Valérie A. M. Schoof

PROSPECTIVE TRAINEES

Students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Biology at the Master’s or PhD level should take the time to review my recent publications and should contact me directly (vschoof[at]glendon[dot]yorku[dot]ca). Applicants should sent an email detailing their research interests and experience, include a CV, academic transcript (unofficial is OK), and the name and contact information for three references. While international field experience is beneficial, I recognize that structural inequalities (and the COVID-19 pandemic) can make it challenging to obtain such experience; therefore, I welcome students to include any relevant experience that demonstrates resilience.

At this time, I may take one Master’s or PhD student in September 2025 depending on funding availability. Interested students who wish to apply for NSERC CGS-D, NSERC CGS-M, or provincial funding (e.g., FQRNT) should contact me well in advance of the application deadlines. Canadian students from underrepresented and equity-seeking groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Students with a background in biology, environmental studies, biological anthropology, psychology, geography, or other related fields are welcome to apply. I am especially interested in applicants who would like to focus on some aspect of vervet reproductive strategies, dominance, development, life-history, endocrinology,  and/or dimensions of human-wildlife interaction using long-term data and/or conducting field research at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda. Please see York’s “Steps to apply“.

CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

BSc students

Brianna Anderson, BSc student 2024-2025: Brianna will be conducting an honours thesis on the glucocorticoid responses of zoo-housed animals to visitor presence.

MSc students

Margaux Dupuis, MSc student 2023-2025: Margaux is studying the relationship between maternal and juvenile social networks in vervet monkeys at Lake Nabugabo.

PhD students

Taylor Fane, PhD student 2024-2030 (MSc student 2021-2023): Taylor is interested in primate mating strategies and dominance. For her MSc she studied  studied vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) at Lewa-Borana Conservancy to assess the relationship between male dominance rank and mating success. Her PhD will focus on the role of maternal effects and hormones in the emergence and maintenance of male dominance rank.

Simran Prasad, PhD student 2021-2027: Simran completed her BSc in Biology at Concordia University in 2018 and then worked at Charles River Laboratories as a biomarker analyst. She obtained her MScA in Animal Sciences from McGill University (2020), writing a systematic literature review on enrichment practices for lab-housed  primates. Simran’s PhD will focus on factors explaining mating and paternity skew in wild vervet monkeys.

Pooja Upadhayay, PhD student 2019-2025: Pooja obtained her MSc in Zoology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal (2018) with a thesis on “Mother-infant relationships among Assamese monkey (Macaca assamensis McClelland, 1840) and Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta Zimmermann, 1780) in Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, Kathmandu, Nepal”. Her PhD project focuses on parasites and human-wildlife interactions.

Postdocs

Dr. Landing Badji (2022-2024) conducted his Master’s and PhD research on foraging behaviour of the Fongoli Chimpanzees in Senegal. His postdoc research focuses on chimpanzee self-medication, hormones, and human-chimpanzee interactions in southeastern Senegal.

PAST LAB MEMBERS

Past graduate trainees

• Lina Rademacher, MSc thesis, 2024: Using fecal hormones to identify reproductive state and female mate choice in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).
• Megan Schwegel, MSc student 2023:Individual factors predicting the disappearance and reproductive success of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).
• Melissa Martins, MSc thesis, 2022:The influence of microhabitat characteristics on habitat use and behaviour of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in a human-modified landscape.
• Justine Vermey, MSc student 2019-2023 (withdrawn): Justine’s Master’s research focused on personality assessment in two populations of vervet monkeys in East Africa using questionnaires that are to be validated with behavioural data.
• Karin Snyder, MSc thesis, 2021: Temporal dynamics of the endocrinology, sexual skin colouration, and dominance signalling of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).
• Simon L’Allier, MSc thesis, 2020: Behavioral endocrinology of male dispersal in a fragmented habitat in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda.
• Kyle Hendrikson, PhD student, 2017-2019 (withdrawn)

Past undergraduate trainees

• Angelica Drexler, BSc student/research assistant 2020-2023: Angelica worked in the lab since her first year at Glendon College, entering and managing data, and extracting hormones from feces collected at the Toronto Zoo in 2021. For her honours thesis, she examined fluctuations in glucocorticoid metabolites to varying levels of visitors at the zoo.
• Miruna Jurj, BSc thesis (literature review), 2021: Investigating the phenotypic flexibility of folivorous primates in response to anthropogenic habitat modification & the implications for conservation strategies: a literature review.
• Shay Simmons, BSc thesis (research), 2021: Diurnal variation in male white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator) faecal glucocorticoids, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone. Currently a graduate student at the University of Toronto.
• Stephanie Alexander, BSc thesis (research), 2021: A comparison of community surveys detailing observations of vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) crop foraging and occurrences recorded on camera trap footage.
• Dina Greenberg, BSc thesis (research), NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award 2019: Examining the relationship between fecal glucocorticoid and androgen metabolite secretion and genital colouration in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)
• Megan Schwegel, BSc thesis (research), 2020: Breeding seasonality and stacked reproductive investment in female vervet monkeys at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda. NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award 2018
• Victor Olek, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award 2017 (co-supervised  with Laura McKinnon)

Past undergraduate research assistants

• Dev (Sanjeev) Jaipersaud: data entry and organization.
• Brianna Anderson: fecal hormone extractions and data entry.
• Serena Chiu: fecal hormone extractions and data entry.
• Jordan Ssewakiryanga: fecal hormone extractions and data entry.
• Angelica Drexler: behavioural data entry .
• Megan Schwegel: behavioural data entry and management.
• Amanda Collins: behavioural data entry.
• Kat Zogorulko: extracting and organizing demographic information.
• Dina Greenberg: behavioural data entry and error checking.

COMMUNITY NKIMA PROJECT

Field team at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda (2015-present)

Dr. Dennis Twinomugisha, Project Manager for the Nabugabo Research Site

Mr. Matovu Ponsiano, Vervet Field Assistant, 2011-present: Matovu has worked with the monkey project since it was first started by Dr. Colin Chapman.  In that time, he has habituated three monkey groups (M group, KS group, and HC group). He has lots of knowledge of indigenous tree, bird, butterfly and frog species and is always happy to share that knowledge with others. He continues his good work with the project, collecting lots of data and helping many students along the way.

Mr. Livingstone Katwere, Vervet Field Assistant, 2011-present: Livingstone has worked with the monkey project for many years now.  Together with Matovu, he has habituated three monkey groups, and contributed to the collection of scan data, behavioural data, fecal samples, photo data and lots more!  He likes to share his knowledge with others and is always available to help. He is always brightening up field work with his dry sense of humor!

Ms. Justine Namuyomba, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2019-present: Justine joined the Community Nkima Project in 2019, conducting human participant surveys on human-wildlife interaction and monitoring camera traps around small-scale sustenance agricultural plots and doing some data entry. In the summer of 2020, she transitioned to a vervet field assistant, collecting behavioural, hormone, and genetic data from the three study groups at Nabugabo.

Field team at Lewa-Borana Conservancy (2020-2024)

Mr. Vincent Karima, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2021 (August) – present

Mr. Kenneth Muriithi, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2021 (November) – present

Past field team members

Mr. Hillary Tashobya, Vervet Field Assistant, 2016-2020 worked for the Nabugabo vervet research project from 2016-2019.  He is working as a field assistant doing scans, collecting behavioural data, and fecal sample collection.  He also has knowledge about many tree species, is a dedicated worker eager to learn new things, and has a great appreciation for the natural environment, which he shares with others through his sense of humour and infectious smile!

Ms. Halima Hassan, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2020-2021 joined the Community Nkima Project at Lewa in August 2020. Halima has a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies. She is passionate about environmental conservation and community empowerment, especially transforming young people into active citizens of their communities and society. In her community, she introduced an environmental group to foster environmental awareness, mentorship, and youth empowerment, especially for young girls. She has recently joined the Research Team at Lewa!

Mr. Kenneth Murithi, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2020-2021 was a founding team member of the Community Nkima Project at Lewa. Ken has a B.A. in Economics and Sociology, and since starting work on the project he has discovered a love of nature, conservation, and vervet monkeys! Ken is now working as the Community Liaison Officer at Lewa.

Mr. Lawrence Mutuma Riungu, Community & Vervet Field Assistant, 2020 assisted Ken Murithi with data collection at Lewa between April-July 2020, during which time he was a valuable helped on the Community Nkima Project at Lewa.

Dr. Aimee Oxley, postdoctoral visitor October 2019-February 2020: Dr. Oxley completed her PhD at Oxford Brookes University, UK on “Great ape conservation in the matrix: investigating the socio-ecological responses of chimpanzees living in a forest-farm mosaic, Uganda”. She spent a few weeks at the Nabugabo Research Site setting up camera-traps and learning the data collection protocols before implementing these at Lewa-Borana. Dr. Oxley returned to her home in the UK at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since been focusing on her chimpanzee research.