Module Description: 
	
(UG) - This module will provide a in depth understanding and practice in developing key skills for conducting fieldwork on wild primates, especially in the application of important tools and methods for data collection. The module includes a fieldtrip and aims to help you understand and apply theoretical, practical, and analytical skills in primate behaviour and ecology, especially to assessing critical foods and other resources for primates, assessing animal population density, and designing digital data-collection tools using open-access software to answer scientific questions. You will also gain experience organising data and presenting findings, gaining critical experience in these techniques in a field setting. 

 

(PG) - This module will provide a in depth understanding and practice in developing key skills for conducting fieldwork on wild primates, especially in the application of important tools and methods for data collection. The module includes a fieldtrip and aims to help you understand and apply theoretical, practical, and analytical skills in primate behaviour and ecology, especially to assessing critical foods and other resources for primates, assessing animal population density, and designing digital data-collection tools using open-access software to answer scientific questions. You will also gain experience organising data and presenting findings, gaining critical experience in these techniques in a field setting. 

 


	Module Content:
	
The aim of this module is to foster an understanding and application of theoretical, practical, and analytical skills in primatological fieldwork, with particular emphasis on key initial steps in fieldwork, including establishing resource availability and distribution, building digital data collection tools using open-access software, mapping the spatial distribution of primates and key resources for spatial analyses, and present findings in a professional context.

 


	Learning Outcomes:
	
After completing the module, you should be able to:


	Learn and apply spatial tools (e.g. ArcGIS, QGIS) to create maps and analyze spatial patterns of a dataset;
	

	Plan a scientific study that addresses a gap in current knowledge;
	
	
	Synthesize observational behavioural data and/or assess resource distribution for wild primates using software platforms;
	
	
	Evaluate, interpret and present data from an independent field project that relies on the successful use of practical skills with reference to primate behaviour and/or conservation;
	
…and have command of the following transferrable skills


	Independent learning, working with initiative and minimal supervision;
	

	Independence of thought;
	
	
	Oral and written communication and presentation skills;
	
	
	Project design and execution;
	
	
	Practical skills in mapping key landscape features;
	
Time management.

 


	Delivery Method:
	
	
	This module is delivered through a combination of seminars and off-site fieldwork based in western Tanzania, East Africa.
	
Additional Information: 

You will receive on-going verbal feedback from peers and the module tutors/instructor on your indendent project development before executing it in the field. There will also be a progress meeting shortly after data collection begins to assess the early stages of the research.

Please note that this module is taught in the summer preceding the academic session towards which it contributes to. Interested students must therefore communicate their interest to the module convener during their 2nd year (3rd year for students on 4-year programmes).


	Note: This module will run only if covid travel restrictions are lifted