Effective wildlife conservation and research in Africa requires the voice of African scientists. To strengthen the capacity and networks of early-career African wildlife researchers, an international group of conservation and research institutes came together to pilot comprehensive training in wildlife survey data analysis and integration with socio-economic, climatic, and ecological contexts—a project that should eventually become a recurrent event. In this first training (held over two sessions in 2023), a total of 22 postgraduate African scientists actively participated in compiling, processing, analyzing, visualizing, and publishing scientific findings from large datasets. Using existing large datasets collected across African countries, e.g., the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database and the PanAf dataset, participants were guided in all steps of scientific research on a series of closely related questions; with the final objective to turn each question into a peer-reviewed article. One group investigated how the co-occurrence patterns of great apes and other mammals reflect biodiversity across broad regions. Others delved into the diversity of Afrotropical mammal communities across various habitats, considering the impact of human activities. Additional studies explored the connection between the abundance of African apes and carbon storage in forests. Finally, some participants assessed the exposure of ape sites to climate change impacts, with a focus on extreme events. All topics directly inform conservation decision-making that benefits great apes, mammals, and their ecosystems. This illustrates the quality of this training as well as the approach: use existing datasets for training purposes and have more impact right away. Beyond tangible scientific output, this training initiative fostered and connected a generation of African researchers capable of addressing complex conservation challenges in a rapidly changing world. During this symposium, we would highlight the content and the transformative impact of this training initiative, a model for others that should inspire collaboration and promote professional connections within the conservation community.