Curriculum Vitae

Education and Degrees

Humanistic Section, Städtisches Gymnasium Siegen 1954-63
Study of medicine in Munich and Erlangen 1963-1969
'Medizinisches Staatsexamen', University of Erlangen, 1970
'Dr. med.', University of Erlangen, 1970
'Habilitation' for Medical Psychology and Ethnomedicine and 'Venia legendi' ('Privatdozent') 1984, University of Munich, resp. Cultural Ministry of Bavaria
Professor, University of Munich, 1991-

Fellowships and Awards

Erasmus-Sarcerius-Medal, Gymnasium Siegen 1963
Member, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes 1963-70
Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin 1988-89
Member, Research Group "Biological Foundations of Culture", Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung, University Bielefeld 1991-92
Award "Science Book of the Year 1995" for the three volumes: "Der Mensch in seiner Welt", ed. by W. Schiefenhoevel, Ch. Vogel, G. Vollmer and U. Opolka
Fellow, Collegium Budapest 1995/96

Grants

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Stiftung Volkswagenwerk
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Werner-Reimers-Stiftung
Chang Ching-kuo Foundation
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Program)
European Union
STERN Magazine
Private Sponsors

Professional Experience, Appointments, Boardmemberships in Institutions

Work as medical doctor in hospitals and private practice 1970-72 as well as during all fieldstays in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia (vide below)
Research assistant at the Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Sociology (Head: Prof. Dr. M. Schmid), Technical University of Munich, 1972-74
Member, coordinating committee, priority programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft "Man, Culture and Environment in the Central Highlands of Irian Jaya, Indonesia", 1973-1980
Fielddirector of this programme, 1974-76
President Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ethnomedizin, 1975-1986
Research Associate and Senior Scientist, Research Institute for Human Ethology, Max-Planck-Society, 1977-1996
Head, Human Ethology Group, Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology 2002-
Elected member, Biological-Medical Section of the Max-Planck- Gesellschaft, 1978-84
Lecturer in Human Ethology, Zoological Institute, University of Munich, 1978-86
Lecturer in Medical Psychology and Ethnomedicine, Institute for Medical Psychology, University of Munich, 1979-
Head, German Subcommittee of the International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, 1980-
Guestprofessor (Human Ethology, Biopsychology), Psychological Institute, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 1982
Fielddirector of the interdisciplinary research project "Ritual Communication" on the Trobriand Islands, 1982-
Guestprofessor (Human Ethology, Ethnomedicine, Semiotics), Victoria University (Prof. Dr. P. Bouissac), Toronto, Canada 1984 and 1987
External Member, Department for Human Ethology/Chronobiology, Institute for Anthropology, Humboldt-University (Charité), Berlin, 1989-2005
Guestprofessor for Human Ethology, University of Innsbruck (Austria),1990-
Member of the Scientific Committee of the UNESCO-Symposium "L'alimentation en forêt tropicale: Interactions bioculturelles et application au développement", Paris, 1991
Board member Gesellschaft für Anthropologie (GfA), 1992-96, 2000-2005
Vice President, Gesellschaft für Anthropologie (GfA) 2005-
Speaker, Work-Group on Human Ethology of GfA, 1992 -
Member, Consulting Committee of "Deutsches Hygiene Museum", Dresden, 1992-2000
Member, Scientific Board of "Werner Reimers Stiftung", Bad Homburg, 1992-
Board member, journal "Homo", 1994-2005
Honorary Member, Commission for Anthropology, Romanian Academy of Science, Bucharest, 1994 -
Member, Scientific Board of "Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung " (ZIF), University of Bielefeld, 1994-
Member, Scientific Board, Research Institute Senckenberg, Frankfurt, 1994 -
Member, Counseil Scientifique "Avenir des Peuples des Forêt Tropicales",
Programme Europén C.E. - DG VIII, CNRS, Paris, 1995 -2000
Guestprofessor (Anthropology of Food and Nutrition & Evolutionary Biology), Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, 1995-2005
Chairman, Foundation for German- Hungarian Scientific and Cultural Exchange, Budapest, 1996-
Founding Member, Centre for Human Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität, Munich, 1997-
Guestprofessor (Human Ethology) University of Groningen 1997-

Membership in Scientific Boards of Journals

Co-Founder and boardmember of curare, Journal for Ethnomedicine and Transcultural Psychiatry
Co-Editor of the Series "Mensch, Kultur und Umwelt im zentralen Hochland von West-Neuguinea" ('Man, Culture and Environment in the Central Highlands of West-New Guinea'), Priority Programme, German Research Society
Co-Editor, Radio-College and Book-Series "Der Mensch - Anthropologie heute" ('Humans - Anthropology Today'), 1992-93
Member, Editorial Board, "Illustrated History of Humankind", 5 volumes, Weldon Owen, Sydney & Bra Böcker, Höganäs, Sweden; also US, French, German and other editions, 1993-94
Member, Scientific Board of the journal "Sexuology", Academy of Sexual Medicine
Coeditor (together with J. Schuler) of the book series "Am Zügel der Evolution", Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, Berlin

Field Stays (anthropology, ethnomedicine, human ethology)

Gulf Province, Central Province and Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea 12/1965-9/1966
Central and Western Province, Papua New Guinea 5/1970-2/1971
Daerah Jayawijaya, Irian Jaya (West-New Guinea), Indonesia 5/1974- 6/1976
Birds Head Peninsula, Irian Jaya, Indonesia 7/1976
Bali, Indonesia and Daerah Jayawijaya 9-10/1978
Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea 7-8/1979
Daerah Jayawijaya 3-5/1980 and 10-11/1981
Trobriand Islands, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea 7-9/1982, 7-9/1983, 8-9/1984, 6/1985
Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea 7/1985
East Java and Bali, Indonesia 11-12/1986
Trobriand Islands 10-12/1987, 6-8/1990
Northern Territories, Pakistan 9/1990
Trobriand Islands 5-7/1992
Trobriand Islands 7-9/1994
Trobriand Islands 9-10/1995
Hualien, Taiwan, 10/1995
Moluccas, Indonesia 11/1995
Moluccas and Kalimantan 1996
Moluccas 1997
Trobriand Islands 10/1997
Java 11/1997
Trobriand Islands 11-12/1998, 9-11/1999
Java 1-2/2000
Trobriand Islands 4-5/2000, 8-9/2001
Samoa 7/2002

Reviewer for

Curare, Vieweg Verlag, Braunschweig/Wiesbaden
Current Anthropology, University of Chicago Press
Ethology and Sociobiology, Elsevier, New York
Homo, G. Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart/Jena/New York
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Cusanus-Werk
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Fulbright Commission
Guggenheim Foundation
Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin
Lembaga Pengetahuan Indonesia
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen
Maudsley Hospital, London
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
Ochanomizu Universität Tokyo
Philosophische Fakultät der TU Berlin
LMU München
Universität Kiel
FU Berlin
University Bucharest
Stiftung Volkswagenwerk
Studentenwerk Villigst
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
University Montreal
Universitaet Salzburg
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

Conferences organized or coorganized

International ethnomedical conferences, Munich 1973, Göttingen 1978, Freiburg 1980, Erlangen 1982
International Mek (Highlands of West-New Guinea) conferences, Berlin 1979, Seewiesen 1984 and 1990
International conference of 'The international commission on the anthropology of food and nutrition" (ICAF), Bad Homburg 1984
International human ethology conference, Tutzing 1986
International conference on facial expression, Schloß Ringberg 1988
International ICAF conference "Food and the Status Quest", Schloß Ringberg 1991
International conference on "Human Indoctrinability", Schloß Ringberg 1995
Workshop, Section Human Ethology, Anthropological Society,
Forschungsstelle für Humanethologie, Andechs 1995
Symposium "Risky Transactions, Kinship and Ethnicity" (together with Frank Salter), Werner Reimers Stiftung, Bad Homburg, Germany, 1996
Symposium "Neue Wege in der Behandlung Frühgeborener - Neonatologie im Spannungsfeld zwischen Medizin, Evolutionsbiologie, Psychologie und Ethik", Werner Reimers Stiftung, Bad Homburg, Germany, 1996
Section Human Ethology, Anthropological Society, 3rd intern. congress, Univ. Goettingen, 1998 (together with K. Christiansen)
Workshop, Section Human Ethology, GfA, MPIV, Andechs 1999
13th intern. ICAF conference "Crossing Borders-East and West", Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania (together with C. Strungaru), 1999
Symposia "Universals" Hanse-Wissenschafts-Kolleg, Delmenhorst and MPI Andechs, together with G. Roth and H. Opolka, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Section Human Ethology, GfA, 4th intern. congress, Univ. Potsdam, 2000
Postpartum Dsyphoria and Depression. Anthropological Ethnopsychiatric and Evolutionary Dimension, Werner Reimers Stiftung, Bad Homburg (together with G. Dammann), 2000
"The Social Brain. Evolution and Pathology", Dept. for Psychiatry, Univ. Bochum (together with M. Bruence), 2000
16th intern. ICAF conference "Fluid Bread. Images and Usages of Beer in Crosscultural Perspective", MPI Seewiesen, 2001
Anthropology Symposium, GfA, MPI Seewiesen (together with Priv. Doz. Dr. Kathleen Wermke, Humboldt Univ. Berlin), 2002
International conference "Grandmothers. The psychological, social and reproductive significance of the second half of life" (together with Eckart Voland, Athanasios Chasiotis, Gerhard Roth and Uwe Opolka), Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, 2002
"Human birth - Evolutionary, medical and Sociocultural Dimensions" (together with Etsuko Matsuoka). Session during Inter-Congress 2002. International Association of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), Tokyo
Talk by Dr. Willie Smits, Jakarta/Balikpapan. "Orang-Utans in Gefahr. Das Auswilderungsprogramm des Wanariset Centre, neue Waldbrände und andere Bedrohungen der Natur in Indonesien" (in cooperation with Balikpapan Orang Utan Survival Foundation Deutschland). Institute for Zoology, University of Munich
Symposium 'The Munich Postpartum study. First results and further considerations' (together with G. Damman und H. Hepp). Clinic and Polyclinic for gynaecology and obstetrics. Clinic of Großhadern, University of Munich. 2002
Conference "Human behaviour in evolutionary perspective (MVE)", Seewiesen 2003
Summer School "Human Ethology", Universities Debrecen, Prague and Poznan (together with Dr. Frank Salter) 2003
Symposium "Konrad Lorenz, 100 de ani de la nastere", University of Bucharest (together with Dr. Carmen Strungaru, Prof. Dr. Mircea Flonta and Prof. Dr. Rainer Schubert of the Austrian Embassy) 2003
Symposium "Zum 100. Geburtstag von Konrad Lorenz", University of Munich and Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen (together with Ursula Henziger and Dr. Gerhard Medicus) 2003
further national conferences

Foci of Research

human ethology
social anthropology of Papuan and Austronesian cultures; ethnomedicine and evolutionary medicine
human ethological and anthropological filmdocumentation

Languages

German, English;
French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish;
Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin, Bahasa Indonesia, Eipo, Kilivila;
Latin, ancient Greek