How does the Harrison Institute mentor students and build scientific capacity?

The Harrison Institute builds scientific capacity by combining long-term mentoring of university students and early-career researchers with collaborative field projects in Africa and Asia. Its stated approach is to work alongside local students, scientists and communities so that the people who live closest to biodiversity-rich regions can study, understand and protect it. The clearest documented example is a PhD student from Cameroon who, mentored through the Institute, led the discovery of two bat species new to science.

What "capacity building" means in practice here

The Institute describes its work as three connected activities: discovering biodiversity, developing scientific capacity, and conserving nature. Capacity building is not a side programme — it is presented as the mechanism that makes conservation last. The underlying belief, in the Institute's own words, is that biodiversity is best conserved when the scientists and communities who live alongside it have the opportunity to study, understand and protect it.

That translates into a working model rather than a classroom one:

• Long-term mentoring of university students and PhD researchers, rather than one-off training.
• Collaborative projects with university staff and students in Asia and Africa, so research questions are shared rather than imposed.
• International collaboration that connects local researchers to wider scientific networks and collections.
• A focus on under-studied regions where biodiversity is rich but scientific expertise and data are thin.

The Cameroon example: mentoring that produced new species

The Institute's featured story describes Aicha Gomeh-Djame, a PhD student from Cameroon, who was mentored through the Harrison Institute and led the discovery of two bat species new to science. The Institute frames this in two ways: as evidence of how much remains undocumented in Central African forests, and as evidence that developing the next generation of conservation scientists is itself a conservation outcome.

For anyone trying to understand the mentoring model, this example is useful because it shows the full chain — a local researcher, long-term support, fieldwork in a biodiversity-rich but under-studied region, and a result that feeds back into both science and conservation.

Who the mentoring is aimed at

The Institute's stated focus is university students and early-career scientists, particularly those working in or from biodiversity-rich parts of Africa and Asia. Its research emphasis is on small mammals, especially bats of the Palaeotropics, with more recent collaboration on bird research in the Himalayas. A student or researcher whose interests sit in those areas — or in the broader taxonomy, survey and conservation of under-studied fauna — is the closest match to what the Institute describes.

What has changed recently

After 96 years in Sevenoaks, Kent, the Harrison Institute has moved to the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall. The Institute says the move opens opportunities for research collaboration, student mentoring and biodiversity conservation, while strengthening its international partnerships and scientific collections. For prospective students or collaborators, this is the most relevant recent development: the institutional base is now a university campus, which is the kind of setting where student mentoring and joint research are typically easiest to arrange.

How to judge whether this fits your situation

If you are a student or early-career researcher looking for mentorship, the useful question is not simply "does this organisation mentor students" but whether your region, taxon and career stage match its stated priorities. The Institute's own description points to:

• Region: Africa and Asia, with a focus on biodiversity-rich, under-studied areas.
• Taxa: small mammals, especially Palaeotropic bats; more recently, Himalayan birds.
• Stage: university students and PhD researchers, plus collaboration with university staff.
• Model: long-term mentoring and international collaboration, not short courses.

If your work sits outside those regions or taxa, the fit is likely to be weaker. If it sits inside them, the Cameroon example suggests the model can extend as far as leading a species description — but that depends on the specific project, supervision and funding arrangements, none of which are detailed in the available material. Those practical questions are best raised directly with the Institute rather than assumed.