About the Institute

The A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) is the foremost ornithological research institute in West Africa situated in Laminga, Jos-East LGA, Plateau State, Nigeria. It is dedicated to ornithological research and capacity building in West Africa. The Institute was set up in 2002 by the Leventis Conservation Foundation Nigeria, which remains the Institute's principal source of funding.
Research is carried out at APLORI by research staff and collaborators from other institutes. These include research associates funded, or partly funded, by the Institute and post-docs from APLORI or that are externally funded. There are also PhD students, some funded by APLORI, but most funded externally, and of course, the Masters’ students that train by carrying out research projects as part of their dissertations.

There are usually one or two international researchers on site, perhaps carrying out fieldwork using APLORI as a convenient base in the African savannah biome, or actively collaborating with our research staff on diverse projects such as avian influenza, migrant bird declines, biodiversity conservation or even nest building behaviour in weavers.Teaching of Masters students at APLORI is carried out by APLORI research associates, teaching fellows and external lecturers, managed by Prof Will Cresswell of the University of St Andrews. A standard teaching year for the Masters students will involve 6 or so external lecturers each teaching 2 weeks each, research associates and the Director teaching for another few weeks and an external Teaching Fellow for another 8 weeks or so.

The Masters students are then individually supervised during their 6-month research projects by one of the external lecturers or senior research staff at APLORI. Many of our external lecturers and teaching fellows have now been back to teach at APLORI several times. The combination of the enthusiasm and potential of APLORI students, our clear mission and success in capacity building and the research environment of APLORI clearly make teaching at APLORI a good experience for all involved. Teaching enquiries (but not studentship applications) should be addressed to Will Cresswell. Strategic management of APLORI is through a collaboration of research and teaching stakeholders in the Institute, the University of Jos and external experts (for example from the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, BirdLife and other international universities)