Hello all!
We, the Steering Committee of AaRC would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves and give you all a quick idea of what we do.
Right now the Steering Committee is formed by a group of volunteers that got together to try to set up this community. The founding Steering Committee will be dissolved during Summer 2024, when elections will be held to elect the new Committee.
The Steering Committee Members
Victoria E Mullin - Chair, Treasury Team
I am a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin. I am particularly interested in applying ancient genomics to explore animal-human interactions. The main focus of my research surrounds domesticate animals, in particular cattle, from domestication to the development of breeds. Additionally, my work and interest includes the application of historical genomes for the establishment of genomic baselines for conservation.
Contact: victoriae@palaeome.org
Pedro Morell Miranda (He/His) - Vice Chair, Social Media Team
I’m a PostDoctoral Researcher at the Ludwig-Maximillian University of Munich (LMU). While I work mostly on sheep domestication and posterior demographic history, I’m more widely interested in human-fauna interactions and how our presence and activities shape other species’ evolution. Out of work I love reading, playing the blues on one of my guitars and fencing with ancient swords.
Contact: Pedro.Morell@lmu.de, Twitter, BlueSky
Laura Viñas Caron - Secretary, Treasury Team
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Textile Research and Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. I am interested in understanding the evolutionary journey of domesticated animals using ancient DNA and proteins. In particular, I am exploring the development of domestic sheep and wool production and also working on the species identification of animal artefacts (manuscripts, skins, fur, textiles).
Contact: laura@palaeome.org
Audrey T. Lin (she/they) - Social Media Team, Engagement Team
I am a Gerstner Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Postdoctoral Scholar at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. I utilize ancient biomolecules from archaeological and museum specimens and objects to answer diverse questions on human-mediated evolutionary processes – in other words, how humans have interacted with other animals in ways that have resulted in genomic, social, and cultural changes.
Contact: alin@amnh.org, Twitter
Kevin G Daly - Engagement Team
I am an Ad Astra Assistant Professor at the School of Agriculture and Food Science at UCD, Dublin. I am also a member of the Young Academy of Ireland. My research interests are in the domestication history of small ruminants and its consequences to domestic livestock, wild animals, and human society. In my spare time I watch movies with my dachshund Moose.
Contact: kevin@palaeome.org, Twitter, GitHub
Stephanie Dolenz (she/her) - Engagement Team and Safety Office Liaison
I am a PhD student at the Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm University. I am interested in the use of ancient DNA to study the effect of climate change and past peoples on biodiversity throughout time. For my PhD research I am analyzing ancient DNA from sediments in order to reconstruct ecological communities and examine how past climate events impacted plant and animal communities over the past 450,000 years. I am also working on a project exploring Pleistocene species found in a cave in Oaxaca, Mexico. In my free time, I like to play Dungeons and Dragons, knit, hike, cave, and cuddle with my adorable cat named Pip.
Contact: stephanie.dolenz@geo.su.se, GitHub
Anders Bergström - Metadata Working Group
I am a group leader in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. I am interested in the evolution and diversity of wild and domesticated animals, and the multitude of ways in which human societies have influenced these throughout prehistory and in the present day. My primary research projects currently concern dogs, wolves and red foxes, and I also maintain an interest in human population history.
Contact: a.bergstrom@uea.ac.uk, Twitter
Lachie Scarsbrook - Engagement Team
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (Somerville College). I am interested in the use of ancient DNA in investigating the role that humans and the environment play in shaping global animal populations. More specifically, I am focused on unravelling the causes and consequences of millennia of interaction between humans and their closest evolutionary companion, dogs. Being a kiwi, when I’m not working, I love travelling and exploring the great outdoors.
Contact: lachlan.scarcbrook@arch.ox.ac.uk, Twitter
Katia Bougiouri - Engagement Team
I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Globe Institute in the University of Copenhagen. My research interests revolve around dog evolution, combining present-day and ancient genomic data. My current work focuses on testing the applicability and limitations of different genomic tools to better understand the evolutionary history of dogs, and other domesticated species. Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, playing board games, and doing aerial silks.
Contact: katia.bougiouri@gmail.com, Twitter
Emilio Mármol - Engagement Team
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics within the Globe Institute in the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. My research interests include the study of ancient DNA, ancient RNA and 3D structural genomics in animals (and plants) to understand extinction dynamics and discover hidding bits of the biology of extinct and extanct living organisms. Outside of work, I enjoy walks in the nature, hiking or just laying down in the sofa watching some sci-fi or nature documentary with a cozy cover getting lost in my own thoughts.
Contact: emilio.sanchez@sund.ku.dk, emilio.marmol.sanchez@gmail.com, Twitter
Eleanor Green - Engagement Team
I am currently working as an archaeogenetics postdoctoral researcher on the RATTUS project at the University of York, England. I work in the wet and dry labs to understand the mechanisms and timings of the arrival of black and brown rats into Europe. Broadly, I am interested in researching unusual or under-utilised, substrates and species to better understand human activities the past.
Contact: eleanor.green@york.ac.uk, Twitter
Roles:
Management team: formed by the chair and the secretary. Responsible for ensuring the committee functions smoothly and achieves its goals.
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Chair: leads meetings, sets agendas, moderates discussions and delegates tasks to volunteer members. It represents AaRC in any official meetings or interviews. They are also responsible for having an overview of the various initiatives by maintaining a close communication with the treasurer, social media and engagement teams. Allows for discussion around long-term topics, needs to be forward thinking on this end. In case they cannot fullfil partly or completely their duties, the Vice-Chair will take care of them.
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Secretary: Takes meeting minutes, sends them out via Slack when they are ready, makes sure that assignments are noted. Organisational responsibilities (ie keeping google docs in order, annotating the minutes with required links, possibly doing same for the agenda ahead of time).
Treasury team
The treasury team is responsible for managing the funds, for the communication related to funds and responsible for allocating funding to initiatives by serving as a line of communication between the organising committees and the Steering Committee. The treasurer team is also responsible to collect funds as well as finding grant opportunities to continue to fund AaRC initiatives.
Social media team
The social media team is responsible for the outreach of the community, by tweeting, emailing as well as updating the website. Social media officers will announce new initiatives, conferences, papers and jobs that are relevant for AaRC.
Engagement team
The engagement officers are responsible for coming up with new initiatives (projects, summer schools, outreach activities, etc.) and propose them to the community. They will also oversee ongoing initiatives and provide support for them to reach their goals. They will ensure that the initiatives are known in the community, as well as outside the community together with the media team. The engagement officers also suggests potential funding sources for the initiatives, by engaging with the treasurer team.
