My Internship Experience at WWF, Hong Kong

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Kim Minji

Placement Site: WWF, Hong Kong

Over the past six months (second half of 2025), my placement at WWF Hong Kong has given me a much more grounded and realistic understanding of what conservation work looks like in practice, especially in a busy urban context like Hong Kong. I went in expecting a mix of fieldwork, data analysis, community engagement, and maybe some exposure to sustainable finance, and I did experience elements of all of these, just in quieter, more iterative ways than I had initially imagined.

Figure 1: First day at WWF

As the placement progressed, my portfolio shifted more toward communication and campaign support. In the fifth month, I co-developed social media content linking local biodiversity to different dimensions of health, from physical resilience to mental well-being in urban life. This work sat at the intersection of what I study and what WWF does: I drew on concepts from my HKU courses about environmental determinants of health and behaviour change, and helped translate technical conservation ideas into accessible, relatable messages for the public. It also exposed me to WWF Hong Kong’s growing focus on nature-based wellbeing, such as activities in wetlands and reserves that support mental health and stress relief. Seeing how those messages were carefully checked for accuracy, ethics, and inclusivity reminded me that NGO communication is not just “marketing,” but part of maintaining scientific credibility and long-term trust with the public.

Figure 2: A snapshot of the wetlands from the WWF Mai Po Nature Reserve

Figure 3: Photos from WWF conservation presentations

Figure 4: A moment from the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park in Sai Kung

Across my journals and the post-placement report, one recurring theme is how much invisible work underpins high-level outcomes. Many of my tasks, editing paragraphs, formatting slides, transcribing survey responses, and cleaning data, felt small in the moment but later reappeared in campaigns, policy recommendations, and internal reports. This helped me see WWF Hong Kong as its own kind of ecosystem, where interns, officers, and senior staff each contribute different pieces that eventually come together into something coherent and impactful. It also challenged my early, slightly romanticized idea of NGOs as mainly “field-based”; in reality, a lot of conservation impact depends on communication, logistics, and patient, incremental progress.

Personally, the placement pushed me out of my comfort zone in ways that matched what I wrote in my pre-placement expectations about wanting to build resilience, self-awareness, and confidence. Not every day was exciting, some work was repetitive, and there were times when my ideas could not be implemented, or drafts needed significant revisions. Learning to accept constructive feedback, manage small disappointments, and still take pride in incremental improvements was a big part of my growth. Over time, I stopped seeing myself only as “just an intern” and began to feel more like a legitimate contributor: someone who could propose ideas, bridge academic knowledge with practice, and take ownership of pieces of a project.

Figure 5: Conducting sustainable tourism surveys at Central Market

The placement also clarified my long-term interests. Conversations with colleagues, including those working on sustainable finance, reinforced my curiosity about how capital can be directed toward environmental and social impact, especially in a hub like Hong Kong. At the same time, working on tourism, biodiversity–health content, and public engagement strengthened my belief that technical solutions only work when they are communicated well and grounded in people’s lived realities. As I move forward, I carry with me not only a stronger commitment to sustainability but also a deeper desire to pursue “multiplicity” in my career, to sit at the intersections of finance, conservation, and global health, while staying true to who I am.