Internships

We offer different types of internships:

Scientific internships:

Bachelor or Master thesis internship
research helper internship

Non-scientific internships:

animal keeper assistant internship
visitor program & administration internship

All internships are fulltime and unpaid, as well as free of charge. Find out how we work with, and train, our animal partners, and how a complex place like the WSC is managed.

General tasks during the internship

Next to the tasks genuine to your type of internship (see below), interns are to a limited extent, supporting the WSC in general tasks, such as:

assisting in animal caretaking and food preparation
keeping the facilities clean: cleaning the kitchen, test rooms and enclosures
assisting with the experiments: preparing treats for the animals, preparing the enclosure or room for the test, filming experiments
public relations: giving tours, opening our souvenir shop, attending walks with wolves, answering the phone
observations: observing and taping animal behaviour, assisting in storing and naming videos and report writing

Animal contact is generally restricted in alignment with our safety rules.

Accommodation

For a moderate infrastructure fee we offer accommodation at the WSC. As usual for a shared house, everyone has to contribute to keeping it tidy.

We ask for your understanding that it is not possible to bring pets. Smoking is prohibited in all rooms and in the enclosures and research facilities in general.

Vaccinations

Due to the work outside and with the animals, a valid Tetanus and TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) vaccination received well BEFORE your arrival is mandatory for working at the WSC. Please bring your vaccination record.

Insurance

All interns have to have their own, in Austria valid health insurance for the entire duration of their stay. If you are an EU citizen, please check with your provider that your health insurance is active for Austria. If you do not have any, there are many possible insurance providers: search for “Visitor Health Insurance Austria” or “Travel Insurance longer stay Austria”. For example: EU/Schengen-Visum-Reiseversicherung

Application Deadline

We accept applications all year long.

Decisions are made after December 1st for a start between March and September of the forthcoming year.

After May 1st, decisions are made for a start between October and February of the forthcoming year.

Application Conditions

You need to be at least 18 years old to apply for an internship.

Please send your application in English, including a Europass CV, a motivational letter and two letters of recommendation to internships@wolfscience.at. Do not forget to mention which type of internship you are applying for and in which time period you are available.

Interns will start with a one month trial period. If that works mutually well, the internship continues for the full time period.

Bachelor or Master thesis internship

Bachelor or master projects at the WSC are generally supervised by established scientists such as Ass.-Prof. Dr. Range, Dr. Viranyi, Prof. Dr. Kotrschal or Dr. Marshall-Pescini. Project proposals by established scientists are also welcome.

Interns are expected to work on a research question and methods together with their supervisor. This includes the writing of a proposal, taking and analysing the data and writing a report, usually in the form of a scientific publication in English. The majority of the internship should be done at the WSC. All interns are asked to give a final presentation on their results at the WSC before leaving the WSC.

Taking the data at the WSC may take around 6 months. For the entire thesis work, please plan a time period of at least 8 months.

Research helper internship

This internship is intended for students in biology, ethology, ecology or psychology, etc. who want to gain hands-on insight into scientific work.

Research assistants usually support bachelor, master or PhD projects of other students; they are generally not working on their own project. This allows interns to receive detailed insight into approaches and methods in scientific projects and can thereby gain experience for their own future bachelor or master thesis. Depending on the degree of participation in a project, co-authorship in a resulting paper may be negotiable. A final report of the internship in a form agreed upon has to be written in all cases.

A research helper internship at the WSC takes at least 6 months.

Application Deadline

We accept applications all year long (no deadlines).

Application Conditions

You need to be at least 18 years old to apply for an internship.

Please send your application in English or German, including a Europass CV and a motivational letter to internships@wolfscience.at. Do not forget to mention which type of internship you are applying for and in which time period you are available.

Four months presence is required for these internships; however, six months stays will be preferred. Interns will start with a one month trial period. If that works mutually well, the internship continues for the full time period.

Animal keeper assistant internship

An animal keeper assistant helps with the daily tasks arising in animal keeping and maintenance. One can gain insight into animal keeping and training. Furthermore, often our interns take over responsibility for certain areas of work, such as ordering food, organizing tours, etc.

Please make sure that this internship is also credited by your institution, should you need/want this.

Visitor program & administration internship

This internship is mainly intended for students of tourism, economics and related disciplines.

The WSC is a middle-sized enterprise necessitating organization of many different tasks. Next to the work with the animals, the complex logistics of the WSC is supported by a sophisticated and diverse administration.

According to the current needs and intern wishes, the intern supports the WSC in tasks like event organization, holding visitor tours, developing and selling shop products, customer care, updating the social media appearance, etc..