This project suits for a student who is highly motivated to make an impact on wildlife conservation activities, support climate change mitigation and fight against poaching activities. The student will be supported and advised by a team including academics and PhD students. This project is a collaboration between Cardiff University’s Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/danau-girang-field-centre), School of Bioscience and the School of Computer Science.

Danau Girang Field Centre (Borneo) is located with Kinabatangan wildlife sanctuary, Sabah, Malaysia. Borneo is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world. School of Bioscience conducts extensive research around this sanctuary to tackle challenges in both conservation and climate change. In this regard understanding, both history and the current situation is vital. This project is suitable for a research-oriented student capable of conducting independent research and defining their own project scope as there are many ways to complete the project.

Your objective is to gather as much as open data available about Kinabatangan forest and river and use data science techniques (e.g., time-series data visualisation) to tell a story to help researchers understand how this area has changed over time. It is up to you to gather as much open data sets as possible. For example, you may use satellite data, weather data, etc. show to develop an interactive data science app. For example and to get inspired, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdtoFmJ-bw sample code: https://towardsdatascience.com/a-complete-guide-to-an-interactive-geographical-map-using-python-f4c5197e23e0

Example data: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/45a99692-d424-45bc-adcd-f81d2c259e57/above-ground-carbon-density-derived-from-lidar-data-over-oil-palm-plantations-in-malaysian-borneo-2014

At the end of completing the project (distinction level or very close), the student will be given the opportunity to visit Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah, Malaysia. Expenses are fully paid by the university. This is visit is not compulsory. The students get to choose not to visit as well. Our past research are listed here: https://sites.google.com/view/forestobservatory/home