The Graduation Ceremony was held at the Park’s “E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory” February 28th, 2020
Five women and seven men completed the two-year course, which is the only Master’s in Conservation Biology offered in Mozambique.
The Master’s program was developed by a consortium of three Mozambican institutions of higher learning (Universidade Zambeze, Universidade Lúrio, and Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica) in partnership with the University of Lisbon of Portugal and the Gorongosa National Park as part of the latter’s BioEducation activities. The Master’s program is supported by the U.S. Foundation: “HHMI” (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) and by the Institutional Development Fund.
In the center the Minister of Science and Technology and Higher Education and the Minister of Land and Environment. In addition to the new Masters in Conservation Biology, representatives of the “BioEducation” Consortium can also be seen in the photo above.
The Mozambican Minister of Land and Environment and the Mozambican Minister of Science and Technology and Higher Education participated in the ceremony, as well as the Director General of all conservation areas in Mozambique. Representatives of local government, the Bio-Education Consortium, community leaders, friends and family of the students also attended.
This degree, taught entirely inside the Gorongosa ecosystem, provided training in conservation biology, ecology and environmental management. Students had the opportunity to apply knowledge gained in their courses to hands-on research projects in the field. They enjoyed a full tuition scholarship funded by HHMI that also paid for their living expenses.
Conservation Biology Master’s Students, Gorongosa National Park
Gorongosa Park is delighted to congratulate this group for their dedication, and we are confident that they will advance the goals of conservation in Mozambique and abroad. These graduates will now apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills in different fields. Two are lecturers who will return to their institutions where they will strengthen the lecturing staff. Two will be employed in respectively Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and Gorongosa National Park. Another one has already started working at a national research institute whereas others will be going to Portugal for further studies and internships.
We are pleased to announce that the next cohort of twelve students will begin their two-year course next week.
About the Gorongosa Project and its Science Education component
The Gorongosa Project seeks to integrate conservation and human development with the understanding that a healthy ecosystem will benefit humans, who in turn will be motivated to support the objectives of Gorongosa National Park.
Scientific research is an integral part of the long-term plan for the restoration of the Gorongosa ecosystem, because an in-depth knowledge of the Gorongosa ecosystem will help the Park’s management to make better decisions about its conservation. The E.O. Biodiversity Laboratory Wilson opened in March 2014, and placed Gorongosa as one of the most advanced research centers in southern Africa. The Laboratory has attracted national, regional and international attention and scientists from different institutions have been doing research
in the Park, such as the Universities Eduardo Mondlane and Lúrio in Mozambique, the Universities of Coimbra and Lisbon in Portugal, the University of Oxford in England and Harvard and Princeton Universities in the USA.
One of the most important roles of the Laboratory is to provide training to the next generation of Mozambican scientists in the Park and also send them to universities in order to obtain advanced degrees. Some young people (from the neighboring communities of the Park or from technical schools in the central region), who receive total or partial financial assistance from the Laboratory, are studying at universities and high schools for future careers as veterinarians, ecologists and laboratory technicians.
If you would like to receive more information about our program or schedule an interview with someone involved in the program, please contact Vasco Galante by phone (+258 82 297 0010) or email (vasco@gorongosa.net).
For general information, please visit our website at www.gorongosa.org
