In 2005 i graduated with BSc honours in Zoology at Glasgow University in Scotland. During my student years I took part in one of the university expeditions to Ecuador and I helped organize another to Bolivia. While there I studied an array of animals from tropical birds in the Andes and the Amazon to leaf cutter ants, bats and, most inspiring of all, primates. In 2007 I started my MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes and the course has been able to award me with essential skills needed for a future career in conservation, such as; Primate Diversity and Biogeography (eg threats to primates, taxonomy, systematics, speciation, ecology, behaviour, biodiversity, habitat protection), Human Wildlife Conflict Issues (eg hunting, pest control, eco-tourism, economic pressures on forests, design and management of reserves and parks), Environmental Education (eg philosophy - the relationship of awareness to action, planning and practice)
Primate Conservations Genetics (eg DNA sequencing, studbooks, minimal viable populations), Research Methods in Primate Conservation (eg behavioural sampling, surveys, statistics, generating funding, museum studies) and Captive Management (eg enclosure design, breeding, display, rehabilitation).
I am now volunteering at The Colobus Trust while I complete my research on Galagos. While I am here I hope to use these skills I have gained and share my knowledge with those at the trust to help conserve the four species of primates found in this area. I also hope to gain vital experience from the staff here which I am sure I will. I have already learnt so much from them and been able to use my skills I have learnt through out the year while helping with the rehabilitation and captive management side of things, and hopefully my input here won’t go unnoticed.

Helen Simmons
Colobologist

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