Meeting

 

The Belgian Group for Primatology

and the FNRS Contact Group ‘Primatologie’

held their joint meeting on

Tuesday October 22, 2024

 at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

Brussels

 Our two guest speakers gave a lecture on their ongoing research  

  •       Serge WICH, PhD

(School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK)

 Conservation, drones, and machine learning

  •       Eva GAZAGNE, PhD

            (Research Unit SPHERES, University of Liège, Belgium)

 Thermal drones in primate research: Field applications to detection index

 

We warmly invite students and researchers to present an oral communication in English

(15 min + 5 min discussion) during our meeting.

Please send your presentation title to the organizers:

  • Fany Brotcorne (ULiège)  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   and
  • Régine Vercauteren Drubbel (ULB)  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

by October 10, 2024 so that we can finalize and distribute the program on time.

As usual, there is no registration fee to attend the BGP meeting.

We would be delighted to welcome you  and are looking forward to your participation !

 

Fany Brotcorne (ULiège)

Secretary, FNRS Contact Group

Régine Vercauteren Drubbel (ULB)

President, BGP

     

   Prof. Serge WICH

is a dedicated biologist and conservationist specializing in primate behavioural ecology, tropical rainforest ecology, and primate habitat conservation. After beginning his studies at the University of Amsterdam, he obtained his PhD from Utrecht University in 2002. Following a postdoctoral position at Utrecht, he joined the Great Ape Trust of Iowa as a scientist and later worked with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program and the University of Zurich. Since 2012, he has been a professor of Primate Biology at Liverpool John Moores University, UK.

Serge’s research focuses on orangutans but he also studies other primates as well as non-primate species. He combines observational and experimental methods to study animal behaviour, distribution, and the effects of land use changes. As a pioneer in conservation technology, he co-founded ConservationDrones.org and ConservationAI, utilizing drones and AI to advance ecological research. With a strong background in quantitative research, GIS, and drone technology, Professor Wich is also an experienced consultant, contributing to both academic and industrial sectors. His dedication to conservation science has made him a leading figure, widely recognized for his contributions to research and education.

      Dr Eva GAZAGNE

is a biologist who specialized in primate ecology and conservation early in her career. Her doctoral research, which she successfully defended in 2020 through a joint program between the University of Liège and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand, focused on understanding the response mechanisms of the northern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonina) to habitat degradation pressures in Thailand.

Convinced of the urgency to develop non-invasive and effective primate monitoring techniques for conservation purposes, Dr. Gazagne then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at ULiège, in collaboration with Vietnam, funded by the FNRS. This project aims to validate the use of thermal drones for surveying, monitoring, and studying the ecology of a primate community in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. Eva is involved in numerous research and conservation projects, mainly in Asia, where she leverages her expertise in ecological modelling and thermal drone monitoring.

 

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The BGP organizes joint meetings with the FNRS contact group ‘Primatology’.

The meeting focuses on prestigious invited speakers giving a plenary lecture and on scientific communications presented by students and researchers from Belgian Universities or Institutions. A meeting may also be devoted to a workshop gathering different research teams together to highlight one specific topic.

Access to those meetings is free !

If you want to be informed of our forthcoming meetings, please contact the BGP to subscribe to the mailing list and/or become a BGP member and receive at your postal address our newsletter 2 times / year.