+ Science Fiction Extinction Futurist

Students with a background in engineering or science and a love of science fiction are encouraged to apply.

Writers such as Kim Stanley Robinson (the Mars Trilogy) and David Brin (Earth) are science fiction authors that have imagined a future that has merged science and technology with how we protect the planet. We believe that science fiction gives us a north star on the direction of technologies we can develop, through our own engineering, as well as through the use of open innovation and mass collaboration. In this position, we want you to read the best authors that science fiction has, and help us identify the products of the future that we should be designing today that would help us end the Sixth Mass Extinction. Once you have created a catalogue of such products, features, specifications, test the market using lean launchpad approaches to estimate the demand, and research potential market demand, and rank these. We want to see the top 20 breakthroughs of science fiction's future that we could start creating today.

+ Synthetic Biology & Advanced Microbiology for Conservation

We are looking for students who are deeply interested in harnessing either synthetic biology or innovative uses of microbiology to address major drivers of the current extinction crisis. Individuals who have worked with IGEM are especially welcome, as are those with exposure to conservation and lab experience, including in community labs. Help us look across the landscape of possibilities where emerging science in synthetic biology, new tools in molecular science, such as CRISPR, and advances in microbiology, can address key challenges for extinction. This includes rethinking inputs, new ways of addressing emerging pathogens, creating replacement products for food, feed, and fiber, and creating new materials. What process, products, and materials could we replace using emerging biological technologies that would allow us to make a massive impact on extinction? Help us create our top 25 list.

+ Extinction Drawdown Fellow

Students from multiple fields may apply, but with strong analysis and quantitative skills. Applicants with experience in economics, geostatistics, modeling, mathematics, and computer science are especially encouraged to apply.

Despite 35 years of practice, conservation science is failing to meet the problems and scale of the sixth mass extinction crisis. Recent data suggest that the sixth mass extinction may pose greater threats to human well-being, nature conservation, and sustainable economic development than climate change. Drawdown for Extinction proposes to go beyond the typical approach of studying the decline of populations and species to analyze, with the condition of limited resources, which interventions will have the greatest impact to reverse the drivers of extinctions. The Extinction Drawdown Fellow will assess the role of current solutions using an evidence-based approach evaluating the full gamut of solutions, interventions, and innovations in the context of an integrated suite of societal actions will be necessary to target investments. Next they will evaluate, compare, and rank the most effective and efficient innovations and interventions that would dramatically curb the sixth mass extinction while ensuring global human well-being. This includes an analysis of current drivers of the accelerating rate of extinction, an evaluation of the current interventions and methods to address these drivers, as well as a horizon scan for emerging solutions. The final product will be the starting roadmap of interventions and solutions humanity should invest in to reverse extinction rates and build a sustainable future.

+ Algorithm Adept

Computer Science students

Our open project platform, built for a community of entrepreneurs, builders, and makers to solve wicked conservation problems, is getting too popular - with nearly 400 projects, 1300 posts, and nearly 2500 members, there is almost too much to explore! It’s time to build a recommendation algorithm that will surface the most relevant content for a user’s interests and behaviors. This algorithm will need to consume content from across the spectrum of conservation and technology; from marine to terrestrial, from hardware to software to genetics. The recommendations will need to be tested and tuned, with the ability to “preview” users based on their inputs, a basic admin interface, and be applied across different object types: stories, users, posts, projects, as well as other objects that may be built. You may build off of initial prototypes of this algorithm that have been built in Python, but we are language-agnostic to the outputs of this algorithm, as long as they are compatible with the new architecture of the platform. You will work with the development team to ensure that the new structures will be able to support the algorithm, including integrating any intermediary software like Docker.

+ Platform Development Prodigies

Computer Science, design, user experience, and business students

Help us increase the power and adaptability of our collaborative innovation platform, the Digital Makerspace. We’re looking to transition our platform at conservationx.com to a new framework and content management system to improve our ability to deliver new content, build new features, and the overall usability and impact of the site. We’re looking to build an optimistic, inspiring, and collaborative webspace to drive the next generation of solutions to end the extinction crisis. We’ll need support from software developers to manage the transition and help customize an out of the box solution while ensuring the opportunity to develop new features as needed. We’ll need support from a UX designer to ensure usability and facilitate collaborative work and community innovation easily and intuitively.

+ Science of Innovation Superhero

Human Computer Interaction students

Want to research the cutting edge of collective intelligence with an engaged community of solvers, working to end extinction? Since 2018, Conservation X Labs has been conducting research on innovation and collective intelligence, using our global Prizes and Challenges as a platform to test methods to increase novelty, ideation, collaboration, and innovation with a community of solvers and project owners, all working to end human-induced extinction. You will play a key role in collecting and analyzing data, distilling learnings from past work to make recommendations on future improvements, and shaping the future directions of research on collective intelligence and conservation innovation. Our goal is to share our learnings on the science of innovation with the global community, including in peer-reviewed journals, and you will play a large part in preparing this content.

+ Creating Smart Tools for Conservation

Electrical/Computer Science students

Expand our device product range as we build the next generation of advanced, smart tools for conservationists. We are looking for students who have worked on many projects that involve using EAGLE to design and build your own PCB boards, and have workbench experience placing them. Experience working with Raspberry Pi’s and Pi cameras in the past is a plus.

+ Hacking Cameras 4 Good

Optics engineering, physics, engineering, or related fields

Expand our system’s technology range by hacking thermal and multispectral cameras. These imaging data types are incredibly useful in the conservation space, but are uncommon given their price tag. Wouldn’t it be great to have an affordable option that can be used in the field by the dozens without fear of breaking the bank? We are looking for an engineer to hack affordable options for multispectral and thermal cameras, and test them for potential uses such as identifying influenza diseases and chytrid fungal pathogens on wildlife.

+ Strike a Pose: Harnessing AI for Animal Behavior

Computer Science/Machine learning students

Pose detection opens the gateway to understanding animal behavior, migration, and movement through computer vision. We are looking for a passionate machine learning CS student to continue the progress we’ve made in creating pose detection models using Tensorflow. Experience using Python, Tensorflow, and Pytorch are preferred. Experience using DeepLabCut is very favorable.

+ Extreme Entrepreneurship Pioneer

Business students

The future of conservation will blend profitable enterprises with government policies and impact-driven efforts. But current models rely almost exclusively on an outdated charity-driven approach. The opportunity to innovate on how conservation can scale through profit, entrepreneurship, open and crowd-based models is legion. We need a driven, creative, and radical thinker to envision and articulate a new model for conservation that meets the scale of the challenge. This means researching, investigating, testing, and articulating structures for enterprises using entrepreneurship, traditional business, and navigating the restrictions of existing financial policies to create the impact that is truly needed. You are data-driven, process-oriented, an efficient and diligent researcher and exceptional writer, interested in democratizing best business practices, curious about product development and design, technology literate, and dedicated to building tools and products that deliver value to the user and the world.

+ Innovation Impact Wizard

Business or Marketing students

Do you love gathering and analyzing data to determine impact? Conservation X Labs has supported hundreds of innovators in bringing their bold ideas to end the sixth mass extinction to reality. You will help us measure the impact of these past projects, and find out how their businesses have developed over time. We need you to help discover information on money raised, customers reached, products developed, and conservation impact.

+ Virtual Events Virtuoso

Digital marketing, business, community students

We live in a world where collaboration is happening online for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean the genuine connection and opportunities for collaborative innovation have to suffer. Furthermore, growing a massive global community must rely on the digital world to scale. Discovering and shaping the future of convening, where in-person is blended with massive virtual engagement is the opportunity of a lifetime to build the future of conservation innovation. Help us develop a series of inspiring virtual events and programming that help grow our community and strengthen its ties and productivity. This includes virtual webinars and lectures, skills workshops, full-day ideathon and design sprints, feedback sessions, and other tutorials. You’ll design and deliver inspiring and interactive programming – including conceptualizing and shaping events, planning and marketing opportunities, engaging community, managing event execution and support staff, and follow-up and continued development of community connections, ideas, and projects. You’ll have digital marketing, event planning, and/or community management skills – including knowledge and familiarity with virtual event web applications.

+ Grand Challenges for Extinction Imagineer

Extreme Imagination and understanding of Extinction Drivers welcome

Grand Challenges are a way to make the seemingly impossible possible. Grand Challenges seek to inspire out-of-the-box thinking and innovative approaches to problem solving. They combine broad, aspirational goal statements and prize incentives to tap into new solutions from the wisdom and experience of “unusual suspects.” Unlike prizes, they reward a handful of winners (each of whom may have a different manner or approach to reaching the goal), rather than a single winner. They build communities of practice, inspire novel partnerships and enable cross-sectoral collaboration. Their impacts go beyond the identification of useful solutions to apply to a specific problem. They have the power to create new industries, markets, businesses, and leaders while extending the frontiers of possibility and capturing the public’s imagination. We want you to help us imagine the next Grand Challenges for Conservation - what wicked problems could innovation help us solve, what assumptions could be rethought, what entire economies or products could be disrupted?

+ Artist in Residence

Can you imagine a new world where advances in technology help us better achieve our advances in conservation? Use your skills in art, filmmaking, animation, anime, storytelling, to help us tell the story of how technology can empower and influence the future of conservation.

+ Podcast Development Producer

Communications and digital media students

Do you love all that there is to podcasting? We’d love someone to take an original podcast concept and dig into the details - planning and preparing the execution of a conservation innovation podcast like no other. You should be detail-oriented, have a passion for storytelling, and making and coordinating new connections.

+ Social Media Savant

Communications students

Do you love science communication and social media? Help us reach untapped audiences by coming up with new strategies for using the latest social networking tools. You will experiment with short video storytelling using social media tools such as TikTok, IGTV, Instagram Reels, or a new tool that could maximize our social potential. You should be passionate about telling stories about conservation solutions and finding innovators who will develop the next breakthroughs.

+ Endangered Genomes Guardian

Development of a database that correlates the IUCN/CITES list of vulnerable species with available species barcode sequences from all available data repositories. Analysis and synthesis of genetic and knowledge gaps across the complete range of endangered species. Application of assembled database to begin sequence alignment and assay development for key species in illegal wildlife trafficking and fraudulent species substitution that can be readily deployed for field use. Work will be performed under the guidance of a senior molecular scientist.

+ Future Sight

Optics Engineers

Investigation and concept generation of next generation detection systems for nucleic acids and proteins. Exploration of new and upcoming fluorescent dyes and indicators for use as molecular probes. Synthesis of possible detection technologies and techniques for non-fluorescent biomolecule detection and multiplex testing.

+ Materials Maven for Extinction

Investigation and planning of manufacturing, production, and practices that move beyond sustainability and into environmental regeneration. Particular focus on replacement materials for medical and biological plastics or recycling and reuse options for more sustainable production and consumption of these products. Investigation and planning of zero waste and regenerative practices for prototyping and laboratory research.

+ Universal UI Uniter

Exploration and concept generation of graphical user interface concepts that can be utilized by people across all languages and backgrounds. Graphical design and development of wireframes and processes for CXL tools and technologies under development. Exploration and analysis augmented and virtual reality interfaces for future integration to improve training and usability.