Wild Fungi DNA volunteers training

This mixed-delivery course is intended for people who want to volunteer on the Wild Fungi DNA project. The course is mixed delivery, with theoretical components happening online, labwork happening at Mycelium Lab in Thornbury and fieldwork happening in Wombat State Forest. The aim is to train up a group of committed volunteers who can then assist with the project and also help train other volunteers.

There are places available for the field and lab components which are being funded by ACFE through our partner organisation Haddon Community Learning Centre as well as through an equipment grant from the Australian Citizen Science Association. Signing up for this part is conditional on making a commitment to continue volunteering with the project in future. There are extra place for people who just want to take part in the online component. As part of this course you will learn:

• An introduction to fungal ecology and conservation
• Basic laboratory techniques
• Microscopy
• Laboratory and field work OH&S
• How to use citizen science tools such as iNaturalist
• How to identify fungi
• How to collect fungi for herbarium specimens
• How to collect fungi for DNA 
• How to extract, amplify and sequence DNA samples
• How to take cultures of fungi and manage collections
   

Theory sessions (online):
6pm-7:30pm February 14th and 25th, March 14th and 28th, April 4th, 11th and May 25th and 23rd

Laboratory work:
Saturday 12pm-4pm February 5th, 19th, March 5th and April 2nd  

Field work:
10am-6pm May 14th and 15th

Ten ACFE fully funded places are available for people who are:

• Over 16
• Not attending school
• Living in Victoria
• Agree to fill in the form and provide a Medicare number (as proof of ID)
• Commit to volunteering on the Wild Fungi DNA project after the course

As there are only limited spaces we ask people to explain a little bit about who you are and why you want to volunteer. While there are only limited places at the moment, we want everyone to be able to volunteer and if people miss out this time we will endeavour to provide future training opportunities. If you sign up but then aren't able to attend, please let us know so we can open up spaces for other people.