Jane Goodall Institute, ASU to expand partnership

The Jane Goodall Institute and Arizona State University share a commitment to the overall health and interdependent futures of people, animals and Earth.

Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and U.N. Messenger of Peace, and ASU President Michael Crow recently signed a letter of intent to expand their partnership and focus on research and discovery for the planet and its inhabitants to scale up equitable and accessible education for youths and emerging leaders. 

“ASU continues to be a strong partner to JGI, and I am hopeful and confident that we will find new areas of collaboration to advance our shared commitment to empowering individuals to make a difference supporting people, animals and the environment,” Goodall said. She is an ethologist and conservationist.

The Jane Goodall Institute is a global community-led conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Goodall. By understanding, protecting and improving the welfare of chimpanzees and other great apes, while inspiring action to conserve the natural world we all share, the Jane Goodall Institute improves the lives of people, other animals and the environment. Roots & Shoots, Jane Goodall Institute's global youth program, supports young people to create positive change in their communities through service projects and growing compassion across over 60 countries with millions of participants worldwide.

Through the expanded partnership the two entities will explore ways to expand the Roots & Shoots network, generate additional education pathways related to the program’s content and involve ASU’s education and conservation researchers.

The Jane Goodall Institute is seeking scientific partnerships to continue advancing the long-term research and conservation in the Gombe and Greater Mahale Ecosystem, with potential for impact in additional countries in Africa. The Jane Goodall Institute and ASU plan to explore ways to provide research and service-learning opportunities in the Greater Gombe and other sites in Tanzania to support applied science, community-led conservation and evidence-based decision-making.

ASU is the repository for the Jane Goodall Institute Gombe Research Archive, a resource for scientific discovery that represents more than 60 years of research data on wild chimpanzees. ASU and the Jane Goodall Institute have a shared vision to organize and digitize this unique data to safeguard its historical importance and ongoing scientific value.

Ian Gilby, a 20-year researcher at Gombe and an associate professor with the Institute of Human Origins and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, oversees the archive.