Research interests and teaching

• Wildlife Conservation Ecology, Behaviour and Management
• Mammalian Systematics and Biodiversity
• Ecology, Behaviour and Systematics of Bats

 Research projects

• January 2024 – Living in The Mystery of the Mines (grant number NGS-107633R-24.) Project funded by the National Geographic Society (the “Society”) in the amount of $ $149,987.16.
• May 2023 – Exploring the unknown: Expedition to assess bat diversity of Eastern DR Congo, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas (grant number NGS-98222R-23). Project funded by the National Geographic Society (the “Society”) in the amount of $195,810.00.
• 2020 – Distribution and species diversity of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Kenya. Project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine under the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Program – Project 8-105 Kenya (nationalacademies.org).
• 2015 – 2019: trained and led (and worked with) staff of the Institute of Primate Research (IPR) on USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threat (EPT) program, PREDICT (Kenya) aimed at detection and discovery of zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential for the small mammal component including sampling, handling, and identification of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) and Rodents (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Kenya.
• 2018 – Wildlife viruses in Kenya – with key collaborators/researchers from the University of Nairobi and the University of Helsinki (Finland). Most emerging infectious diseases of humans are zoonotic – transmitted from animals to people. Due to the ease and frequency of international travel, these diseases can be quickly transported around the world and pose a global health risk to people and biodiversity. This project focusses on bats and rodents, the two most species rich groups of mammals, and have been implicated as host to a suite of viruses with serious public health consequences. It is very likely that undiscovered viruses of public health concern are hosted by these taxa, particularly in areas with high biodiversity and limited previous research such as rural Kenya. Within a One-Health framework, we are sampling a diverse range of bat and rodent species from different habitat types at Taita Hills, southwestern Kenya, to screen for known viruses and search for novel viruses (using Next Generation Sequencing).
• 2018 – Bat research and conservation in Rwanda with Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association – https://www.rwandawildlife.org/bat-research-conservation/
• 2018 -: Strategic Environmental Assessment (identification and validation) of priority features (Valued Ecological Components, VECs) for Strategic Environmental Assessment of Wind Power and Biodiversity (bats and birds) in Kenya.
• 2018 – 2019: Inventory and Monitoring of Rwanda’s Bat Biodiversity. Project funded by the National Geographic Society
• 2015- 2016: Monitoring and conservation of straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae) in Kenya. Project funded by a Booster Grant of the Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation (http://www.rufford.org/projects/paul_webala). Project completed
• 2012 – 2015: Paul Webala, Bruce Patterson (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Il., USA), Dave Waldien (Bat Conservational International, Texas, USA). Bats of Kenya: distribution, status, ecology, and public health (https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-Bats-of-Kenya#projectLog). The project is funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation (org) and the Field Museum (Barbara Brown Fund and a gift from Bud and Onnolee Trapp) and conducted under the aegis of both the Kenya Wildlife Service and National Museums of Kenya. Project ongoing
• 2012- 2014: The population ecology, diet and movement of Straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae), in Western Kenya (http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/paul_webala). Project funded by 1st and 2nd grants of the Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation, UK and Bat Conservation International, Texas, USA. Project completed.
• Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya. Project funded by the British Ecological Society, International Foundation of Science and the Kenya’s National Council of Science and Technology (NACOSTI). Project completed
• Paul Webala and Julius Nziza (Mt. Gorilla USAID Project, Rwanda). Status assessment of Rwanda’s endemic and critically endangered Hill’s Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hilli Aellen, 1973) with funding from Dr. Cullen Geiselman, Bat Conservation International, and Wildlife Conservation Society (http://www.wcs.org/). Project ongoing
• Paul Webala and Julius Nziza (Mt. Gorilla USAID PREDICT Project, Rwanda). Bat species survey of Rwanda with funding from Dr. Cullen Geiselman, USA.

Research Awards

• 2015 Spallanzani Fellowship Award from the North American Society for Bat Research.
• This award is presented occasionally at the annual North American Symposium by the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) to persons in recognition of “my meritorious recent accomplishments that promote bat research, education, and conservation programs in Africa”.

Project funding and scholarship

• January 2024 – Living in The Mystery of the Mines (grant number NGS-107633R-24.) Project funded by
  the National Geographic Society (the “Society”) in the amount of $ $149,987.16.
• May 2023 – Exploring the unknown: Expedition to assess bat diversity of Eastern DR Congo, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas (grant number NGS-98222R-23). Project funded by the National Geographic Society in the amount of $195,810.00.

• February 2020 – December 2020. Bat Conservation International. Effects of forest degradation on bats at South and North Nandi Forests, western Kenya. PI with student co-PI Sospter Kibiwot: US$3,000

• January 2020: US$13,280 from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation – Maasai Mara University (2019) - JRS Biodiversity Foundation – for Triggering the development of digital content for bat ecology and conservation in Africa: First course connecting African and Latin American students through bat conservation (https://www.globalsouthbats.org/).

• September 2019: US $80,000, a grant under the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Program with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in support of my project entitled “Distribution and species diversity of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Kenya".

• August 2019 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Effects of forest degradation on bats at South and North Nandi Forests, western Kenya. PI with student co-PI Sospter Kibiwot: UK£5,000
• January 2019 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Protecting Human and Wildlife Health during Political Upheaval: Rabies and Canine Distemper in Rural Kenya (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_kabuu_ngatia). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£10,000.

• January 2018: US $19,950 from the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society in support of my project "Inventory and Monitoring of Rwanda’s Bat Biodiversity."

• January 2017 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Assessing Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris) Demography and Rabies Disease Burden in Rural Communities, Kenya: Implications for Conservation of Wild Carnivores. (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_ngatia_0 ). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£5,000

• April 2016: US $25,000 from Dr. Cullen Geiselman, USA, for the ongoing comprehensive assessment of bats for Rwanda.

• March 2016 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Conserving Carnivores in Kenya: Addressing Disease Dynamics in Domestic Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Rural Communities. (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_ngatia). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£5,000

• 2015: US$ 9,750 from Bat Conservation International’s (www.batcon.org) for the project, “The National Assessment of Rwanda's endemic and critically endangered Hill’s Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hilli Aellen, 1973.

• 2015 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Bat habitat use in mangrove forests with differing disturbance levels, northern coastal Kenya (http://www.rufford.org/projects/beryl_makori_0). PI with student co-PI Beryl Makori: UK£4,997

• 2015 – Council on Africa of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA. Bat habitat use in mangrove forests with differing disturbance levels, northern coastal Kenya. US$5,225

• November 2014: £9,950 (GBP) - RSG Booster grant - from The Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) towards the project – Monitoring and conservation of straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae) in Kenya.

• 2014: US $ 142,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) with International Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Adam F. Ferguson (in Biology FY 2014, Award No. DBI-1402456) for the project, "Understanding the role of human disturbance in shaping African small carnivore parasite dynamics in Laikipia County"

• 2013: KSh. 973,390 (Kenya Shillings), a Science, Technology and Innovations (ST&I) Post-Doctoral Grant from for the project, “Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega forest, Western Kenya”. 2013 – Bat species diversity and distribution in a disturbed regime at the Lake Bogoria National Reserve, Kenya. Kenya’s National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI). PI with student co-PI David Wechuli: US$ 1,700.

• 2022 – ongoing. ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Bat monitoring surveys at the proposed Aysha and Debre Berhan Renewable Energy (Wind) Projects, Ethiopia. Client: The Biodiversity Consultancy (The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd |). Identification of bat call data, analysis and reporting to IFC PS6 standards.
• 2022 – ongoing. ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Bat monitoring surveys at the proposed Emarti Hewani Renewable Energy (Wind) Project, Kajiado County. Client: The Biodiversity Consultancy (The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd |). Identification of bat call data, analysis and reporting to IFC PS6 standards.
• 2021 – ongoing. Biodiversity assessment for the Djibouti Transmission Line Project. The objective of this Consultancy is to strengthen the World Bank’s knowledge base on biodiversity in Djibouti, in order to support due diligence and strategic decision-making regarding development interventions in the country, and specifically to inform appraisal and oversight of the “Second Djibouti-Ethiopia Power System Interconnection Project”.
• 2021 – ongoing. Client:  Biotope, France. Bat and Bird surveys for a feasibility study for wind power development project in Marsabit County, Kenya
• 2020 – ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Bat monitoring surveys at the proposed Siruai Renewable Energy (Wind) Project, Kajiado County. Client: The Biodiversity Consultancy (The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd |). Identification of bat call data, analysis and reporting to IFC PS6 standards.
• 2015 – 2019: USAID/PREDICT consultancy on bat and rodent disease surveillance with the Institute of Primate Research. Undertook surveys and training on rodent and bat sampling, handling and identification techniques.
• 2018 – ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Bat monitoring surveys at Meru Renewable Energy Project. Client: Windlab Developments Kenya Pty Ltd. (Windlab) and The Biodiversity Consultancy (The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd |).
• 2016 – 2017: ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Bat surveys using passive and active acoustic monitoring, mist netting and identification of potential roost sites and important bat habitat at the Proposed Renewable Energy (Wind) Project, Meru County. Client: Strix Consultancy, Portugal (STRIX – Home). Identification of bat call data, analysis and reporting to IFC PS6 standards.
• 2016: ESIA Regional Senior Bat Specialist: Ecological impact assessment on bats for proposed wind power turbine planned in Turkana, Marsabit and Wajir Counties in Northern Kenya. Client: Frontier Investment Management Pty Ltd, Denmark.

Brief Bio

• I am an award-winning regional expert on small mammals, especially bats, with extensive fieldwork experience. Collaborating with scientists from around the world, one of my principal interests are the processes that drive rarity and abundance of mammals in natural and human-dominated environments. This research involves behavioural, ecological, and systematic/taxonomic questions and is central to my work of promoting bat conservation in Africa. I have published extensively in reputable international peer-reviewed journals; I am co-chair of Bat Conservation Africa and a science advisor to Bat Conservation International (USA); and together with colleagues I have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for science, capacity building, and biodiversity conservation projects in Africa. I am also a member of the Bat Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.

Educational Background

• Moi University, Kenya  Wildlife Management B.S., 1997
• Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia Dryland Biodiversity M.S., 2001
• Murdoch University, Perth, Australia Wildlife Biology Ph.D., 2011
• Amani Nature Reserve, Tanzania Tropical Ecology & Conservation Certificate 98 

Membership

• 2020 – Honorary research fellow of the Harrison Institute, UK (https://www.harrison-institute.org/staff-research-fellows) Bowerwood House, 15 St Botolph's Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3AQ, United Kingdom. 
• 2019 – Science Advisory Committee ((http://www.batcon.org/about-us/about-bci/science-advisory-committee),), Bat Conservation International, Texas, USA.
• 2016 – American Society of Mammalogists (http://www.mammalsociety.org/)
• 2005 – IUCN Species Survival Commission, Bat Specialist Group (http://www.iucnbsg.org/members.html)
• Ecological Society for Eastern Africa (ESEA) (http://www.ecsea.org/index.php)
• Australasian Bat Society (http://ausbats.org.au/), PO Box 481 Lindfield, New South Wales 2070, Australia
• Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia, PO Box 42, Brighton Le Sands NSW 2216, Australia
• Nature Kenya (formerly East African Natural History Society) (http://www.naturekenya.org/)

Project funding and scholarship

• January 2024 – Living in The Mystery of the Mines (grant number NGS-107633R-24.) Project funded by
  the National Geographic Society (the “Society”) in the amount of $ $149,987.16.
• May 2023 – Exploring the unknown: Expedition to assess bat diversity of Eastern DR Congo, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas (grant number NGS-98222R-23). Project funded by the National Geographic Society in the amount of $195,810.00.
•  
• February 2020 – December 2020. Bat Conservation International. Effects of forest degradation on bats at South and North Nandi Forests, western Kenya. PI with student co-PI Sospter Kibiwot: US$3,000
• January 2020: US$13,280 from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation – https://jrsbiodiversity.org/grants/maasai-mara-university-2019/ – for Triggering the development of digital content for bat ecology and conservation in Africa: First course connecting African and Latin American students through bat conservation (https://www.globalsouthbats.org/).
• September 2019: US $80,000, a grant under the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Program with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in support of my project entitled “Distribution and species diversity of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Kenya”.
• August 2019 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Effects of forest degradation on bats at South and North Nandi Forests, western Kenya. PI with student co-PI Sospter Kibiwot: UK£5,000
• January 2019 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Protecting Human and Wildlife Health during Political Upheaval: Rabies and Canine Distemper in Rural Kenya (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_kabuu_ngatia). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£10,000.
• January 2018: US $19,950 from the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society in support of my project “Inventory and Monitoring of Rwanda’s Bat Biodiversity.”
• January 2017 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Assessing Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris) Demography and Rabies Disease Burden in Rural Communities, Kenya: Implications for Conservation of Wild Carnivores. (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_ngatia_0 ). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£5,000
• April 2016: US $25,000 from Dr. Cullen Geiselman, USA, for the ongoing comprehensive assessment of bats for Rwanda.
• March 2016 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Conserving Carnivores in Kenya: Addressing Disease Dynamics in Domestic Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Rural Communities. (https://www.rufford.org/projects/dedan_ngatia). PI with student co-PI Dedan Ngatia: UK£5,000
• 2015: US$ 9,750 from Bat Conservation International’s (batcon.org) for the project, “The National Assessment of Rwanda’s endemic and critically endangered Hill’s Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hilli Aellen, 1973.
• 2015 – The Rufford Foundation (UK). Bat habitat use in mangrove forests with differing disturbance levels, northern coastal Kenya (http://www.rufford.org/projects/beryl_makori_0). PI with student co-PI Beryl Makori: UK£4,997
• 2015 – Council on Africa of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA. Bat habitat use in mangrove forests with differing disturbance levels, northern coastal Kenya. US$5,225
• November 2014: £9,950 (GBP) – RSG Booster grant – from The Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) towards the project – Monitoring and conservation of straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae) in Kenya.
• 2014: US $ 142,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) with International Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Adam F. Ferguson (in Biology FY 2014, Award No. DBI-1402456) for the project, “Understanding the role of human disturbance in shaping African small carnivore parasite dynamics in Laikipia County”
• 2013: KSh. 973,390 (Kenya Shillings), a Science, Technology and Innovations (ST&I) Post-Doctoral Grant from for the project, “Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega forest, Western Kenya”.
• 2013 – Bat species diversity and distribution in a disturbed regime at the Lake Bogoria National Reserve, Kenya. Kenya’s National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI). PI with student co-PI David Wechuli: US$ 1,700.
• October 2012: US$ 11, 990 from International Foundation for Science in support of my project: “Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega forest, Kenya”.
• August 2012: £6,000 (GBP) – second grant – from The Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) towards the project – The population ecology, diet and movement of Straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera : Pteropodidae), in Western Kenya (http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/paul_webala)
• June 2012 – US$ 3,000 from Bat Conservation International’s (batcon.org) Global Grassroots Scholarship Fund for the project “The population ecology, diet and movement of Straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae), in western Kenya.”
• JRS Biodiversity Foundation, 2012-2015. ($90,095); Bats of Kenya: distribution, status, ecology, and public health. Paul W. Webala, Bruce D. Patterson, Carl W. Dick, Co-PIs.
• April 2012 – US$ 2500 from IDEA WILD (USA) as an equipment Grant 2012
• January 2012 – MSc scholarship from Field Museum/IDP Foundation, Inc. African Council on Africa Fund, USA for my student David Wechuli: US$ 6,000.
• January 2012: US$2,500 from Bat Conservation International, Texas, USA, in support of my project: “Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega Forest, Kenya”, specifically for the purchase of a radio receiver and antennae for the radio-telemetry component of the project.
• October 2011: £7000 (GBP) from British Ecological Society for the project, “Effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on insectivorous bats at Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya”.
• July 2011: £5591 (GBP) from The Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) towards the project – The population ecology, diet and movement of Straw-coloured fruit bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera : Pteropodidae), in Western Kenya (http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/paul_webala)
• August 2011: US$ 50,000 from The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Il., USA to support a three-year project on “Bats of Kenya: distribution, status, ecology, and public health”, a collaborative project with Dr Bruce Patterson (Field Museum) and Dr Carl Dick (Western Kentucky University). Fundraising for additional funds ongoing.
• May 2011: US$11,150 from the Chicago Field Museum/IDP Foundation, Inc. African Training Fund to support inventory and monitoring of Kenya’s bat diversity.
• 2009: US$10,000 – Field Museum/Council on Africa. Biodiversity surveys of mammals and their ectoparasites in protected areas of Kenya (co-PI Dr Bruce Patterson).
• May 2008: AU$6,000 (Australian dollars) from The ANZ Charitable Trust – Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment for additional support of my bat project in South-western Australia
• April 2008: US$ 3,000 from Bat Conservation International (2008 BCI Student Research Scholarship) in support of my PhD project, “Bat community structure and habitat use across disturbance regimes in jarrah eucalypt forests, South-western Australia.”
• February 2008: AU$ 15,000 (Australian dollars) from the Science Division of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia in support of my PhD bat project in the jarrah eucalypt forests, south-western Australia.
• May 2007: AU$5,000 (Australian dollars) from The ANZ Charitable Trust – Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment in support of my PhD bat project, “Bat community structure and habitat use across disturbance regimes in jarrah eucalypt forests, South-western Australia”
• April 2007: US$ 8,000 from the Italian Government and Pavia University (Italy) in lieu of the project, “Conservation and Community development in Lake Turkana area”, that had a component on small mammals on the eastern side of Lake Turkana, Northern Kenya. The money funded my trip to Pavia University in early April 2007 for the collation, analyses and subsequent publication of the small mammal data collected from northern Kenya during 2004-2006.
• July 2006: Australian Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) tenable at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia for my PhD Program in Wildlife Biology.
• June 2006: US$ 10,000 for Collaborative small mammal collection-based research with MacArthur Zoology/Mammals Curator of Mammals, Bruce D. Patterson (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA). The collaboration and my trip to the Field Museum, Chicago was funded by a grant from the Field Museum’s Council on Africa.
• November 2005: £7,000 (GBP) from the British Ecological Society (BES) Overseas Bursaries and Fellowship Scheme to study the Population Ecology, Diet and Movement of Straw-coloured Fruit Bats, Eidolon helvum, (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae), in Kenya. Project incomplete as funding was held in abeyance but eventually cancelled when I commenced my PhD programme in Western Australia.
• September 2004: US$ 20,000 from RPSUD (Research Programme on Sustainable Use of Dryland Biodiversity) of the National Museums of Kenya under the auspices of SIDA/SAREC. Project entitled, “Biodiversity Assessment of Dryland Hills of Kitui and Mwingi Districts, Kenya.” Project completed.
• July 2004: US$ 2,400 from the DEFRA/FFI Flagship Species Fund (Small Grants Programme), UK. Project entitled, “Monitoring the Population and Movements of the Straw-coloured Fruit Bats, Eidolon helvum (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae), in Kenya”. Further funding later secured from British Ecological Society.
• April 2003: US$ 2,500 from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), USA (The Small Grants Program for Africa): Distribution, Diversity and Conservation Status of Small Mammals in Meru National Park, Kenya. Project duration: 12 months; ended May 2004