University program
Research with purpose, in the field.
Higher education · Internship · Research
The field doesn't wait for the lab.
Here universities don't come to observe: they come to do. Students and faculty take part in systematic monitoring, restoration, clinical management of psittacines, and data recording that sustains the long-term conservation work. Your thesis, your practicum, or your field trip becomes part of the Foundation's work.
Purpose
University students and their professors contribute to the production of knowledge on psittacine rehabilitation, tropical dry forest restoration, and environmental education — and leave with real field hours alongside the technical team.
How to participate
We welcome universities in three formats:
- One-day field visits with the team: rotation through stations, data collection, closing technical workshop.
- Professional internships lasting one to several months, with a member of the technical team mentoring the student.
- Theses and research projects, where the foundation provides the context, historical data, and technical guidance.
For all three formats, we design the work plan with the faculty to make it academically valid and operationally useful for the sanctuary.
What you do, what you learn
Five field-grade practices
Diagnostic forest walk
Species identification, reading regeneration status, assessing anthropogenic pressure. Field work applicable to ecology and conservation biology.
Tree planting with follow-up
Tree planting of native species in documented sites, with coordinate and species records. Useful material for restoration or silviculture theses.
Monitoring protocols
You apply systematic monitoring protocols: transects, camera trapping, acoustic recording. You produce real datasets that the foundation uses.
Clinical management of psittacines
Support for the veterinary team: individualized diets, body condition assessment, rehabilitation plans. Applicable to wildlife veterinary medicine.
Enrichment design
Design and evaluation of elements to stimulate natural pre-release behavior. At the intersection of ethology, animal welfare, and reintroduction.
The knowledge that matters doesn't get published without first being walked.
Logistics
Day visits: groups of up to 30 students with their teachers. Professional internships and dissertations: one at a time, with limited spots based on the tutoring team's capacity. Prior coordination through an agreement between the faculty and the foundation. For longer stays, accommodation is available within the sanctuary's infrastructure.
Contribution
The university program brings two critical things to the foundation: knowledge production (dissertations, datasets, publications) and hands in the field during the weeks of highest operational pressure. In return, students leave with a level of immersion no classroom can replicate.
Want to coordinate with your university?
Write to us on WhatsApp. We design the field trip, practicum, or research project with your faculty.