Rate My Professor Cyril Grueter

Cyril Grueter is an Associate Professor and Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Western Australia, with joint affiliations in the Centre for Evolutionary Biology within the School of Biological Sciences and as a research fellow in UWA’s Africa Research and Engagement Centre. He also holds an adjunct professorship at Dali University in China. Grueter obtained his PhD in biological anthropology from the University of Zurich in 2009, based on a pioneering 20-month field study of the social organization and ecology of wild snub-nosed monkeys in China, conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned his Diploma with distinction in biological anthropology in 2003 and his Vordiplom in biology in 1999 from the same university. From 2009 to 2011, he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, including 18 months of fieldwork on the socioecology of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. In 2012, he joined UWA’s School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology (now School of Human Sciences) as faculty, receiving tenure and promotion in 2014.

Grueter’s research focuses on the interface of behavioural ecology and evolutionary anthropology, particularly the evolution of primate and human sociality, including meta-group social organization, multilevel societies, intergroup tolerance, and adaptations of primates to marginal montane environments. He leads ongoing field projects on snub-nosed monkeys in China and chimpanzees in Rwanda. His contributions include over 130 peer-reviewed articles, two authored books—Field Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the Golden Monkey National Park (2015) and The Biology of the Snub-nosed Monkeys (2013)—and the edited volume The Colobines: Natural History, Behaviour and Ecological Diversity (2022, Cambridge University Press). Notable publications feature 'The role of between-group signaling in the evolution of primate multilevel societies' (Evolution Letters, 2024), 'Primate model offers insights into male bonding in complex societies' (PNAS, 2014), and 'Adaptations to a cold climate promoted social evolution in Asian colobine primates' (Science, in press). With an h-index of 32 and over 3,100 citations, his work has advanced understanding of social complexity and primate conservation. Grueter has received awards including the UWA School of Human Sciences Mid-Career Research Award (2022), UWA Research Collaboration Award (2016), UWA Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2012), National Natural Science Foundation of China grants (2014-2020), and Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship (2009-2011). He serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Mammal Science, on editorial boards for International Journal of Primatology and others, and as a member of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group.