To mark the 10th anniversary of the UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics (2015-2025), the 2026 UPF CAE Senior Fellowship has exceptionally been awarded to two senior researchers rather than to a single recipient, as is usually the case. The 2026 awardees are Biruté Mary Galdikas and Andrea Padilla.

Biruté Mary Galdikas, one of the renowned ‘Trimates’

Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas is one of the renowned primatologists known as the “Trimates,” also referred to as “Leakey’s Angels.” While the late Jane Goodall focused on chimpanzees and the late Dian Fossey on gorillas, paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, who had sponsored Jane and Dian, agreed to choose Galdikas to study orangutans in their native habitat after she approached him and persuaded him she was the one for orangutans. 
Like Goodall, she became a leading authority on her chosen species. Also, like Goodall, she was only in her twenties when, with funding from the National Geographic Society and Leakey Foundation, she established Camp Leakey in Tanjung Putting Wildlife Reserve (now National Park), Indonesian Borneo. This was to become the site of the longest continuous field study of any mammal by a single principal investigator, spanning over five decades. Her pioneering research revealed key insights into Orangutan behavior, including their eight-year reproductive cycle, tool-use, diverse diet, and long life-span (up to 60-70 years), transforming scientific understanding of these elusive "people of the forest." 
Having pursued studies in psychology and zoology at the University of British Columbia and UCLA where she earned a Bachelor's degree Summa cum Laude in 1966 and a Master's in anthropology in 1969, she later completed her PhD at UCLA in 1978 and then became a Full Professor at Simon Fraser University. This position allowed her to combine teaching, research, and activism and to excel at all three. She was also appointed Professor Extraordinaire at Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Andrea Padilla, a Colombian Senator devoted to animal ethics

Dr. Andrea Padilla is a Colombian senator and one of the leading political figures for animal protection in Latin America. A former student at the UPF–Centre for Animal Ethics in 2017, she holds a PhD in Law from Universidad de los Andes, a Master’s degree in Criminology from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Alban Programme), a Master’s in Governance of Complex Societies from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and a degree in Psychology from Universidad Javeriana. Her work bridges law, politics, and animal ethics. She is the author of Derecho sintiente. Los animales no humanos en el derecho latinoamericano (2021) and has published widely on animal rights, restorative justice, and related issues. As a Bogotá City Councillor (2020–2021), she led landmark local policies, including measures against bullfighting, large-scale sterilisation programmes, and protections for animals in public markets and urban planning.
Elected Senator of Colombia for the 2022–2026 term, Padilla has promoted and supported key national legislation on animal protection, including laws addressing sterilisation policies, animal cruelty, working animals, public shelters, and mandatory education on animal protection. She currently chairs the Senate’s animal-rights caucus and has played a central role in advancing the legal recognition of animals within Colombian public policy.
Beyond institutional politics, she has combined legislative work with sustained activism. She has been involved in major achievements such as banning wild animals in circuses, relocating Yoko—the last captive chimpanzee in Colombia—to a sanctuary in Brazil, and promoting the “Yoko Bill” to end great-ape captivity. She is also the founder of Ruta Animal, an initiative that has provided food and sterilisation to tens of thousands of animals across Colombia. In recognition of her work, she received PETA Latino’s Woman Defender of Animals Award in 2021.