Staff profile

I am a third year PhD student. My PhD focuses on human-brown hyaena relationships in and around the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa.

In 2011 I began working for the Primate and Predator Project as the Field Team Leader. The project is based at the Lajuma Research Centre in South Africa and also provided access to the study site for my PhD research. In my position as Field Team Leader, I recruit and lead a team of research assistants who gather long term data on primate and predator species. I also help to manage an Earthwatch Institute project and contribute to the Department of Anthropology's undergraduate field course. One of the key facets of the Primate and Predator Project's research is to evaluate the nature and extent of human-wildlife conflict within the Soutpansberg Mountains. I am extremely passionate about using research to promote community involvement and have launched a number of local initiatives to mitigate human-wildlife conflict .

Previously I have conducted research in Zimbabwe on cheetahs and lions and in Indonesia on Buton macaques.

• Human-wildlife conflict
• Predator ecology and conservation
• Perceptions of animals

Journal Article

• de Villiers, M., Janecke, B. B., Müller, L., Amin, R., & Williams, K. S. (2023). Leopard Density in a Farming Landscape of the Western Cape, South Africa. African journal of wildlife research, 53(1), 177-184. https://doi.org/10.3957/056.053.0177
• Hinde, K., Wilkinson, A., Tokota, S., Amin, R., O’Riain, M. J., & Williams, K. S. (2023). Leopard density and the ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing density in a mixed-use landscape in the Western Cape, South Africa. PLoS ONE, 18(10), Article e0293445. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293445
• Amin, R., Wilkinson, A., Williams, K. S., Martins, Q. E., & Hayward, J. (2022). Assessing the status of leopard in the Cape Fold Mountains using a Bayesian spatial capture–recapture model in Just Another Gibbs Sampler. African Journal of Ecology, 60(3), 299-307. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12944
• Williams, K., Williams, S., Fitzgerald, L., Sheppard, E., & Hill, R. (2018). Brown hyaena and leopard diets on private land in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa. African Journal of Ecology, 56(4), 1021-1027. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12539
• Williams, S., Williams, K., Joubert, C., & Hill, R. (2016). The impact of land reform on the status of large carnivores in Zimbabwe. PeerJ – the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences, 4, Article e1537. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1537