World-leading primate expert Dr Gráinne McCabe has been appointed as the new head of conservation science of the Bristol Zoological Society.
Dr McCabe, pictured, will head the conservation science and research team at the Bristol Zoological Society – which operates Bristol Zoo Gardens and the recently-opened Wild Place Project at Cribbs Causeway. 
She will lead the society’s growing team of higher education and research officers and develop and implement a proactive research strategy and programme in collaboration with the director of conservation.
Other responsibilities will include managing and developing research aspects of the society’s vital conservation projects overseas in collaboration with the head of conservation programmes.
Competition for the position was steep with applicants from all over the world.
Dr McCabe said: “I look forward to continuing and expanding the excellent tradition of conservation research that has been undertaken by the Bristol Zoological Society here in the UK and around the globe.”
Dr McCabe received her PhD in anthropology from the University of Texas for her study on the reproductive ecology of the Sanje Mangabey in Tanzania. She also received an MA from the University of Calgary, Canada, in primatology.
She has spent many years working in the field on primate conservation in Tanzania, specialising in primate behaviour and ecology. Her research focuses on how local ecology, such as the availability of nutritious food, influences reproduction in wild monkeys in Costa Rica and Tanzania, to gain a better understanding of the factors impacting reproductive success.
The society’s director of conservation, Dr Christoph Schwitzer, said: “It is great to have Gráinne work with us here and I could not think of anyone better skilled to lead the conservation science department and our growing higher education provision.”
