Jessica Wise Email & Phone Number

Role: To raise awareness of RZSS’ global conservation work thereby increasing our reach, donor base and charitable income through a comprehensive understanding of the charity’s mission and target audience.Skills: Ability to communicate, engage, and connect with a variety of audiences across a range of topics and platforms. Copywriting & Design: scripting, designing, and disseminating information across both online and in-person platforms. Digital Engagement: management of RZSS social media channels and website. Event Management: coordination of external talk schedules for use both inside and outside zoo sites. Customer Engagement: contribution to site development and signage projects, and development of educational materials. External Communication: establish relationships with key external contacts, partners and stakeholders to ensure delivery of project objectives. Internal Communication: represent RZSS conservation interests within internal departmental meetings to ensure up-to-date and consistent messaging.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Role: To train, manage, and lead the 20 strong team to ensure the provision of a 5-star experience for up to 5,000 daily visitors across the Edinburgh Zoo site.Skills: Management & Administrative: coordinate the running of the entry, exit, and access points, adjusting requirements based on seasonality, events, and business needs. Decision Making: lead incident responses and their impact across the site ranging from complaints and minor injuries to emergency service responses or site closures. Working to Targets: visitor engagement targets and monitored site appearance and facilities, keeping front of house staff up to date. Customer Engagement: tours to visiting groups, organising charitable experiences, answering questions around the site, handling complaints. Copywriting: working closely with Comms and Marketing teams to scripting visitor information across a variety of channels, assistance with signage and displays. Managing Expectations: balancing sensitive subjects (for example animal moves or deaths, complex environmental messages, or conservation challenges), with public expectations externally. Content Provision: for site-wide projects, from support roles to lead responsibilities, ranging from health and safety protocols, team engagement, facility updates, and vehicle procurement.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Role: Entrepreneur and FounderVision: ConservationWise aims to galvanise action from non-technical audiences through engagement with a travel and lifestyle blog & website to create a growing and connected online community. Skills: Design & Create Relevant Content: built website (WordPress and Wix) and established social presence. Regularly produce resources to empower individuals and demonstrate how together we can, and must, become more aware of our environment and make many small daily steps to reduce our footprint and impact. Assisting Active Conservation Projects: identifying and partnering with field projects in Indonesia and Malaysia with relevant researchers and conservationists. Volunteer Supervision & Mentoring: acting project coordinator for student projects. Leading recruitment, developing research aims, and managing the logistical requirements that come with organising international placements for university students.

I was responsible for recruiting and managing all volunteers and interns. This included organising and undertaking interviews, planning placement schedules and ensuring we fulfilled college and university contracts, I ran the induction and training events and maintained contact with the students/volunteers throughout their volunteer period. I was also in charge of ordering and sourcing volunteer uniforms and organising the associated back of house filing systems for volunteers and interns. I finalised and implemented a new Volunteer Handbook which as well as updating all the policies and procedures, involved coordinating the needs of the animal sections with the advertisement of placements. This was a previously undeveloped element of the placement process and I wrote detailed manuals for the sections alongside the senior keepers. Introducing and maintaining a new channel of communication with keepers and other department managers was an important aspect of the job. Managing workloads so they were in keeping with the legal limits for volunteers whilst ensuring they were beneficial for students and the keepers was a challenge I really enjoyed. I initiated partnerships with local universities and other organisations to build on the reputation of the placements we could offer and was putting together logistics to expand placements from the UK-based parks to the international projects.

Bristol, United Kingdom

I volunteered at BZG in the off-seasons and was employed as a Ranger during March - September/October for three successive years during my undergraduate degree. Acting as the main contact for visitors around the site, it was my responsibility to deliver the scheduled talks throughout the day and to oversee walk-through and interactive areas of the zoo. This included the Lemur Walkthrough, Feeding the Lorikeets, and the Butterfly House exhibits. During volunteer shifts I also spent time in the aquarium and Gorilla House and offered visitors additional information.

Work experience and weekend employment whilst I was at secondary school. I acted as an assistant to the nurses and was responsible for preparing samples, assisting with consultations and operations, and taking care of in-patients. I also assisted in clinics, on reception and I ran the weekly puppy class.

Applied Animal Behaviour And Animal Welfare. Master Of Science (Msc), Merit (69%)

Dissertation: Development of a Pain Assessment Scale for Captive Elephants. High merit achieved overall (72% in taught components, 67%.

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Conservation Biology, 1:1

Activities and Societies: I received a first class degree from UWE in Conservation Biology. Alongside achieving my degree I was a Student.

Education record

Activities and Societies: Being voted Head Girl in my final year allowed me to contribute to school decisions, having a seat in board.