Simon Husson

Project Director and leader of orangutan distribution and habitat monitoring projects. Simon started his orangutan research in the Sabangau in July 1995, as part of the University of Nottingham KALTROP research team. A zoology graduate, Simon studied large mammal populations in Nyika National Park, Malawi and Sweetwaters Reserve, Kenya before returning to Borneo in 1999 and establishing the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Research Project with Helen Morrogh-Bernard, Laura D'Arcy and Claire McLardy. Simon's research has been focused on studies of orangutan density and distribution throughout the Sabangau Ecosystem, providing the essential scientific basis for establishing protected-area status and conservation management plans for the region. This research has focused extensively on the application of nest-survey methods for accurately estimating orangutan density and Simon is regarded as a leading expert in this field. Simon coordinated large-scale surveys of orangutan density throughout Central Kalimantan for the 2004 Orangutan Population and Habitat Viability Analysis (PHVA); chaired the Central Kalimantan Working Group and co-wrote the final report (available here). As well as undertaking research, Simon is heavily involved with habitat management and restoration activities; collaborating with other scientists to better understand orangutan distribution and factors affecting their density and devloping strategic conservation management plans to protect priorty populations. Simon currently divides his time between Indonesia and the UK, completing a PhD at the Wildlife Research Group, University of Cambridge; managing the OuTrop Project and looking after his beautiful baby daughter.

Helen collecting data on wild orangutans

Helen Morrogh-Bernard

Project Director and Orangutan Behaviour Research Director. Helen began her research in the Sabangau Forest in July 1995 with the University of Nottingham KALTROP research team, returning in 1996 to complete her undergraduate zoology dissertation mapping orangutan density at the CIMTROP research site in the northern Sabangau Ecosystem. Helen then completed a Masters degree in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University, studying black rhinoceros behaviour in Sweetwaters Reserve in Kenya, before returning to Sabangau in 1999 with Simon, Laura and Claire. A six month sojourn to Negros Island in the Phillipines followed, working as a research manager for Coral Cay Conservation, before establishing the orangutan behaviour research project in the Sabangau in 2003. With a small and dedicated research team, Helen habituated 25 individuals and started collecting data on orangutan activity, ranging, social and feeding behaviour, identifying how orangutans were surviving in and utilising a logged forest. Helen now collaborates with a wide-range of scientists and research projects, comparing orangutan behaviour between geographical locations, habitats and islands, helping to build up a complete picture of the ecology of this cryptic ape. Helen is completing her PhD at the Wildife Research Group, University of Cambridge and continues to oversee the behaviour research in the Sabangau with personal research interests focusing on male-male interactions and the unique cultural traits of the Sabangau orangutan population. She visits the Sabangau research site when her demanding daughter allows!

Laura D'Arcy

Volunteer Program Director and leader of forest regeneration research. Laura met Helen and Simon at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1998 and came to Sabangau for the first time in 1999 to carry out research on forest structure and beetle abundance for her masters degree in Conservation Biology. Laura returned to Sabangau in 2001 to help establish the OuTrop Volunteer Program. Laura committed herself to looking after the needs and whims of volunteers every year until 2006 when she took a well-earned break, having quickly estbalished a reputation as a firm but fair leader, ensuring that volunteers both enjoyed themselves and collected high-quality data at the same time. It is perhaps unsuprising that Laura has entered the teaching profession, teaching geography to secondary school students in London. Laura still finds time to visit Sabangau during the school holidays, monitoring her permanent regeneration plots, and continues to administer the volunteer program from the UK.

Susan Cheyne

Gibbon Behaviour Research Director. Susan started working in Kalimantan in 2001 as a researcher for the Kalaweit Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, studying the success of rehabilitating and releasing ex-captive gibbons into a natural forest. This formed the basis for her PhD at the Wildlife Research Group, University of Cambridge which Susan completed in 2004, after which she joined the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Research Project to set up a project studying the ecology of agile gibbons. Susan has successfully habituated seven groups of gibbons, a notoriously difficult task, and has collected many hours of very interesting observations. Susan is particularly interested in group dynamics and social interactions. As well as behaviour research, she has carried out surveys of gibbon density and is monitoring long-term density at several locations in the Sabangau Forest. Susan is currently a post-doctoral researcher at WildCru, University of Oxford, president of Kalaweit UK and advises on gibbon conservation, welfare and reintroduction. You can read all about Susan's activities on her Gibbon Blog.

Our current field managers are Rosalie, Ben and Bernie. Rosalie is our Field Project Manager, in charge of volunteers and the day-to-day running of the project. Rosalie volunteered with OuTrop in 2003, returning as a field assistant in 2004 and carried out orangutan parasite research in 2005. Ben is the Orangutan Behaviour Project Manager. He previously worked for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in eastern DR Congo and Rwanda, and has now fully made the switch from archaeology to zoology. Bernie is the Gibbon Behaviour Project Manager. A native of Barcelona, Bernie has previously studied woolly monkeys in Argentina and card-tricks in Spain.