Andrew Houldcroft

I am a doctoral researcher and conservation scientist with the Cantanhez Chimpanzee Project, working at the intersection between ecology and statistics. I am supervised by Dr Kimberley Hockings, Dr Oscar Rodriguez de Rivera Ortega, and Dr Elena Bersacola, and broadly interested in the application of spatial statistics and conservation technologies (e.g., camera traps, bioacoustics, drones, remote sensing) to monitor wildlife populations and inform evidence-based conservation at the human-wildlife interface.

I am currently developing Bayesian state-space spatial models for remote biological monitoring, exploring if the model-based integration (fusion) of detection data from camera traps and bioacoustics can improve the precision, parameter inference, and spatial prediction of population density models in complex, human-modified landscapes. This doctoral research is largely focused on non-human primates such as the Critically Endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) and will involve extensive fieldwork in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau to deploy camera traps and autonomous recording units (ARUs). Alongside field-based data collection, bioacoustic data processing will require the use of deep-learning and computer vision methods such as the BirdNET classifier algorithm, to process the resultingly massive primate vocalisation dataset.

I am funded by research grants from the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Environmental Intelligence and Re:wild Primate Action Fund. If you would like to learn more about my research or discuss the possibility of collaboration, please do not hesitate to get in touch via email. I am currently searching for collaborators in the field of deep-learning for bioacoustic data processing.