Teaching at Mpala

Group of zebras

Teaching at Mpala

Faculty-student collaboration is a critical part of Mpala's scholarly output. For many years, Princeton's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has brought a handful of juniors to Mpala to study abroad during the spring semester, as well as new graduate students in January of their first year. Other courses have been hosted periodically, including two summer filmmaking seminars. Some faculty have come for briefer periods, such as a spring break trip or a summer seminar. 

Mpala welcomes courses in a range of fields, including the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. With over 48,000 acres, a supportive group of staff scientists, and a dedicated operations team, Mpala is well equipped to host students and instructors.  Faculty interested in teaching a course at Mpala should contact Brian Kloeppel, Director of the Mpala Secretariat.

Researchers who want to visit Mpala for research should follow these steps:

  • Write a proposal outlining the proposed research to Mpala. It is recommended/easier to join an ongoing research project. Click here to view ongoing research.
  • Request for an affiliation letter from Mpala. ($50)
  • Obtain necessary Research Permits from the Kenyan Government in Nairobi ($400) (renewable every year) - contact John Gitonga for assistance with obtaining permits.

Additional steps for a seamless research trip to Mpala include:

Humanities Summer Seminar Course- Narrating Land: Decolonization, Development, and the Ecologies of Kenyan Literature, Summer 2026

Faculty: Lauren Horst (lh6364@princeton.edu), Society of Fellows, Princeton University 

This five-week, co-taught course positions literary and humanistic inquiry as a critical mode of engagement with the environmental, social, and epistemological challenges facing Mpala and the wider Laikipia landscape. Through both textual engagement (fiction, poetry, and criticism) and field excursions across Nairobi and Laikipia, students in this course will explore how literature, oral storytelling, and creative media narrate the entangled histories of land, colonialism, conservation, and development in Kenya. This course directly supports Princeton’s goal of expanding interdisciplinary and humanities-based teaching at Mpala, while aligning with the Centre’s research priorities on social science, landscape evolution, and human development.

Anthropology 200-Level Course- Wildlife Filmmaking in/of Global Environments, Summer 2026

Faculty: Jeffrey Himpele (jhimpele@princeton.edu), Lecturer and Director, Ethnographic Data Visualization Lab (VizE Lab), Department of Anthropology, Princeton University

Our new summer course at Mpala’s real-world “laboratory” will help students develop innovative approaches to filmmaking and environmental thinking. We view film as a vehicle for shifting the focus away from science and humanity as the sole and superior modes of knowing wildlife. This broader framework of “multispecies documentary” is rooted in a worldwide plurality of ethnographic accounts that reframe humanity as continuous with nature, as well as films that recognize the sentience of nonhuman species and landscapes and the interactive web of relations in which they are all embedded (see Appendix). This framework naturally includes scientists working at Mpala who are concerned with conservation and biodiversity. While working from the ground up in Mpala, students will confront established filmic depictions of wildlife and while addressing pressing global issues related to environmental change in much needed, concrete terms as they unfold in Mpala.

FRS 129 Visualizing Nature: Techniques in Field Biology [Princeton Course], January 2024
Faculty: Craig Marshall, Assistant Professor of STEM, Council on Science and Technology

This seminar explores the process of scientific inquiry by investigating the many ways in which field biologists observe and study organisms in the lab and field. Through hands-on learning experiences in the lab and field, students combine technology, problem-solving skills, and creativity to collect and interpret behavioral, morphological, physiological, and sensory data in living and non-living organisms. This course includes coordinated trips during class time to local sites in the Princeton area, and also offers an optional 3-week field experience at Mpala Research Centre located in Laikipia, Kenya. 

School of Public and International Affairs 591D Policy Workshop: Conservation and Local Governance in Kenya [Princeton Course]
Faculty: Eduardo Bhatia (ebhatia@princeton.edu), Visiting Lecturer in Public and International Affairs, John L. Weinberg / Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor, Princeton University 

This Master of Public Affairs graduate course explores the complex relationships between conservation goals, public and private land rights, and scientific research. All graduate students in this course will visit Mpala during Fall Break and will also visit the United Nations Office in Nairobi.

PIIRS Global Seminar - Evolution of the Capital of Western Capitalism in Eastern Africa [Princeton Course], Summer 2022
Faculty: Mahiri Mwita (mmwita@princeton.edu), Lecturer in the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies

The goal of this seminar is to give students a general understanding of contemporary Kenya in the context of its historical positioning and modern value to Western political interests, and how this position translates to daily livelihoods and aspirations of Kenyans. Collaboration with Masento University, Kisumu, Kenya. 

PIIRS Global Seminar - Documentary Filmmaking in Kenya: Techniques in Visual Storytelling on Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation [Princeton Course], Summer 2019
Faculty: Katie Carpenter ’79, wildlife filmmaker (PBS, National Geographic TV, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet); Dan Rubenstein, the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology; professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; director, Program in Environmental Studies

This six-week Global Seminar was offered through the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and was cross-listed in visual arts, environmental studies, and African studies.

During the seminar, students explored ecology and conservation alongside filmmaking fundamentals, guided by Princeton faculty and other renowned instructors. Their classroom was Mpala, a 48,000-acre privately owned conservation area managed by the University in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museums of Kenya, and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

By the end of the seminar, students had produced their own short films, which were screened on October 10 at the Frist Campus Center. At Mpala, students collaborated to conceive, storyboard, shoot, and edit their projects, using engaging visuals and compelling stories to communicate the complex subjects at the heart of the center’s work.

Here are news articles about the 2019 and 2013 Global Seminars and the films students produced from them.

ANT206: Human Evolution [Princeton Course]
Faculty: Janet Monge (monge@princeton.edu), Visiting Faculty, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University

This class is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of human evolution from their first appearance, approximately six or seven million years ago, to the present.

Over spring break, 15 students from the course traveled to Mpala for a deeper exploration of these topics. At Mpala, Princeton students had the opportunity to connect directly with cultures that date back tens of thousands of years and to learn about and participate in collaborative solutions to contemporary challenges related to climate, conservation, and human-wildlife conflict.

Here is an article about the student's experience at Mpala. 

GU4065 Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology
Faculty: Prof. Dustin R. Rubenstein (dr2497@columbia.edu), Columbia University

Study ecology, evolution, and conservation biology in one of the world’s most biologically spectacular settings, the wildlife-rich savannas of Kenya. Although we will meet have a few meetings during the fall semester, the majority of the coursework will be completed during a 16 day field trip to Kenya during winter break. Students will spend their time immersed in an intensive field experience gaining sophisticated training in fieldwork and biological research.

ZOO 4926 – Ecology of East African Savannas
Faculty: Todd Palmer (tmp@ufl.edu), Professor of Biology, University of Florida

To provide students with a rigorous and in-depth understanding of the ecology of savanna ecosystems, which cover roughly 20% of the terrestrial earth’s surface. Savannas are extraordinarily important ecosystems, harboring rich biodiversity, and supporting much of the world’s livestock. As human populations grow and their ecological “footprint” expands accordingly, understanding these threatened ecosystems has become an increasingly urgent priority. In this class, we will explore the savanna ecosystems of Kenya firsthand, learning about their geological history, their biogeochemical cycles, their biodiversity, and their ecology. Hands-on field exercises will be coupled with readings, class discussions, group activities and lectures to gain a grasp of the biological underpinnings of savannas. Armed with this knowledge, students will then design and carry out original small-group research projects at the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya, enter and analyze data, write up results as scientific papers, and create and deliver presentations of their results to scientists at the center. In addition to providing a solid foundation in the theory and practice of savanna ecology, there will be a strong focus on developing skills in the arenas of both critical thinking and scientific writing.

BLGY5153M African Field Ecology
Module Manager: Dr. Steven Sait (S.M.Sait@leeds.ac.uk), University of Leeds

This field course aims to provide practical, first-hand experience of field research in Africa, with a focus on ecological, conservation and wildlife management challenges in a semi-arid savannah environment.

Students will plan and carry out a research project that addresses an ecological or conservation question. They will carry out this project safely and effectively, collecting data in a clearly structured and well-documented form. They will analyse and interpret the data making full use of statistical software, explaining methods and choice of tests.

Students will consider the research project in light of other relevant studies and its broader ecological and conservation significance. Students will prepare and present a presentation that is of ecological or conservation relevance to the location of the field course and the broader savannah region. Additionally, students will carry out a literature review that is relevant to their allocated project.

The course will be based primarily around small group projects that are of ecological or conservation relevance to the region. This will reinforce and broaden knowledge and understanding of the area and build upon aspects of the ecological training that has been received at Leeds. During the field course, students will plan and carry out a research project that addresses an ecological or conservation question. They will carry out this project safely and effectively, collecting data in a clearly structured and well-documented form. They will analyse and interpret the data making full use of statistical software, explaining methods and choice of tests. Students will consider the research project in light of other relevant studies and its broader ecological and conservation significance.