Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) works to protect endangered wild orangutans living in and around Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesian Borneo from threats posed by human activities. GPOCP encourages environmental stewardship within villages bordering the national park through education and community outreach programs and helps strengthen institutions responsible for enforcing existing poaching and habitat protection laws.
Cheryl Knott has been named a Radcliffe Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies where she will be based in 2025-2026.
Zoe Albert Miller defended her doctoral dissertation titled The Gut Microbiome as a Potential Modulator of Energetic Stress in Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) on April 10, 2026. Congratulations Dr. Albert Miller!
At the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Los Angeles, CA, in March 2026, current and former lab members presented the following talks and posters:
Laura Brubaker-Wittman presented a paper with co-authors TW Susanto, T Mitra Setia & CD Knott on Measuring the cost of being watched: Urinary cortisol patterns during the habituation process in Bornean orangutans.
Amy Scott, along with C O'Connell, TW Susanto, T Mitra Setia and CD Knott presented a paper on Female choice via consortships in Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii).
Frank Short presented a paper onListening and learning: comparing passive acoustic and nest survey correlates of Bornean orangutan population density,with co-authors E Barrow, R Kasianus, H Gunawan, E Rahman, E Sulidra, AM Scott, TW Susanto T Mitra Setia and CD Knott.
At the 11th Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Evolutionary Primatologists (NEEP), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 2025), Undergraduate student and UROP recipient Alexander Pissios presented a paper on Evaluation of the extent of Bornean Bearded Pig population collapse due to African swine flu. Co-authors and mentors were AM Scott, TW Susanto, T Mitra Setia and CD Knott.
Yayasan Palung/GPOCP staff member Robi Kasianus presented a paper onEnhancing Orangutan Habitat Protection Through Patrol and Law Enforcement at the 30th International Primatological Congress in Madagascar along with co-authors Beth Barrow, Hendri Gunawan, Mahendra, Sukrianto, Caitlin O'Connell, Edi Rahman, Wahyu Susanto and Cheryl Knott. Robi also was awarded a pre-congress training program fellowship.
On June 23, 2025, we held a symposium on 40 Years with Nature: Research and Conservation in Harmony in Sukadana, Indonesia, where Cheryl Knott delivered a talk on 30 Years of The Gunung Palung Orangutan Project. The symposium was followed by a site visit for participants.
Laura Brubaker-Wittman defended her doctoral dissertation titled A Mixed Methods Study of the Habituation Process in Wild Bornean Orangutans in West Kalimantan, Indonesia on April 8, 2025. Congratulations Dr. Brubaker-Wittman!