Rebecca Ive

I am a wildlife conservationist and Master’s graduate in Biology with extensive experience delivering engaging, age-appropriate educational content across a wide range of audiences, from primary school children to university students. With a strong academic background and over five years of hands-on science communication experience as a zookeeper and conservation educator, I am confident in my ability to inspire curiosity, support learning, and communicate complex concepts clearly.

I worked for five years as a zookeeper where education formed a core part of my role. I delivered daily public talks that translated scientific and conservation themes into accessible messages for families and younger children. Alongside regular keeper talks, I routinely gave structured presentations and behind-the-scenes sessions for school groups, college classes, and university students studying Biology through to veterinary medicine. These sessions often required adapting content for different learning levels, engaging diverse audiences, and communicating behavioural ecology, conservation challenges, animal biology, and husbandry practices in an interactive, memorable way.

I further strengthened my communication and teaching skills while supporting educational and seasonal events at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, where I co-led workshops, trained interns, coordinated volunteers, and created varied media content to support conservation learning. More recently, I helped develop an online wildlife rehabilitation student training course at FreeMe Wildlife in South Africa, solidifying my experience in digital education and structuring online learning material for remote students.

My A Level subjects included Geography, Biology and Psychology, with an AS level in Physics. I hold a BSc in Biology from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Biodiversity & Conservation from the University of Leeds. My postgraduate training included modules in community ecology, population dynamics, habitat management, data handling, and scientific research methods. I have authored a peer-reviewed publication in ornithology and am in the process of co-authoring another paper from my recent conservation volunteering experience in Bulgaria. I believe my background has provided me with the ability to support learners in Biology, Geography, Ecology, Environmental science and General Science from school level through to higher education.

I am happy to tailor lesson to the students needs as well as to current academic syllabuses in a remote setting, providing additional support where needed based on individual needs.