Laurence Culot

Laurence Culot graduated with a PhD from ULiège in 2009, and continued her research on primate ecology. She is now a researcher and professor at Unesp in Rio Claro. There, she heads a laboratory dedicated to the study of primate ecology and behavior, and collaborates with numerous international laboratories. Challenges include Brazil's administrative, economic and logistical constraints, while opportunities include direct access to tropical forests and a rich biodiversity of primates. Her training at ULiège, including specialized courses and field experience, has been crucial to her career. 

Can you briefly describe your academic and professional career after graduating from ULiège?

After completing my PhD in Science (2009), I wanted to work directly with an internationally recognized specialist in seed dispersal, Prof Dr Mauro Galetti from Unesp de Rio Claro. I was awarded a one-year fellowship from the Duesberg Foundation (2010), which enabled me to spend time in Brazil in this professor's Conservation Biology Laboratory and to develop a post-doctoral research project. I then applied as a research fellow at Fnrs, but without success. At the same time, I applied to the São Paulo State Foundation (FAPESP), which awarded me a 3-year fellowship (2011-2013). I then moved to Brazil, to Rio Claro. There I developed my research on the effects of primate defaunation on forest regeneration.

At the same time, in collaboration with Prof Galetti, I established collaboration agreements between Unesp and ULiège, which were signed in 2012. Together we obtained a WBI project stemming from these bilateral agreements, which also enabled a ULiège student to stay for pre-doctoral research. These agreements have been renewed in 2021. At the end of my post-doctorate, a competition opened up at the same university, focusing on mammal research. As I had been pursuing primate research since my undergraduate thesis, I applied and was hired (2014).

Since then, I have developed my laboratory (Laboratoire de Primatologie - LaP) where students of several nationalities carry out their research on primate ecology and behavior. I also teach at bachelor level and in the "Pós Graduação" program (masters and doctoral students). I was coordinator of the Biological Sciences Course for 4 years. I've also become involved in the Brazilian Primatological Society, where I've been invited to join the Board as 1st Secretary from 2020 to 2022. I'm also a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the Primate Specialist Group and the Research Committee of the IPS (International Primatological Society).

What are your main current research activities and projects in Brazil?

I work mainly on the ecology and behavior of neotropical primates. My research focuses on the functional roles of primates in ecosystems. I'm particularly interested in how anthropogenic disturbances impact the ecological, physiological and behavioral mechanisms of primates, combining new technologies with more traditional field monitoring methods.

My research uses approaches linked to movement ecology, landscape ecology, behavioral ecology and, more recently, the notion of Unique Health. I am currently leading a Fapesp-funded research project on primate resilience in anthropized environments, in collaboration with various Brazilian and international research centers. In addition to students from Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and the USA, the project includes a post-doctoral researcher from Gembloux, a doctoral student and, to date, two ULiège Masters students.

What challenges and opportunities have you encountered working in the academic field in Brazil?

In the first year (but also afterwards), the administrative formalities required for full integration into the system demand a great deal of investment. The process is long and always more complex for a foreigner. Sometimes you have to find out for yourself what you need to do and explain it to the various people you'll be dealing with (including at the university). Generally speaking, you have to spend a lot of time solving administrative problems. You always have to expect that things won't work out right the first time.

Another challenge is to develop research that takes account of local realities. Although everything is relative, it's not uncommon to have power or internet cuts or variations (even when you're in Brazil's richest state), which can lead to the loss of equipment or interrupt a statistical analysis or lose samples if you don't take a minimum of precautions.

The economic level of students is much lower than in Belgium. So we have to be prepared to finance them down to the last detail, so that they can maintain themselves while carrying out field research, for example. From an economic point of view too, importing equipment is extremely expensive or paying for publication services, for example, is generally out of the question for researchers who earn in reais. Another challenge is security. You have to develop different reflexes to those in Belgium, and in the field, this also requires a certain amount of logistics to ensure the safety of students/researchers, especially in more anthropized environments.

On the other hand, the opportunities are numerous: as far as I'm concerned, I'm in the country with the greatest specific diversity of primates, which is the focus of my research. I'm very close to my study sites, which makes logistics much easier. The academic environment is excellent: there are many highly competent laboratories working on themes related to tropical ecology, which means I can establish many national collaborations too. Another opportunity is funding: Fapesp is a research funding agency of the state of São Paulo which has good resources and invests in quality projects. This is a huge support for research, in addition to the national bodies. Finally, there's a very strong culture of mutual aid in Brazil, which makes all the difference on a day-to-day basis, both in personal and professional life.

How has your training at l'ULiège contributed to your career? Are there any skills or experiences acquired at ULiège that have particularly helped you?

My training was of the highest quality, and enabled me to move towards studies in tropical environments as soon as I wrote my bachelor's thesis. The possibility of choosing more specialized courses such as primatology, the use of geographic information systems, and even anthropology, for example, is an advantage. Today, I teach vertebrate zoology, for example, and the training I received in this field at ULiège (zoology, functional morphology) is very useful. Visits to the Museum of Zoology were also essential to my training. Of course, I could never have learned about the world of animal behavior without Prof Pascal Poncin, and even less about primatology without Marie-Claude Huynen, who guided me from my dissertation to my doctorate. In this sense, access to grants from the University Commission for Development or the Alice Seghers Foundation were essential for my research stays in Guinea and Peru.

My studies at ULiège also taught me to be highly organized and to develop my language skills in Spanish and Portuguese through evening classes, skills which are obviously essential for facilitating exchanges in the various countries in which I carried out my research.

Would you have any advice for ULiège students and recent graduates wishing to pursue an international career, particularly in Brazil?

I think it's essential to establish collaborations and have a local contact who can guide you through the various administrative procedures, which can be numerous. It's essential to learn the language (Portuguese in the case of Brazil) and to invest a certain amount of time in learning it in the first few months or years. It's also a good idea to make one or more shorter stays before settling down for good: for some, culture shock or the distance from family and friends can prove a major obstacle.

This should be obvious, but it's important to make the most of local collaborations. All too often, unfortunately, local skills are undervalued, and Europeans can tend to arrive as saviors, whereas we have just as much to learn from these collaborations. Our attitude and behavior make all the difference in this integration process.