Jane Goodall Institute USA and FormationQ Launch First-of-its-kind Quantum Computing Research Programme to Explore the Ecological Roots of War and Peace
LONDON and AUSTIN, Texas, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) USA and FormationQ today announced a landmark research partnership that will apply trapped-ions quantum computing by IonQ to one of the most enduring questions in behavioral ecology: why do some species engage in lethal intergroup violence while others live peacefully alongside their neighbours?
Launching on World Chimpanzee Day, which marks the 66th anniversary of Dr. Jane Goodall's arrival at Gombe, Tanzania to begin her wild chimpanzee study, the two-year programme builds on more than six decades of pioneering field research, bringing together advanced computational modelling, hybrid quantum-classical computing and behavioural ecology into a new state-of-the-art collaborative research framework.
The programme, Ecology of War and Peace: Using Quantum-Enhanced Agent-Based Modelling to Explain Contrasting Intergroup Behaviour in Chimpanzees and Bonobos, will mark a first-of-its-kind application of quantum-enhanced computation to the study of ecology, evolution and behaviour, representing a bold new chapter in the Jane Goodall Institute USA's decades-long legacy of using innovative technologies to support long-term research, conservation and education.
The programme will bring together JGI's unparalleled scientific legacy, behavioural modelling developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, FormationQ's expertise in designing and operating applied programmes and IonQ's quantum computing platform.
At the centre of the programme is B3GET (Behaviour, Ecology, Genetics, Evolution and Tradeoffs), a sophisticated agent-based model in which virtual primates live, move, forage, reproduce and interact across artificial landscapes. Researchers can systematically vary ecological conditions including food distribution, home range size and group cohesion rules, to investigate how environmental factors influence patterns of cooperation and conflict over time.
Chimpanzees and bonobos are humanity's two closest living relatives, yet they display strikingly different patterns of intergroup behaviour. Jane Goodall famously observed chimpanzee warfare in the 1970s, in which chimpanzees engaged in organised, lethal inter-group conflict. Bonobos, however, are known to peacefully socialize between communities.
The answer in explaining this difference, researchers believe, lies in ecology: in the way food is distributed across the landscape, the size of the ranges each species must cover, and the moment-to-moment decisions individuals make about whether to travel alone or in groups. Decades of field research have provided extraordinary insights into these behaviours. However, understanding how numerous ecological variables interact across complex systems remains a significant challenge.
By combining advanced agent-based modelling with hybrid quantum-classical computational approaches, the programme will investigate how quantum computing can help researchers explore this complex space in new ways and improve the calibration of large-scale behavioural models, thereby helping identify the ecological conditions that distinguish the lethal intergroup aggression of chimpanzees from the more peaceful coexistence of bonobos.
The project will also provide insights into how chimpanzees' natural behaviour connects to habitat and increased mortality. Both factors are essential to not only understand chimpanzees, but also better identify and protect habitats and model chimpanzee populations to develop more effective conservation strategies.
Dr. Lilian Pintea, Vice President of Conservation Science at the Jane Goodall Institute and Principal Investigator, said:
"Dr. Jane Goodall spent over 65 years building the most comprehensive ongoing record of wild chimpanzees. That legacy of patient, rigorous observation is now meeting the frontier of quantum science. Understanding the ecological conditions that drive how chimpanzees interact with their habitats and neighbors is also relevant to understanding why populations thrive or decline, and where conservation action will matter most.
"This partnership embodies exactly what the Jane Goodall Institute's scientific work stands for: strategically bringing the most powerful technology tools available to bear on the questions that matter most for chimpanzees, for conservation, and for our understanding of what it means to be human. This programme is one of the last that Jane and I worked on together. Launching it today, on the 66th anniversary of her first day at Gombe, is deeply meaningful to me."
Nada Hosking, Founder and CEO of FormationQ said:
"This programme starts with a profound scientific question, decades of extraordinary field research and a sophisticated model built to understand a deeply complex natural system. FormationQ's role in this partnership is to bring those elements together with IonQ's frontier quantum computing capabilities and build a research programme around a question that has never before been approached in this way.
"We believe the real promise of quantum will emerge when world-leading domain expertise, data and models are connected to the technology in ways that allow researchers to ask new questions. There could be few more meaningful places to begin than with Jane Goodall's extraordinary scientific legacy and what it can still teach us about nature, conservation and ourselves."
Notes to Editors
B3GET was developed by Dr. Kristin N. Crouse, a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota, who will serve as Co-Investigator and full-time research lead on the project. The project team also includes Dr. Michael L. Wilson as the Co-Investigator, University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences and with research infrastructure support from the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Michael Wilson, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, is a Principal Investigator of the Gombe Research Consortium with over 25 years' experience working with the Gombe chimpanzee project, including three years serving as Director of Field Research for Gombe Stream Research Centre.
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) USA brings insights from over 65 years of records of field research, informing the focus areas for this research programme with their specialist domain expertise. FormationQ will bring the partners together, designing and operating the applied quantum component of the programme, while IonQ will provide the quantum computing platform and technical capability through their trapped-ion systems.
About the Jane Goodall Institute
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances Dr. Jane Goodall's legacy in 30 offices around the world. The Jane Goodall Institute continues Jane's vision of inspiring hope and transforming it into action through science driven, technology enabled programs focused on wildlife research and rehabilitation, community-led conservation, and youth engagement. Through the youth program Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, now active in 75 countries around the world and counting, JGI is creating a movement of compassionate people who uphold its mission to create a better world for people, other animals, and our shared environment.
Learn more at JaneGoodall.org and RootsAndShoots.org. Follow @JaneGoodallInst and @RootsAndShoots.
About FormationQ
FormationQ is the enablement layer for global quantum adoption. The company builds the institutional pathways and collaborative structures that allow quantum technologies to move from frontier research into real-world use. Working with leading institutions and technology partners, FormationQ operates and supports programmes that advance talent development, application formation, and ecosystem coordination in ways that can be governed, trusted, and sustained over time.
About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) is the world's leading quantum platform and foundry - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ's newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA, and Astrazeneca achieve 20x performance results and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our quantum computing services are available through all major cloud providers, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.
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