Heribert Hofer

Prof. Heribert Hofer is the Director of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and Professor of Interdisciplinary Wildlife Sciences at the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Freie Universität Berlin. After undergraduate studies in biology and philosophy in Saarbrücken (Germany), a DPhil in Zoology at Oxford University (UK) and a position as staff scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Behavioural Physiology (Germany) he became director of Leibniz-IZW in 2000. His scientific research links the well-being, conservation, behavioural ecology and viability of large, threatened mammal populations such as carnivores in Europe, Africa and Asia to anthropogenic stressors and the evolutionary epidemiology of the pathogens and parasites with which they interact, as well as their linkages to livestock, domestic and companion animals and (through zoonotic pathogens) human health. His favourite species include spotted hyenas, cheetahs and canids, his favourite pathogens and parasites rabies, canine distemper virus, sarcocysts and hookworms. More than thirty years of research in field sites in natural and commercial landscapes in eastern and southern Africa convinced him that a One Health perspective strengthens ecosystem health and benefits both the conservation of wildlife and the development and well-being of local people. It also demonstrated that an early involvement of and participation by representatives of different interest groups (stakeholders) involved in wildlife conflicts in relevant research projects, whether they are related to infectious diseases or to other issues, accelerates the identification of a constructive resolution of such conflicts acceptable and beneficial to all parties involved.