I am mainly interested in animal ecology, behaviour (social structure and communication), and their interaction with the surrounding environment.
I grew up in Rwanda, where I did my BSc in Biology and Conservation from the University of Rwanda. I hold an MSc in Organismic and Molecular Biodiversity from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. I have conducted biodiversity monitoring in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, focusing on a wide range of taxa including large and small mammals, birds, amphibians, and invertebrates. Additionally, I have been involved in natural history collection management at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda. Since 2018, I have been involved in teaching and training over 400 bachelor students and interns each year in the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s capacity-building program.
As of 2025, I am a PhD student at Wageningen University & Research, supervised by Prof. Dr. Marc Naguib and Dr. Lysanne Snijders (Behavioural Ecology group), Dr. Douglas Sheil (Forest Ecology and Forest Management group), and Dr. Deogratias Tuyisingize (Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund). My PhD research is part of the interdisciplinary “CONNECT” project, which explores the sociological, economic, and ecological impacts of unconditional cash transfer programs around protected areas in Rwanda. Within this project, I focus on the role of animal behaviour in human-primate conflicts around the national parks of Rwanda. The main goal is to understand animal feeding behaviour strategies, perception of predation risk, and ecological drivers of human-animal conflict, to develop strategies to reduce conflict around the parks in Rwanda.
