Marine Science leads to Museum role

A fascination with the ocean is quite a typical phase for kids - and one that Jaever Santos never grew out of.
“I was always fascinated by the creepy stuff in the ocean. I remember as a primary school kid spending the afternoon with dad looking up pictures of deep-sea animals to put into a booklet on sea creatures and just finding a real affinity to that part of nature,” explains the AUT Marine Science alumni.

Jaever did his undergraduate science degree at University of Auckland, then took a year off and taught English in South Korea, before his affinity with marine life drew him back into postgraduate study. Following his passion for marine invertebrates, especially squid, he not only completed an AUT Master of Science in Marine Science (Research) but earned first class honours and made the AUT Dean's Honour Roll.

"My master’s research focused on taxonomy – the classification and naming of species and life on earth. My biggest milestone so far has been publishing my first scientific paper. Drawing on the results of my master’s research I described two new species of bottletail squid and I named them after my parents: Sepioloidea virgilioi and Sepioloidea jaelae,” he explains.

Graduate role in museum

After graduating with his Masters in 2020 Jaever landed a graduate role at Australian Museum as a digitising technical officer for the malacology (mollusc) collections.
“My role was to pioneer the collection’s digitisation plan, which centred around creating and updating digital records for our specimens. It was a huge job requiring skills in taxonomy, hazardous chemical handling, and accurate data entry,” he says.

After 18 months Jaever moved to a collections database support officer role within the same museum. In this role he spends about half his time on the helpdesk for the collection management system and training users. The rest of the time he is processing the data produced by digitisation projects and facilitating their ingest into the database.
“I also look at data policy – making sure we’re capturing the right information and in the right way to effectively share it with other institutions, scientists, and the public.”

Use of science skills

While not working on a coastline or seabed, Jaever says he is continually drawing on his science research skills in a very satisfying way. Understanding how science works is a big part of his job and his research background means he knows the value and nature of collections-based research.

“I’m privileged to work with so many taonga in such meaningful ways. It is incredible because I get to have my fingers in so many pies, from natural science collections to cultural collections to archival collections.”

Life skills

He has also continued to develop the communication skills that he honed during his teaching year in South Korea.
Jaever has to collaborate with internal and external museum stakeholders, so he regularly has to make information accessible through communication.
“For example, explaining technical concepts in training, problem solving with vendors and workshopping data standards.”

Cultural sensitivity is also invaluable in a museum environment, says Jaever.
“It’s important to remember scientific, cultural, and archival collections all coexist and connect. A good sense of cultural sensitivity is invaluable. I’m grateful that it this something familiar to most of us Kiwis.”

Jaever's stand out tips

• Be proactive about your passion to make sure you stand out, advises Jaever.
  “I decided getting research skills from a master’s degree would be a good start to standing out. As I was really interested in taxonomy and squid, I committed to a niche but passion-driven project.”
• Get involved in activities outside of uni that also help you upskill on the side, such as volunteering and research projects, he adds.
  “Networking is vital – ask around about people’s jobs, experiences, and maybe even find a mentor. It is important to have knowledge about the industry you want to get into and what skills are in demand.”

Careers in Science

• Another AUT alumni, Harri Raby, has found a different career pathway using his science qualification to get involved in conservation.
• Other career information about science majors can be found in our Future Career Sheet library here.