I am a zooarchaeologist and stable isotope specialist that examines human-animal interactions in the past. In December 2022, I obtained a PhD in Archaeology from Leiden University in the Netherlands which was funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). My doctoral research involved zooarchaeological and isotopic analyses of animal remains found at precolumbian sites in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. The aims of this project were to examine the effects of indigenous agricultural practices on the diets of synanthropic animals, and to investigate whether certain animals were being actively managed by indigenous peoples prior to the arrival of Europeans in the region. Subsequently, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) where I continued my zooarchaeological and isotopic investigations of sites in the Dominican Republic and Aruba. At the beginning of March 2024, I joined the FELIX ERC project as a postdoctoral researcher. Over the next two years I will conduct isotopic analyses of archaeological cat remains, and model this isotopic data to examine similarities and differences within cat diets across multiple regions and time periods.

I am an archaeologist with a specialisation in molecular anthropology and paleogenetic. My main interests focus on reconstructing the history of past human populations by combining together molecular and archaeological data. I obtained my doctoral degree in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences in 2018, at the University of Bologna (Italy), with a PhD project focused on exploring population dynamics of Iron Age human communities in the Italian peninsula using the analysis of ancient DNA. In 2019, I enlisted in the Italian Carabinieri Force and served as a reserve Second lieutenant at the biology section of the Scientific Science Unit (RIS) in Parma (Italy). Later on, after some professional experiences in private companies, where I provided analytical services and customised solutions in the field of the High-Throughput Sequencing applied to life science and agri-food area, in October 2021 I started a postdoc in PRIN2017 AGED project at the Centre of Molecular Anthropology for Ancient DNA studies of the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy). In particular, my research has focused on the study of human population dynamics in Central Italy during the Middle Ages through paleogenomics. In July 2023, I joined the ERC project FELIX as a postdoctoral researcher, where I will work on the paleogenomics and populations genomics of wild and domestic Asian cats.

I am an anthropologist and I obtained by Ph.D. in Applied Medico-Surgical Sciences at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy) in April 2019. My doctoral thesis focused on the osteobiographical reconstruction of an Italian Medieval population. Since November 2019 I started a second doctoral program and I am completing my doctoral thesis in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy). This new Ph.D. project aims at the investigation of diet and lifestyle variations during the Medieval period by integrating stable isotope analysis from bone proteins and the metagenomic analysis of dental calculus. In the last few years I had international research experiences thanks to the participation at the ERASMUS+ Traineeship program at the Liverpool John Moores University (UK) and as anthropology consultant for a NPRP project (funded by the Qatar National Research Fund) at Sidra Medicine (Doha, Qatar). My research interests rely on bioarchaeology and molecular anthropology and they include the morphological analysis of ancient skeletal remains, stable isotope analysis for paleodietary reconstruction and metagenomics of ancient dental calculus. In the last two years my research particularly focused on the metagenomic analysis of ancient calculus samples aiming to investigate the oral microbiome. I joined the FELIX ERC project as postdoctoral researcher in December 2022, and in next two years I will work on ancient cats’ metagenomics aiming at detecting the presence of eventual pathogens and reconstructing the ancient microbial communities.

I was adopted by the employees of the Biology Department. I live on a terrace just outside the department and I am always around the yard and the garden looking for new friends and fun! But I always come back … Especially at lunchtime!

I am a population geneticist, and I completed my doctorate studies in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Analysis at Roma Tre University, which followed my Ms.C studies in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management and my BA in Biology at the same University. I am mostly interested in the use of modern and ancient DNA analyses to address a variety of questions on the evolutionary relationships of species and population, the application of genetic techniques for conservation, and the impact of environmental changes on demography through time and space. My PhD dissertation dealt with the application of different genetics and genomics techniques for population analyses of endangered Amphibian species endemic to Italy. In 2016 I started a first postdoc at the University of Haifa, where I worked on the DIP project “Salamandra infraimmaculata ecological genomics”, aimed at identifying the genetic architecture of habitat-dependent adaptation in several salamanders’ populations. In 2020 I joined the ERC project DEADSEA-ECO, focusing on paleogenomics, ancient DNA and demographic reconstructions of mammalian species from the Pleistocene. Since February 2022, I am a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC project FELIX, where I aim at analysing the genomes of ancient cats to provide new perspectives on the process of cat domestication.

I have a background in archaeology and a specialisation on human osteology, palaeopathology and the archaeological sciences. My research interests include the interaction of people with their environments in the past through dietary and mobility patterns as well as through biological and social impacts of diseases. I obtained my PhD Degree in 2021 at Aarhus University, Denmark. My PhD project, which merged physical anthropology with traditional and biomolecular archaeology, explored dietary, mobility and physiological patterns of medieval Danish leprosy patients through a multi-methodological approach (bulk δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, amino acid δ¹³C, δ³⁴S, ¹⁴C, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, SXRF and LA-ICP-TOFMS). As of February 2022, I am a Postdoc researcher affiliated with the FELIX project. My work aims to reconstruct the dietary patterns of wild and domestic cats and to investigate whether and to what extent these patterns were influenced by feline-human interactions across time and space.

I studied Biological sciences at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. I obtained my master’s degree in Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and applied Anthropology at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. During the master course I was trained at the “Centre of Molecular Anthropology for ancient DNA studies”. In 2021 I was awarded a scholarship on the research program “1000 Ancient Italian Genomes: Evidence from ancient biomolecules for unravelling past human population Dynamics (AGED)” supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR). Finally, I joined the Felix project as a PhD student, and I will exploit and improve the skills acquired in the field of paleogenomics by recovering and studying DNA from ancient cat’s remains.

I am associate professor at the KU Leuven, in Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the head of the Division of Soil and Water Management. In have broad interests in aquatic biogeochemistry and ecology, focusing on tropical freshwater, estuarine, and coastal ecosystems and application of stable isotope techniques: element cycles, greenhouse gas exchange, microbial and higher trophic level foodwebs, terrestrial-aquatic linkages, and reconstruction of recent ecosystem changes.

I am an archaeozoologist, working at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and exploring human animal interactions in the past. My research interests include topics ranging from domestication and spread of domestic livestock, to the economic exploitation of animals and subsistence strategies in past societies. This research is based on animal remains dating from the Neolithic to the postmedieval period from archaeological sites in Europe, the Near East and northern Africa.

My research focusses on the relationship through time between man and animal in his environment, as reflected in faunal assemblages from archaeological sites in Europe, the Near East and Africa. I conducted my research at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels and at the Centre for Archeological Sciences of the KU Leuven. As an archaeozoologist I am particularly interested in the study of fish remains as a meansof investigatingthe role of fish in the human diet, and of documentingstatus, former fishing techniques, seasonality and trade relationships. In addition, I became very interested in the domestication of the cat after excavating the complete skeletons of small felids in the predynastic site of Hierakonpolis illustrating that cat taming started 2000 years earlier in Egypt than previously thought.