With a background in biological anthropology and animal behavior, Dr. Wendy Erb has studied the ecology, social behavior, health, communication, and conservation of wild primates in Indonesia for the last two decades. Wendy’s active participatory research program draws on diverse theories and methods from the social and natural sciences – with a central focus on the sounds of nature – to understand the shared worlds of primates and people. Having lived and worked with Indigenous communities in Indonesia since 2005, Wendy is deeply committed to cultivating deep relationships and co-creating meaningful research that matters to local people, while constructively transforming the processes and outcomes of sound-based science.

At the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Wendy is leading three major programs in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) as the principal investigator of the Engaged Research in Bioacoustics (ERB) Lab and director of the Kutai Orangutan Research Group (KEPO Kutai). She serves as the chair of the scientific advisory board of the Indonesian NGO Yayasan Suara Rimba Nusantara that works with local communities in Indonesia to lead impactful sound-based research. Wendy is a former fellow of the Fulbright Program, the British Academy, the American Institute for Indonesian Studies, and the American Association of University Women.