Predator Free 2050 Limited is asking developers and graduates to consider new products and research that will fast track the eradication of stoats, possums and rats from New Zealand.

Predator Free 2050 Limited Chief Executive Abbie Reynolds said “we’re inviting our brightest minds to consider what they can do for Aotearoa – to bring back our amazing native birds, lizards, insects and bats.”

“If we’re going to make large areas of the mainland predator free, we need improved tools and advanced research capability.”

Funding from the government’s Jobs for Nature programme is available to support up to 10 product developments and 15 research enquiries by PhD and Post-Doc candidates.

The company is expecting ideas for improved detection and eradication of predators in inaccessible areas, longer-life power solutions, lures that attract over long distances, affordable camera traps and novel barriers that can restrict predator movement.

It is encouraging graduates across a wide range of disciplines to consider how their research could be applied to the Predator Free 2050 mission.

A previous ‘Products to Projects’ funding round, backed by the Provincial Growth Fund, has brought a dozen new predator management products into production, some of them already making a difference in the field.

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