Baboons (genus Papio) constitute an important model in several research fields, including human evolution, social evolution and phylogeography. Julia Fischer and Dietmar Zinner now organise an international symposium Frontiers in Baboon Research to discuss recent scientific developments, compile current knowledge on baboon evolution, assess and integrate the current knowledge of baboon behaviour and cognition into an overall framework, and to develop avenues for future research projects.

For this four-day meeting, the organisers invited the leading experts in baboon research, among them Susan C. Alberts (Duke University), Robin Dunbar (Oxford), Joël Fagot (Marseille), Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney (Pennsylvania) and Joan Silk (University of California). The welcome addresses are given by Matthias Kleiner, president of the Leibniz Association, Ulrike Beisiegel (President of the University of Göttingen) and Stefan Treue (Scientific Director of the DPZ). In the opening lecture on October 17th at 5:30 p.m., Clifford Jolly (New York University) will talk about the evolutionary history of baboons, and will complement our knowledge about contemporary baboon species with a historic perspective.

Talks are given by invited speakers only, but registered participants are invited to present their own research on baboons as a poster.

Registration is open until September 15th. More information about the symposium and the online registration form can be found on the symposium website.