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The Nicholas Institute is seeking a student intern for summer 2026 (with option to start during Spring 2026 semester), supporting our work to develop guidance on scaling finance for the restoration of mangrove and related ecosystems. Our team at the Nicholas Institute Oceans Program is working to: - perform a meta-analysis of the state-of-the-science on mangrove restoration approaches and techniques as well as indicators of restoration success;
- understand factors that affect return on investment in mangrove restoration;
- understand enabling conditions for financing different mangrove restoration practices;
- build, from existing sources, a global mangrove restoration project database that would be the population from which a sample of 4-6 projects would be analyzed in term of cost-benefit in a comparative case study (initial case study locations include Indonesia, Pakistan, West Africa, Colombia, and perhaps China, or Belize);
- provide guidance on investment as well as on policy and regulatory enabling conditions for scaling restoration finance.
During summer 2026, and before (if the research assistant is available) two linked analyses will be the foci of this project: a meta-analysis and database development examining enabling factors for successful restoration, and a comparative case study with cost-benefit analysis across selected projects. The intern’s primary role will be to help carry out the literature searches, extract quantitative and qualitative data from peer reviewed and grey literature in a systematic way, create and populate an Excel database of mangrove restoration projects, and help prepare for the semi-structured interviews in the expert elicitation part of the project. Other project work will include synthesizing information and data on the costs and benefits of mangrove restoration projects in the Excel database. This position will report to Assistant Policy Research Director Tibor Vegh and program director John Virdin. The intern will also work with collaborators including United Nations FAO staff, and researchers at Duke and other institutions. This is a full-time (40 hours/week), paid position for summer 2026. Work will be conducted in person or on a hybrid model. This position is open to students enrolled at Duke University. Key Tasks- Literature searches
- Literature review and synthesis
- Developing semi-structured interview methodology
- Creating and populating Excel database of mangrove restoration projects
- Engaging with project client and subject matter experts to get feedback on analysis methods, preliminary results, and deliverables
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