the impact caused by trawling and other large scale fisheries practices.
  • Research on the risk of shipping accidents and related legal framework.

Your role

The internship will primarily involve law and policy research regarding the conservation and management of the marine and terrestrial environment. Your main focus will be the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea, but you will be given the opportunity to research various legal and policy regimes and familiarise yourself with different approaches implemented on environmental issues worldwide. The outcome of your work will be used for the completion and/or update of Archipelagos’ databases. In addition, you will be called to provide your knowledge and opinion on unexpected issues that may arise during your internship, such as incidents of illegal activity. Although your research topics are relevant to the Archipelagos’ agenda and objective, you will be given the freedom to suggest new fields of research, always in accordance with the work of Archipelagos, and propose your ideas for future policy-making suggestions. The internship involves, in principle, office work, but you will also be able to participate in the field work of the other Archipelagos’ teams so that you get acquainted with the actual object of our conservation efforts.

Technical skills

At least one of the following requirements is needed:
• Experience on doctrinal legal research.
• Ability to conduct interdisciplinary research.
• Good writing skills and experience on legal writing.
• Ability to understand and analyse legal and policy texts and documents.

Other skills

• Fluency in English
• Good communication skills
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Motivation to live in remote places with simple facilities
• Sincere desire to work towards Archipelagos’ conservation efforts

What we offer

We offer an internship at an inspiring institute with experts on coastal conservation. You have the opportunity to collect data for writing a thesis, scientific publications or increasing your skillset within the marine conservation sector. Internships range from 3 - 12 months, although shorter or longer internship periods may be arranged to cover the needs of groups or individuals. As Archipelagos is a non-profit research institute, the internships we offer are unpaid. The experience requires an internship weekly fee of 200 - 245 euros to cover living and research expenses (e.g. housing, 3 meals a day, public liability insurance and other research facilities). Students and recent graduates and researchers are advised to search for possible funding through their universities, by getting in touch with the International Office/ Placement/ Erasmus+ Offices at their Universities or other relevant grant providing organizations in their region.

Procedure

To apply for this internship, please send an email to our admissions team outlining your program of interest and requesting an application form - admission[email protected]. We will get back to you within 2 working days.

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