Sia Sin Wei's involvement in JGIS

JGIS

Introduction

I am a long-term volunteer with the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) (JGIS) since October 2017, serving in the Primates and Communications Committee. The JGIS is the local branch of the Jane Goodall Institute, founded by Jane Goodall in 1977. I am a part of a team, mostly volunteers, that aims to "inspire, educate, and activate individuals to make a better world for animals, people, and the environment."

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Primates Committee

I have been involved as a citizen scientist through the Raffles's Banded Langur Citizen Science Survey since its inauguration, which aims to involve members of the public in the collection of data used to make conservation decisions for the Raffles' Banded Langurs (Presbytis femoralis).

I am also involved in the Monkey Guards team which aims to ameliorate human-long tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) conflict in hotspots in residential areas adjacent to the nature parks and reserves.

We are trained to redirect any macaques from doing things that aggravate conflict with human stakeholders such as entering residential homes, raiding rubbish bins and aggressively hounding humans for human food.

Besides working on macaques, we also educate residents and general public at events and engagement sessions on better coexistence with macaques. To find out more, click here.

Communications Committee

I create content about conservation for the JGIS blog, writing a variety of genres from event writeups to feature articles. Some of these articles can be found in the blog and my portfolio. Occasionally, I would write for our social media outlets on Facebook and Instagram.

Pre-Covid, I acted as a reporter for our major events like talks and major get-togethers throughout JGIS, providing a summary account of what we have done to promote JGIS and our activities. Currently, I write write-ups for our flagship lecture webinars.

Overall, I do written communications for JGIS, focusing mostly on blogs and our newsletter, but I have some experience writing for social media as well.

Events

I have experience volunteering in events such as the Festival of Biodiversity and the visits by Jane Goodall in 2017 and 2019. While I have some experience managing booths and outreaching in a public setting, I often act as a reporter writing event writeups of talks and public engagements.

Summary

I have experience in doing simple fieldwork, writing, science communication, and outreach in JGIS. I hope to expand my skillset for other organizations and projects in the nature community in the near future. For any queries or potential collaborations, please look at the contacts page.