Forest of Hope is in a research partnership with distinguished universities and research institutions and provides internship opportunities to university students. For instance, West Chester University of Pennsylvania researches Gishwati chimpanzee behavioral ecology and Drake University investigates crop raiding around the Gishwati Forest. We are committed to facilitating the work of scientists and institutions to expand the number of species and types of problems studied in and around the park, including students from the University of Rwanda.

The Shinehouse Gishwati Research Station, constructed in partnership with the West Chester University Foundation, is a research facility that expands research on biodiversity, food security, agriculture, livelihoods, and climate change.

These are some of the universities and recent studies done in the Gishwati Forest:

– Leiden University (The Netherlands) - effects of habituation on stress in captive and free-living chimpanzees
– Utrecht University (The Netherlands) - Using vocalizations as an indicator of habituation
– University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) - Context-dependent activity patterns in chimpanzees
– Yale University (United States of America) - Local community perspectives on the history of Gishwati and the establishment of a national park
– George Washington University (United States of America) - Effects of anthropogenic activities on the behavioral ecology of chimpanzees
– University of Western Australia (Australia) - Gut microbiome of Gishwati chimpanzees
–  University of Adam Mickiewicz Poznan (Poland) - Analysis of pathogen loads in Gishwati chimpanzees