volunteer opportunity: research assistant to study social behavior of wild capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica

[Susan Perry]

The Lomas Barbudal Capuchin Monkey Project (currently beginning its 33rd year of operation in Costa Rica) is seeking a field assistant to start immediately due to an unexpected cancellation. (We are also seeking another assistant for late summer/fall, with less urgency.) The primary research goals currently are to understand factors contributing to the ability to invent and transmit new behaviors. These include individual differences such as age and personality, dyadic differences in relationship quality, and demographic characteristics such as location in a social network and availability of alloparents. Research assistants will collect data on 4 groups of habituated monkeys, whose life histories have been documented in detail and whose parentage is known;  focal sampling will focus primarily on infants and elderly monkeys.

The training process is intensive, and therefore we require a long stay (a year, if possible), so that we can reap the benefits of the training by collecting sufficiently large amounts of data.  Room and  board are covered (though there is a refundable training deposit), and the cost of a round trip airfare will be reimbursed at the end of the year.  There is no stipend for participating in the data collection, but fully trained assistants become eligible to take on some managerial duties which do entail a small stipend. Research assistants must feed themselves when away on vacation and visa trips. Assistants must buy their own medical insurance to the site and pay the cost of any visa applications. The flight to and from Costa Rica is reimbursable, up to a certain amount, upon completion of the year-long commitment. If applicants are qualified but cannot afford to pay these costs, they  should let us know well in advance so we can try to direct them to additional funding sources they can apply for.

These internships are excellent preparation for graduate school (77 of our past interns have been admitted to graduate school). The PI (Prof. Susan Perry, UCLA) spends about 4 months/year on site actively collecting data with the interns, affording a closer relationship between the interns and the research assistants than is possible in most long-term field projects.

Application Instructions: Application instructions and a detailed guide to working on the project are on the following website:


http://lbmp.anthro.ucla.edu/how-to-help/internships/

 Send materials and inquiries to sperry [@] anthro.ucla.edu

Please, when you apply, specify the minimum amount of financial support you would need in order to be a viable applicant, and state dates of your availability. Please read the detailed guide to working on the monkey project BEFORE applying or contacting the project, as this will answer virtually all questions. Applicants are also strongly encouraged to read the book "Manipulative Monkeys: The Capuchins of Lomas Barbudal," which is a popular science book documenting not only the first 15 years of scientific research, but the lifestyle of researchers working at this site.

Qualifications/Experience:
There are no absolute criteria, and we try to hire people with a blend of different talents. But some traits that help are good grades (>3.3 GPA), some prior Spanish training, and prior experience studying animal behavior and working in the field. The most important trait in a field assistant is strong work ethic and the ability to make a firm commitment for the duration of the contract. Please do not apply if you are the sort of person who signs contracts and then backs out, as such behavior is highly damaging to the project (as well as to your own reputation). It is also highly desirable for applicants to have done some reading in primatology (not just websites, but journal articles and books, including some from this project) before applying; we can provide access to project publications upon request if access is difficult.  All applicants must be fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19, as well as being vaccinated for other diseases standard in the tropics.