PSGB 50th Anniversary

Last week (November 28 – 29), the Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) hosted a conference in order to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Wow, 50 years! What an amazing accomplishment! I have only been part of this society for a couple of years, but it has been an great experience so far. The PSGB organises two meetings each year: a Spring Meeting and a Winter Meeting. During these conferences there are ample opportunities to present a poster and/or to give an oral presentation. On top of that, you have the chance to listen to the wonderful talks of amazing primate researchers, to explore their research posters, and to enhance your networking skills by meeting with and talking to fellow primatologists. I would encourage you all to attend one of these conferences, if you have not already done so!

This Winter Meeting was an extra special one due to its 50th anniversary celebrations. Keynote speakers were Dr. Jane Goodall and Prof. Frans de Waal. As could be expected, Dr. Jane Goodall gave a wonderful and inspiring talk about her life’s work: studying chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, and promoting animal conservation across the globe. She stressed that every individual can make a difference for all living things and their environment. Amongst others, her conservation efforts include the Jane Goodall Institute’s projects in Africa that effectively involve local people in the conservation and development of their own environment, and the Roots and Shoots global education programme for young people (see http://www.janegoodall.org.uk/ for more information). Prof. Frans de Waal gave an excellent talk on exploring animal cooperation. His review concluded that, contradictory to what was previously declared, human cooperation is not a “huge anomaly” within the natural world. Various fabulous videos made it undoubtedly clear that other animals, including non-human primates, are very capable of this as well. For more information on Prof. de Waal’s studies and research, see http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/people/dewaal.shtml.

Day 1 of the conference focussed mainly on conservation issues, and included wonderful talks from various prominent primatologists. For example, Dr. Susan Cheyne gave a talk on the conservation of primates in peatlands in Borneo, Prof. Joanna Setchell talked about including ethnographic data into conservation studies, and Prof. Anna Nekaris spoke about conservation education. On top of that, Prof. John Oates received a PSGB Conservation Medal! In the light of primate conservation, one major point that was brought forward during this day by Prof. Ian Redmond was that keeping primates as pets is still legal in the UK! So, if you haven’t signed a petition against the primate pet trade yet, please do so! Primates are not pets!

Day 2 of the conference hosted many more fabulous presentations, including talks from Prof. Robin Dunbar on primate social evolution, from Prof. Ann MacLarnon on the importance of faeces, and from Prof. Bernard Wood on human evolution. The day ended with a wonderful talk from Prof. Hannah Buchanan-Smith with a very important message: As primatologists, we are the ambassadors of the primate species. It is our responsibility to promote primate welfare!

As a part of the conference, I also got the opportunity spent 1 minute on stage to present (part of) my own research and poster! Very scary, of course, on such a big stage, but very encouraging with such an amazing and supportive audience! It was also a great opportunity to discuss my poster with interested people!

So all in all, a fantastic conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Primate Society of Great Britain! I heard many interesting talks, met many wonderful people, and got the chance to catch up with some of my amazing LEAP and Issa/ Tanzania colleagues!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Kelly

kvanleeuwen@bournemouth.ac.uk