Overview

Mpala Research Centre is a testament to the power of collaboration. While Princeton is the managing partner, it works closely with anchor institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the National Museums of Kenya, and the Wildlife Research Training Institute of Kenya. This partnership is the cornerstone of Mpala’s extraordinary success. 

Research and education lie at the heart of our endeavors, and it is through our foundational partnerships that Mpala can realize its true potential. By leveraging the collective resources and wisdom of our partners and collaborating with a vast network of researchers from around the world, we can push the boundaries of knowledge, unravel the complexities of African savannah ecosystems, and unlock innovative solutions to the pressing challenges the world faces.

Mpala has a complex history intertwined with Kenya’s past. The land on which Mpala sits was taken from local communities and granted to British subjects during colonial rule. Princeton acknowledges this history and the responsibility that comes with being part of this legacy.

Mpala’s founder, Sam Small ’43, inherited the property in 1969 from his brother, George Small, who had acquired it from an earlier generation of European landholders in Laikipia County. In 1989, Small established Mpala as a wildlife sanctuary and in 1994 built a research center conceived as a Kenyan–U.S. partnership. The founding members were the Kenya Wildlife Service, the National Museums of Kenya, the Smithsonian Institution, and Princeton University. In 2023, the Kenyan Wildlife Research and Training Institute joined as a fifth institutional partner.

Scientific field stations like Mpala also carry a broader colonial legacy. Historically, foreign institutions often extracted data, materials, and knowledge with limited benefit to local communities—a practice sometimes described as “parachute” scholarship.

Mpala is working deliberately to move away from that model. Today, it prioritizes long-term partnerships with Kenyan institutions, leadership by Kenyan scientists and administrators, and programs that build local capacity rather than extract knowledge. Research is increasingly collaborative and locally grounded.

This approach is reflected in both leadership and training. Mpala is one of the few large landholding entities in Laikipia led by a Black Kenyan CEO. Kenyan scholars have trained and built careers through Mpala, including Paula Kahumbu *02, one of Kenya’s leading conservationists and a member of the Princeton–Mpala Advisory Council. Mpala has also launched graduate fellowships that fully fund Kenyan master’s students, expanding opportunities for locally led research.

Recognizing Mpala’s complex legacy, our goal is for its future to be defined by equitable partnership, shared governance, and sustained investment in Kenyan scholarship and conservation.