Primate Welfare Presentation Award

Deadline: May 15, 2026

The American Society of Primatologists Primate Care Committee (PCC) offers an award for an outstanding oral or poster presentation(s) given either in-person or virtually at the society’s annual meeting. This award is intended to recognize high-quality research or projects that directly and significantly enhance the welfare of nonhuman primates. Awards may be given for completed evaluations or ongoing projects with a proven outcome for positive impacts on primate welfare.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for the Primate Welfare Presentation Award:

the applicant must be an ASP member, first author, and available to answer questions following their oral/poster presentation.
the presentation must describe work that is either underway or completed (i.e., forthcoming or proposed studies are not eligible for consideration).
the written application and the project to be presented must be the first author’s work.
applicants are not required to attend the annual meeting’s banquet to win.
individuals with or without terminal degrees (e.g., PhD, DVM) are eligible and those without such degrees are especially encouraged to apply.
applicants may not enter the same presentation for this award and the ASP Student Competition within the same year. However, an applicant may apply for the ASP Student Competition with a different project.

Application Process:

The application is available here. Submit your application following the acceptance of your scientific abstract. The application (no more than 350 words, excluding references) must include a description of:

how your project enhances the welfare of nonhuman primates.
how the project could apply to other environments/primate species.
which aspects of the work are innovative.

Candidates for the Primate Welfare Award will be judged based on their application, the accepted scientific abstract, and whether the oral/poster presentation was delivered clearly, including the applicant’s ability to answer questions from the audience. Contact the Co-Chairs of the Primate Care Committee, Jaine Perlman (jeperlm@emory.edu) or Dr. Ori Pomerantz (opomerantz@ucdavis.edu), with any questions about the application process. The judging rubric can be found here.

Application:

Briefly answer the following questions in a total of 350 words or less for all answers (excluding references):

Please describe how your project enhances the welfare of captive nonhuman primates.
Please describe how your project could apply to other captive environments/primate species.
How is your project innovative?

The Judging Process:

Judges of this award are all members of the PCC. Before the annual meeting, judges will review the applications and abstracts. At the meeting, judges will attend the presentations and score them. Once all applications are evaluated and scored, the judges reconvene to reach unanimous decisions regarding the winners. The PCC reserves the right not to award applicants if standards are unmet.

The winners will be announced in the closing banquet of the annual meeting and awardees are notified via email. Each winner receives a certificate and a modest monetary prize.

These awards are administered by the Primate Care Committee.

2026 – Rebekah Lewis, Chimp Haven. “Proximity patterns and social network analysis in aging sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
2025 – Amanda Bartlett, Universities of Portsmouth and Sparsholt. “Behavior and vertical space use of captive callimico (Callimico goeldii): Implications for Welfare”
2025 – Rhiannon Schultz, Animal Welfare Expertise. “Developmental and health-related variation in activity and total energy expenditure in male western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
2024 – Jaclyn Allen, Johns Hopkins University. “The use of guanfacine to mediate anxiety-related reactivity and reduce associated agonistic behavior in breeding male pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina)
2024 – Jose Trello, La Aurora Zoo. “Challenges and outcomes of transitioning to fruit free diets in primates”
2023 – Andrew Haertel, Oregon National Primate Research Center. Podium presentation: “Temporarily paired rhesus macaques in a research primate hospital setting”
2023 – Natalie Castell, John Hopkins School of Medicine, “The significance of social housing for macaques in infectious disease research”
2022 – Josué Alejandro, Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University. Podium presentation: “Behavioral and fecal glucocorticoid profiles in the formation of all female social groups of pygmy slow lorises (Nycticebus pygmeaus)”
2022 – Negin Valizadegan, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Podium presentation: “Blood microbiome compositions in humans and captive non-human primates and their variations in sensitivity to bacterial molecules”
2021 – Andrea Franklin, Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Podium presentation: “Functional analysis and treatment of disruptive behavior in a captive rhesus macaque”
2019 – Marissa Janavaris, Behavioral Services Unit at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Podium presentation: “Bedding as an enrichment strategy in group-housed Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis)”
2018 – Sarah J. Neal Webb, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Poster presentation: “Does (Group) Size Matter? Captive chimpanzee behavior as a function of group size and composition”
2016 – Ashley Edes, The Ohio State University. Podium presentation: “Does proximity to the silverback increase allostatic load in zoo-housed Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) females?”
2015 – Dawn Abney, Charles River Laboratories – Safety Assessment Nevada. Poster presentation: “Strategies for successfully social housing incompatible cynomolgus macaque triads”
2014 – Melissa Truelove, Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Poster presentation: “Social interactions of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) through steps of pair caging introduction”

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