The DPZ Sponsorship Society

Promote young talent, support research on and with primates

The non-profit Sponsorship Society of the German Primate Center ("Förderkreis des Deutschen Primatenzentrums e.V.") is a point of contact for all who are interested in the research of the German Primate Center (DPZ) and for those who would like to support its work.

The funding focuses of the Sponsorship Society is on research projects that directly benefit humans, animals or their environment, or whose results contribute to a fundamental understanding of primate biology. The focus is on providing targeted support for young scientists in primatological research and young scientists who are supported in starting their own scientific career.

There are always projects where formal or budgetary constraints limit the work of the Institute and where valuable support can be achieved even with a small amount of funding. Since its foundation in 1985, the Sponsorship Society has initiated measures for various projects.

If you are a young scientist (PhD candidate, postdoc) and decide to become a member of the Sponsorship Society (current membership fee €10/year), you have the possibility to apply for funds, which e.g. financially support a certain congress trip or an invitation of colleagues of your department to the DPZ. In addition, the Sponsorship Society organizes events for members at which former PhDs report on their career paths and thus illustrate examples of where primate researchers can go professionally upon completion of a PhD.

The Sponsorship Society also supports training courses and symposiums on primate-specific topics in the countries of origin of primates. In addition to training local students, the focus is also on projects to inform the local population about nature and species conservation. As an example, the Sponsorship Society regularly supports courses in Vietnam and Peru to improve research and conservation measures for the endangered primates of these countries. These courses, conducted by DPZ scientists in close cooperation with scientists from local institutions/universities, are very popular and in high demand.

The current COVID-19 pandemic once again clearly demonstrates the dangerous nature of zoonotic diseases (infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans). Non-human primates can also play an important role as reservoirs for human diseases. For this reason, the Sponsorship Society participated years ago in setting up a laboratory in the research camp in Lake Manyara National Park (Tanzania) to conduct research of "neglected tropical diseases".