The South East Asia Rainforest Research
Partnership (SEARRP)
Forest reserves & protected areas of Sabah
The Royal Society SEARRP & research in Sabah
• SEARRP’s mission: To enable excellence in collaborative research and training that makes a
major contribution to the understanding of rainforests, their conservation and restoration and
underpins the sustainable management of tropical landscapes
• The Royal Society established SEARRP in 1985 – and headquartered the Programme at the then
newly-opened Danum Valley Field Centre
• The longest running overseas programme supported by the Royal Society – and, with the
exception of military links, between the UK and Malaysia
• Danum Valley Field Centre: the leading and most productive field station in the Old World Tropics
and one of the top three globally
• SEARRP facilitates research by individual scientists and through a suite of major projects –
supported by a standing team of over 60 Research Assistants
• Training programmes - undergraduate field courses, post-graduate courses & specialist training
Smithsonian 50ha plot
Sabah Biodiversity
Experiment
SEARRP: Key indicators & outputs
• 160+ PhD and MSc degrees completed (>50 by Malaysian students) with a further ~40 currently underway
• ~£15 million (RM75 million) of active research grants currently associated with SEARRP
• Over 450 refereed journal articles published since 1985 (including three special issues of Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society) – with 200+ papers published since 2010
• 17,000+ citations – SEARRP institutional h-index: 74
• Suite of major, strategic research projects established
• Key strategic partnerships that bridge the gap between science, policy and best practice
• Direct conservation impacts - huge expansion in the extent of protected forests surrounding Danum
1990
2010
2014
The SE Asia Rainforest Research Partnership – re-launching SEARRP
Enabling rainforest protection, restoration and sustainability
through excellence in research and training
• UK SEARRP charity – oversight, direction, international engagement & funding
• Academic Council – the main scientific driver of the new SEARRP
Griffith University, Australia
Swansea University, UK
James Cook University, Australia
University of Nottingham, UK
Cambridge University, UK
Natural History Museum, UK
University of Oxford, UK
Zoological Society of London, UK
Imperial College, UK
Leiden University, Netherlands
Sheffield University, UK
University of British Columbia, Canada
University of York, UK
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Lancaster University, UK
ETH, Switzerland
University of Leeds, UK
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
University of Aberdeen, UKForest Research Centre, Sabah
• Sabah-based SEARRP Society – day-to-day operations, local and regional engagement
Goals
• Delivering wide-ranging impacts – with a focus on informing policy
• Enabling collaboration & coordination between partner institutions
• Providing opportunities for Malaysian students and early career scientists
• Facilitating academic exchange
Thanks & acknowledgements