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About Jaima Smith
Hi there! I am an anthropologist & primatologist with a deep love and admiration for the natural world. I’m originally from Arizona (though I lived in a few other states: CA, OR, and NY before moving to the UK) but now happily call the lovely city of Edinburgh my home. I moved to Oxford in August 2014 to do my PhD at Oxford Brookes University, then two years later I moved up to Edinburgh to enjoy the misty forests and mountains of Scotland.
I am passionate about primate conservation, specifically gibbons, and focused both my MA and PhD research on the elusive & enchanting Javan gibbon. I have extensive experience working at conservation education and rescue and rehabilitation centres for primates, including both the Javan Gibbon Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and Javan Primates Conservation Project on Java. For my PhD research, I conducted a population viability analysis for Javan gibbons, investigated the illegal trade of gibbons on social media, evaluated reintroduction programmes for gibbons across Asia, and conducted qualitative interviews with local people living on the border of Gunung Gede-Pangrango National Park to explore their perceptions of the natural world, and determine their extent of knowledge regarding Javan gibbons and the threats they face in the wild.
Aside from my academic & professional interests, I love wandering around lovely forests (some call it hiking😉) with my husband and our wolfy dog, reading, creative writing, and dancing! I’m also quite passionate about wolf conservation and am (slowly) working on a book about the long and complicated history wolves share with humans.