CONSULTANTS

Noreen Mutoro has been affiliated with ACK since 2013. Noreen has authored several manuscripts using data collected during her own studies. She assists with other publications using past ACK data and has presented findings in various conferences and forums, both regionally and internationally. She holds a BSc in Wildlife Management and Conservation from the University of Nairobi (UON). Noreen joined our project in 2013 as a Masters student from the UON where she completed a project on the  “Assessment of cheetah dietary selection outside protected areas in Salama-Athi Kapiti Plains”. Noreen has participated in training programmes in GIS mapping, genetic analysis, social science surveys and project planning through ESRI, Cheetah Conservation Fund and through university affiliated programmes. Her passion and expertise make her a skilled leader in the National Cheetah Survey team. Noreen has authored several manuscripts using data collected during her own studies. She assists with other publications using past ACK data and has presented findings in various conferences and forums, both regionally and internationally. Over the years, Noreen has developed skills in carnivore dietary analysis through morphological assessment of prey hair, field sample collection of carnivore hair and feces, GIS/ remote sensing, proposal writing, scientific writing, and public speaking. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Salzburg in Austria and is assisting ACK with the National Cheetah Survey.

Dr. Leopold Slotta-Bachmayr is a biologist from Austria. He holds a PhD at Salzburg University, specializing in alpine ecology. After working for the Natural History Museum in Salzburg, he was employed as a zoo educator at Zoo Salzburg. Afterwards Leo was responsible for the Welser Tiergarten as a zoological/scientific director. Leo now works as a cynologist training rescue, therapy and species detection dogs. He also runs scientific projects about stress of search dogs, development of scent under the snow or in the soil, police dog training or the abilities of mantrailing dogs. His partner is Sark an Australian Kelpie trained as a rescue dog and for the detection of wild cat and wolf scats as well as for carcasses. Leo supports the ACK K9 team with his knowledge about dog training, dog handling and deployment of dogs.

Dr. Mary Burak originally hails from Boston, USA but has been working as a conservation scientist in Kenya for over 10 years. She obtained her PhD in Ecology and Conservation from Yale University in 2023. Mary specializes in conservation genetics and molecular ecology, and is broadly experienced in applying spatial and molecular tools to support wildlife and landscape management. She has previously studied lion gene flow and connectivity with Lion Landscapes in Laikipia, Kenya, and previously spent years on international projects that monitored and managed disease vectors (rats and tsetse flies). She has been honored with various awards for her work, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, National Geographic Early Career Award, and the P.E.O. Scholar Award during her doctoral studies as well as a Fulbright Scholar Award and Brown University’s Voss Postdoctoral Fellowship for her postdoctoral work. Her research and conservation interests revolve around cross-sectoral collaboration between Kenyan NGOs, scholars, and government institutes to address critical data needs for wildlife conservation across Kenya. This often entails landscape genetics, wildlife diet monitoring, human-wildlife coexistence, habitat restoration. Mary began interacting with ACK in 2021 before joining formally in 2024. She is responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of research methodology, with a focus on data analysis and student advising. She also supports the ACK community through various strategic planning and project framework development, ultimately contributing to overall research coordination.