Overview

The main objective of my research is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms that enable human-wildlife coexistence. I have a particular interest in the drivers of resource competition, disease transmission, and aggressive interactions between human and nonhuman great apes in shared landscapes. Comprehensively examining interactions requires an understanding of the ways in which wildlife respond to the costs and benefits of anthropogenic habitats, and how local people perceive and respond to sympatric wildlife, as well as land and resource management rules. To do this effectively demands a cross-disciplinary skills base, and my research increasingly combines biological, ecological, and social science approaches. A goal of my research is to work with different stakeholders to generate locally appropriate and culturally sensitive solutions to biodiversity conservation.

I ensure that my work has real-world impact through (1) using scientific evidence to inform conservation action; (2) developing National and Regional conservation action plans; (3) collaborating with Government Organisations in the countries I work, and (4) influencing policy through active membership of professional conservation bodies including the Great Ape Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group.

I conduct fieldwork in West Africa, including research on wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou in Guinea, and various wildlife species including chimpanzees and colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus temminckii) at Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau. I supervise students working on human-great ape interactions across Africa, and have supervised dissertations on various aspects of wildlife behaviour and conservation across Africa, Asia, and the Neotropics. I am a member of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG) Section on Great Apes (SGA); COVID-19 working group; Section on Chimpanzee Culture and Conservation; Section on Human-Primate Interactions, and the Conservation Working Party of the Primate Society of Great Britain.

Broad research specialisms:

Human-wildlife coexistence
Great ape behaviour, ecology, and cognition
Primate conservation

Qualifications

2019  Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

2007  Ph.D. in Evolutionary Psychology, University of Stirling, UK

2002  B.Sc .(Hon.) in Zoology, University of Liverpool, UK

Career

2021- Programme Lead for MSc Conservation and Biodiversity: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/biosciences/conservation/

2019-   Senior Lecturer in Conservation Science, University of Exeter, UK

2018-2019 Lecturer in Biosciences, University of Exeter, UK

2015-2018 University Research Fellow (FCT), Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA-FCSH/NOVA), Portugal     

2013-2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oxford Brookes University, UK         

2010 Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Kyoto University, Japan

2008-2012 Postdoctoral Research Fellow (FCT), New University of Lisbon, Portugal

Links

• The Conservation Science Hub at Exeter

Research group links

• Animal Behaviour

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Research

Research interests

My interests in Animal Behaviour and Conservation Science are broad, and I am currently conducting research in four diverse, but interlinked, areas: (1) human-wildlife interactions and applied animal conservation, (2) primate behavioural flexibility and cognition in anthropogenic habitats, (3) great ape tool-use and material culture, and (4) wildlife use of ethanol.

Human-wildlife interactions

In my approach to studying theoretical and applied aspects of human-wildlife interactions, I combine social science methods with an understanding of how animals perceive, and respond to, anthropogenic environments at a local- and landscape-level. I conduct research on resource competition (crops, wild foods, space), disease transmission, and aggressive interactions between sympatric humans and chimpanzees across equatorial Africa. I am interested in the influence of anthropogenic factors on wildlife presence and distribution in human-impacted landscapes, and how human perceptions about wildlife impact tolerance levels towards sympatric and sometimes problematic species. A goal of my research is to work with different stakeholders to build capacity and generate locally appropriate and transparent solutions for biodiversity conservation in an effort to reduce conservation conflicts.

Primate behavioural flexibility in anthropogenic habitats

I am interested in the physical, behavioural, and cognitive characteristics of primates and other wildlife that allow them to persist in proximity to people. I am particularly passionate about exploring the ways in which primate responses to fast-changing anthropogenic landscapes, with shrinking forested areas and more mosaic habitats, provide a contemporary situation for understanding evolutionary aspects of their cognition and flexibility. I am also keen to consider ways in which understanding animal behaviour and cognition in the wild can assist in conservation efforts, for example, through increasing animal perception of risk when exploiting human parts of the environment such as roads and plantations.

Great ape tool-use and material culture

Knowledge about nonhuman great ape behaviour, cognitive capacities, and technology is important to shed light on human behaviour, our evolutionary history, and on the evolutionary origins of the earliest human technology. We are currently exploring the tool-use repertoire and ecological drivers of technological and behavioural variation of chimpanzee populations in forest and savanna habitats in Guinea-Bissau. As these sites are impacted by humans in different ways, I am particularly interested in how great ape material culture is changing in response to human presence and activities.

Wildlife use of ethanol

Ethanol is naturally consumed by a variety of taxa, from invertebrates to vertebrates, including mammals. I am interested in the evolutionary origins of ethanol consumption in humans, and although there are numerous anecdotes about wild primates ingesting ethanol, almost all remain non-validated. In collaboration with colleagues from the USA, we combine paleogenetics and ecological research to test hypotheses about the evolutionary origins of primate ethanol consumption through resurrecting key components of the ethanol metabolizing pathway in our distant ancestors, and applying scientific rigor to investigate the ethanol content of food in primate habitat and the consumption patterns of these foods.

Research networks

Member: The Bossou and Nimba International Research Team, Guinea & Japan http://www.greencorridor.info/index.html

Member: The Centre for Research in Anthropology, Portugal
http://cria.org.pt/wp/en/about/

International Collaborator: The Leading Graduate Program in Primatology and Wildlife Science, Kyoto University, Japan
http://www.wildlife-science.org/en/collaborators.html#ic

International Collaborator: The Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP), Guinea-Bissau
https://www.ibapgbissau.org/index.php/about

Long-term collaborators:
Dr Dora Biro: http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/view/biro_d.htm
Dr Matthew Carrigan: http://ffame.org/mcarrigan.php
Dr Susana Carvalho: https://www.icea.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-susana-carvalho#tab-1-2
Prof Amélia Frazão Moreira: http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/faculdade/docentes/maf
Prof Catherine Hill: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/social-sciences/staff-and-students/academic-staff/?wid=academic-staff&op=full&uid=p0072741
Prof Tetsuro Matsuzawa: http://www.matsuzawa.kyoto/cv/en/
Dr Matthew McLennan: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/social-sciences/staff-and-students/academic-staff/?wid=academic-staff&op=full&uid=p0026444

Grants/Funding:

2024 Darwin Initiative grant for “Fostering human-wildlife coexistence in a biodiversity hotspot in southern Guinea-Bissau”. Principal Investigator – £551,280.

2021 Darwin Challenge Fund: COVID-19 Rapid Response Round "Reducing transmission of SARS-COV-2 to African great apes in tourism", Principal Investigator – £58,852.

2019-2022  Darwin Initiative grant for “Promoting public health in a biodiverse agroforest landscape in Guinea-Bissau”, Principal Investigator – £325,043.

2019-2023  NERC GW4+ PhD studentship (Apes on the edge: assessing human impacts on the health and socioecology of critically-endangered western chimpanzees).

2018  Halpin Trust for “Great Ape Health in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau”, Principal Investigator – £39,208.

2018  British Academy Conference Grant (with Robin Dunbar) for “Alcohol and Humans: A Long and Social Affair”.

2016-2018  ARCUS great ape conservation grant for “Promoting Chimpanzee Conservation in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa” – US$50,000.

2015-2017  Mohammed Bin Zayed Conservation Fund (with Hellen Bersacola) for “Seeking people-primate coexistence: Endangered primate responses to anthropogenic activities and land transformation in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa” – US$12,000.

2015  Fundaçao de Ciencia e Technologia (FCT) Research grant “Landscapes of risk: a cross-disciplinary approach to examine the sustainability of human-chimpanzee coexistence”, Principal Investigator – €49,950

2015-2016  FCT Research grant “Chimpanzee tool-use in Guinea-Bissau and behavioural complexity”, Principal Investigator – €49,873

2012-2014  FCT Research grant “Where humans and chimpanzees meet: assessing sympatry throughout Africa using a multi-tiered approach”, Principal Investigator – €110,000

2013, 2016  Santander Internationalisation Award for Scientific Production

2010  Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan. Research Fellowship – US$2500

2009  Conservation International, USA. Research grant - US$4500

2004  International Team for Bossou-Nimba Research, Kyoto University, Japan: MEXT and JSPS-Hope, Japan, awarded by T Matsuzawa for fieldwork costs – £15000.

2003-2007  University of Stirling, UK. Full PhD studentship

Links

• ConScience - Conservation Science Hub at Exeter

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Committee/panel activities

Membership of Academic Boards and Committees

IUCN Western Chimpanzee Action Plan (WCAP) Implementation Committee. Guinea Bissau co-representative with Aissa Regalla (2021-2024); Human-wildlife Conflict and Coexistence co-chair (since 2024).

IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group – Section on Great Apes https://www.iucngreatapes.org/ (since 2008); Section on Human-Primate Interactions https://human-primate-interactions.org/ (2019); Chimpanzee Culture and Conservation working group https://www.iucngreatapes.org/chimpanzee-cultures (2020); COVID-19 working group (2020)

Expert Working Group on Culture and Social Complexity of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Scientific Council (since 2020)

Conservation Working Party, Primate Society of Great Britain (2013-2022)

Primatology & Wildlife Science Graduate Program, Kyoto University (International Collaborator, since 2010)

Conferences and invited presentations

Selected Recent Invited Presentations

2023  Department of Anthropology, UCL, and ZSL, London, UK. Invited speaker and panel member.

2023  Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Exeter. Invited speaker and panel member, Anthrozoological lens: multispecies ethnography.

2021  Ministry of Health, Guinea-Bissau. Invited presentation on ‘Leprosy in Chimpanzees’

2021  Centre for Wildlife Studies, Wildlife Chronicles Webinar, India. Human-primate interactions.

2020  Department of Anthropology University of Oxford. Primate Conversations.

2019  University of Exeter alumni event Royal Society, London. Rainforests.

2015  Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, UK.CRESIDA series.

2014  JSPS Core-to-Core Program Symposium “Ecology & Conservation of Great Ape Populations”, Uganda

2014  Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Institute, Germany.

2014  Department of Archaeology and Anthropology (Bio Anth seminar series), University of Cambridge, UK.

2014  Wildlife Research Centre, Kyoto University, Japan

2014  Department of Social Sciences (Primate Conservation seminar series), Oxford Brookes University, UK.

2014  Biological Anthropology, School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, UK.

2013  Anthropological Institute & Museum, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Selected Refereed Presentations at Scientific Meetings

1. Hockings KJ, Bersacola E. 2023. A One Health approach to promote sustainable coexistence between humans and primates in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau. Invited paper for the Primate Society of Great Britain, Cambridge.

2. Hockings KJ, Bersacola H, Bessa J, Minhos T, Ramon M, Parathian H, Frazao-Moreira A. 2019. Developing an evidence-based conservation strategy for Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau. Invited paper for the Congress of the European Federation for Primatology, Oxford.

3. Hockings KJ 2017. Wild chimpanzees use tools to drink ethanol. Invited paper presented at the American Association for Physical Anthropology, New Orleans, USA.

4. Hockings KJ. 2015. The chimpanzees of Caiquene-Cadique, Guinea-Bissau: feeding behaviour & resource competition with local people. Paper presented at the IV International Symposium on Primatology & Wildlife Science, Kyoto, Japan.

5. Hockings KJ. 2014. Cocoa-spread by wild chimpanzees: do chimpanzees cultivate their own gardens? Invited paper presented at the XXV Congress of the International Primatological Society, Vietnam.

6. Hockings KJ, McLennan M. 2013. Cultivar feeding by chimpanzees: community variation to conflict mitigation. Paper presented at the V Congress of the European Federation for Primatology, Antwerp, Belgium. 

7. Hockings KJ. 2011. Differential utilisation of cashew by sympatric humans and chimpanzees. Paper presented at the IV Congress of the European Federation for Primatology, Almada, Portugal.

8. Hockings KJ. 2010. Fission-fusion dynamics in chimpanzees at Bossou: ecological constraints in an anthropogenic environment. Paper presented at the XXIII Congress of the International Primatological Society, Kyoto, Japan.

9. Hockings KJ. 2009. Living at the interface: human-chimpanzee competition, coexistence and conflict in Africa. Paper presented at the Congress of Portuguese Anthropology Association, Lisbon, Portugal.

10. Hockings KJ. 2007. Chimpanzees share the forbidden fruit. Invited paper presented in the Primate Society of Great Britain conference, Durham, England. * Honorary mention*

Conference, Symposium, and Workshop organisation

2023  Workshop participant: “One Health, a holistic approach to conflicts driven by zoonoses”. International Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence. Oxford.

2021  Workshop organiser: “Protect great apes from disease” for IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Section on Great Apes and COVID-19 working group.

2018  Conference co-organiser: “Humans and alcohol: A long and social affair”, British Academy, London.

2016  Workshop organiser: “Working with local people for the conservation of chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau”, Guinea-Bissau.

2015  Conference co-organiser: “Chimpanzees, People & Nature: The Legacy of Claudia Sousa”, Lisbon, Portugal.

2015  Symposium co-organiser: “Behavioural flexibility by primates in anthropogenic habitats”, VI European Federation for Primatology, Rome, Italy.

2014  Workshop organiser: “Chimpanzee Conservation in Guinea-Bissau”, Lisbon, Portugal.

2011  Conference co-organiser: IV European Federation for Primatology, Portugal.

2010  Symposium co-organiser: “How nonhuman great apes respond to anthropogenic contexts”, XXIII Congress of the International Primatological Society, Japan.

2010  Conference co-organiser: HOPE-GM Primate Mind and Society, Japan.

Other

Grant bodies: ARCUS Foundation; Leakey Foundation; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; National Geographic; Primate Conservation Inc.; Primate Society of Great Britain: Conservation Working Party; Rufford Grants for Nature Conservation, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).

Journals: African Journal of Ecology; American Journal of Physical Anthropology; American Journal of Primatology; Animal Cognition; Behaviour; Behavioural Ecology; Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology; Biological Conservation; Current Biology; Critique of Anthropology; Environmental Management; Folia Primatologica; GECCO; Human Ethology Bulletin; International Journal of Primatology; Journal of Applied Ecology; Oryx; PLoS ONE; Primates; Scientific Reports; Society and Natural Resources; Tropical Conservation Science.

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Teaching

Modules

2024/25

• BIO3426 - Primate Biology and Conservation
• BIOM4023 - African Biodiversity and Conservation Field Course

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Supervision / Group

Postdoctoral researchers

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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Office Hours:

For BIO3426 students, my office hours are Tuesday 1-2pm (in person outside the Exchange Green lecture theatre) and Tuesday 2-3pm (online).

For Conservation and Biodiversity MSc students, my office hours are Tuesday 9-10am and Tuesday 2-3pm (please email to book a meeting) .

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