Adopt Shop Donate
Portrait of an adult gorilla close up at a short distance.

PSGB Conservation Grant

PRIMATE SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN CONSERVATION GRANT

Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) and Born Free Foundation offer an annual £1,500 grant to support primate range state nationals working with threatened primates.

Through this grant for work on endangered primate research and conservation, Born Free has supported many young career conservationists in their hopes to help threatened wildlife.

Over the years, our support has contributed to the study and protection of a wide variety of species, including the red-bellied guenon, the white-thighed colobus, olive colobus, Barbary macaques, mandrills, Preuss’ red colobus, western chimpanzees, the Caquetá Tití monkey, and the spider monkey.

Applications for the 2024 grant are now closed. Please check back here for information on the winners later in the year.

MEET OUR 2023 PSGB WINNER!

Born Free is pleased to announce that the 2023 winner of the PSGB Conservation Grant is Camille Wekesa from Ontulili Primates Protection (OPP).

OPP is a community-based organisation operating on a five mile (eight kilometre) stretch of the Ontulili river – a world renowned conservation area and home to several world heritage sites. The goal of this project is to secure and restore the Ontuilili River Riparian Corridor habitat, in the foothills of Mount Kenya, to conserve Mount Kenya black-and-white colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza kikuyuensis). The Ontulili river also supports other primates such as baboon and the Sykes’ monkey as well as various wildlife: leopard, serval cat, bushbuck, antelope, a large variety of birdlife, hyena, hyrax and many other species.

READ MORE ABOUT CAMILLE’S WORK

OPP’s main aims as a community-based organisation are to restore the riverine habitat along the Ontulili river, in Nanyuki, Kenya, educate the local community about human-primate coexistence and instil a love of nature, the environment and primates/wildlife to the next generation of young Kenyans through art education and creativity

Camille Wekesa, Chair OPP

Previous Winners

Tekou Ngunte Herve crouching amongst small crops

TEKOU NGUNTE HERVE

The 2022 Conservation Grant was awarded to Tekou Ngunte Herve for his work to protect mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) which are classed and Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in Campo Ma’an National Park, Cameroon, by halting the deforestation and degradation of their habitat, and tackling hunting and the bushmeat trade. "The mandrill is such an endangered primate. We must avoid losing them and give a future generation a chance to live alongside primates."
Eduardo Pinel standing on a path in a forest

EDUARDO PINEL

The 2021 Conservation Grant was awarded to Eduardo Pinel, from Honduras, to fund a study into spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in Mexico. “Thanks to the support of Born Free and PSGB, I was able to start my project focused on understanding the importance of spider monkeys in forest regeneration in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and at the same time evaluate the importance of these forests for the long-term conservation of the monkeys. I have also been able to meet very kind people with a great ancestral knowledge of the area and nature and visit incredible places.”
Laura Suárez head shot

LAURA SUAREZ RAMIREZ

In 2018, Laura Suarez Ramirez was awarded the PSGB Grant for her work on Colobus (Plecturocebus caquetensis), in Colombia. “Thanks to the grant, I managed to get the first record of a primate of the Amazon called Miller's saki, (Pithecia milleri) and it was published in the journal Neotropical Primates. I am deeply grateful to Born Free. From the grant, not only did I manage to contribute a little to the conservation of a threatened species of my country, but I also grew professionally and was filled with courage to fight for my desire to study, conserve and learn from primates.”
Paul Tehoda head shot

PAUL TEHODA

Paul Tehoda was awarded the Grant in 2017, to fund his project on western chimpanzees in the Bia Conservation Area, Ghana. “The Primate Society of Great Britain and the Born Free Foundation Primate Conservation Research Grant I received in 2017 was a stepping stone to strong foundation I have established in primate research and conservation in Ghana. This award was the first primate research grant I received to conduct an independent survey on the western chimpanzee in the Bia Conservation Area in southwestern Ghana. The grant helped leverage three additional funding grants later in the same year. The grant broadened my horizon in modern research techniques and paradigms in primate survey and conservation and positioned me to become a leader in western chimpanzee conservation in Ghana.”