MSc project options at WEN

Tropical forest fragmentation, driven by land-use change such as oil palm expansion, has profound impacts on biodiversity. Understanding how species respond to edge effects within these fragmented landscapes is critical for conservation planning. This research, based in Central Kalimantan and hosted by WWF Indonesia, uses bioacoustic monitoring to investigate how species composition shifts near forest edges in oil palm-dominated regions. 

Under the supervision of a PhD student, two students will contribute to this project. One will focus on species recognition using acoustic data, while the other will analyze ecological patterns through soundscape metrics. Both projects integrate fieldwork – although this is not a requirement and the project can also be entirely based in the Netherlands - with a strong analytical component, applying innovative bioacoustic methods and coding-based data analysis to gain insights into biodiversity in human-altered tropical ecosystems. 

The Pangolin Conservation & Research Foundation (PCRF) offers supervised student research placements focused on the ecology and conservation of pangolins in Namibia. Based in remote field sites such as the Nyae Nyae Conservancy and the Waterberg Plateau, students will contribute to ongoing conservation research aimed at understanding pangolin behavior, habitat needs, and their ecological role in savanna and woodland ecosystems. 

Students may engage in diverse research themes, including feeding ecology, burrow use by multiple species, habitat preferences, and biodiversity assessments using camera traps and bioacoustic monitoring. Projects typically combine fieldwork—using tools such as GPS/VHF tracking and acoustic devices—with data analysis to generate insights that inform conservation policy and practice. 

Fieldwork is often physically demanding and conducted in remote, rustic settings. A minimum three-month commitment is required, and students are expected to contribute to daily project costs. PCRF provides training, logistical support, and supervision by experienced conservationists. These placements are ideal for students interested in wildlife conservation, behavioral ecology, and applied field research in one of Africa’s most biodiverse and conservation-driven countries. 

In de rainforest of Suriname, animals and indigenous/tribal peoples live alongside each other and human-wildlife interactions are a daily part of life. Agoutis, pacas, deer and peccaries visit crop fields and often eat, trample and destroy crops. Villagers are highly dependent on cassava, rice and vegetables from their crop fields, and crop foraging by these animals can thus lead to emotional and financial damage, as well as food insecurity. Very little is known about these interactions between indigenous people and crop foraging mammals. To understand why animals choose to eat crops instead of wild food, I have collected millions of camera trap pictures from crop fields and the forest, as well as data on wild and cultivated food availability. Now, I am looking for students who want to help with analysing this wealth of data. By annotating camera pictures and analysing them together with ecological or behavioural data, we will try to understand why animals forage on crops.  

Projects can range from trying to understand vigilant behaviour in animals, to building spatio-temporal models to unravel the trade-off between food availability and fear for crop foraging mammals. Since I only offer data-based projects at the moment (fieldwork has sadly come to an end) and my datasets are large and complex, some experience with programming (or a willingness to learn!) is an advantage. I am happy to discuss research questions proposed by students, as long as they fit within the larger frame of my PhD project. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!  

Understanding how recreation exerts stress on animals is an ongoing challenge in science. In this project we want to understand how roe deer use their energy budget in recreation disturbed areas compared to recreation free areas.   

Plant–animal interactions are fundamental to structure and  functioning of tropical forests, yet they are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures. Key herbivores such as tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) disperse seeds of hundreds of plant species, while also exerting browsing pressure on tree seedlings. Although defaunation effects on seed dispersal are well studied, the ecological role of browsing is often overlooked - partly due to a lack of generalizable insights into how reduced browsing impacts plant communities.  

Important questions remain: Which seedling traits drive herbivore selectivity? And how does reduced browsing affect seedling diversity and functional composition? 

As part of my PhD, I study how large tropical herbivores like tapirs and brocket deer selectively browse plant species, and how this affects forest composition over time. We combine camera trapping, leaf trait measurements, and long-term seedling monitoring. We work across sites that differ in hunting pressure, within the remote tropical rainforests of French Guiana. 

I'm looking for enthusiastic MSc students to join me in the field (3 months) and help with data analysis in Utrecht. You’ll be part of an international team, and your work will directly contribute to our understanding of tropical forest resilience in a changing world. Projects (major, minor, mini) can be tailored to your interests and background. Field experience is a plus, but not essential—motivation and being comfortable working in remote rainforest conditions are more important. Selection will occur soon due to the fieldwork starting in September — get in touch quickly if you’re interested!