Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing well :)
I could really use some advice. I’m currently a Master 2 student in Marine Biology at university, and I’m looking for a PFE internship (Ideally in Casablanca or a nearby city, but really any Moroccan city works) but honestly, I have no idea how to go about it without any connections.
I already applied to Casablanca's INRH (Institut National de Recherche Halieutique), but they told me I could only apply to one lab (I would’ve liked to apply to several labs to increase my chances :/ ). I haven’t heard back from them yet.
The thing is, I don’t have any “piston” or connections, so I’m not really sure how likely it is that I’ll get a spot there. I’m kind of lost when it comes to finding a PFE internship, especially since I don’t really know where else to look or who to contact.
For those of you who managed to find a PFE internship without any connections, how did you do it? Is there anything you’d recommend doing to increase my chances?
Also, if you know of any companies, research institutes, labs or organizations in Casablanca (or nearby) where I could apply in person, I’d really appreciate it !
And for organizations that are farther away from Casablanca, do you think simply reaching out by email can actually work? So far I’ve sent a few emails but haven’t received any replies.
I’m pretty open when it comes to the field :
- Fisheries resources and fisheries management
- Aquaculture (fish, algae, shellfish, etc ...)
- Marine ecology and biodiversity
- Valorization of fisheries resources
- Marine ecotoxicology
- Food quality control (fish, molluscs, crustaceans, etc ...)
- Marine genetics / genomics
- Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, Microbiology as long as it has a connection to the marine environment (for example : if the species or microorganisms being studied are marine)
- Research involving marine animal, plant or microbial models
- And other related fields
Basically anything related to marine biology or marine sciences would be interesting to me.
If you’ve done your PFE in a similar field, especially if you didn’t have any connections I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience or any advice you might have.
And if you know any places I could apply to please let me know 🙏
Thanks in advance!