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

Sabah Biodiversity Experiment Smithsonian 50ha plot

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 ,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, AustraliaSwansea University, UK James Cook University, AustraliaUniversity of Nottingham, UK Cambridge University, UKNatural History Museum, UK University of Oxford, UKZoological Society of London, UK Imperial College, UKLeiden University, Netherlands Sheffield University, UK University of British Columbia, Canada University of York, UKUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland Lancaster University, UKETH, Switzerland University of Leeds, UKUniversiti 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