I'm Nea Yves Noma from Côte d’Ivoire, where I studied genetics, specializing in the conservation and valorization of biodiversity. After my master's degree in 2017, as a research assistant at the genetics laboratory of the Felix Houphouet Boigny University in Abidjan, I took part in different research programs. These included projects such as ‘The monkeys of the Comoe National Park’ in 2018, ‘Save the pangolins of Côte d’Ivoire’ in 2019, and Biodiversity changes in African Forests and Emerging Infectious Diseases with two field missions in 2021 and 2022. During my main project on ‘Bushmeat & coronaviruses’, which started in 2020, I visited bushmeat markets and restaurants in villages, towns and small cities. I took meat samples and also sampled potential reservoir hosts, such as bats and rodents captured in various parks in Côte d'Ivoire. My training also included a research stay at HIOH in 2023, where I had the opportunity to analyze my samples in the laboratory. 

Since 2024, I am a PhD student in the BehaviourChange project, headed by the Senckenberg Natural History Museum of Gorlitz, an institute of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, Frankfurt, in close collaboration with the Helmholtz Institute for One Health.