Curriculum Vitae

Current Positions

  • 2021-present | Associate Professor in Archaeological Science | Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria
  • 2017-2024 | Principal Investigator FINDER ERC Project | Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria
  • 2021- present | Research Associate | Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany

Previous Positions & career breaks

  • 2017-2021 | W2 Research Group Leader | Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
  • 2013-2017 | Postdoctoral Researcher  | ERC Project “PalaeoChron” (Precision Dating of the Palaeolithic of Eurasia). European Research Council Advanced Grant (PI: Tom Higham) | Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, U.K.
  • 2011-2013 |  | Postdoctoral Researcher  | Leverhulme Trust Project “AHOB 3” (Ancient Human Occupation of Britain) (PI: Chris Stringer) | Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, U.K.
  • 2005 | Museum conservator | National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, Spain.
  • 2004 | Field archaeological conservator | Kephalonia, Ministry of Culture, Greece

2016 & 2020 | Maternity leave (24-month career break)

Fellowships

  • 2014-2018  | William Golding Junior Research Fellow | Brasenose College, University of Oxford, U.K.
  • 2013 | Early Career Fellow | British School at Athens, Greece
  • 2011-2014 | Junior Research Fellow & “Fellows’ Fellow” | Linacre College, University of Oxford, U.K.

Education

  • 2006–2011 | D.Phil. in Archaeological Science (University of Oxford, U.K.) | Thesis title: Investigating the Chronology of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition in Mediterranean Europe by Improved Radiocarbon Dating of Shell Ornaments. Supervisor: Prof. R.E.M. Hedges
  • 2005–2006 | M.Sc. in Archaeological Science (University of Oxford, U.K.) | Dissertation title: Seasonality of Neanderthal Occupation at Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar.
  • 1999-2004  | B.Sc. in Archaeological Conservation (Technological University of Athens, Greece)

Teaching

Supervision

  • 2023-2026 | PhD supervisor: Ina Cheshmedzhieva (University of Vienna)
  • 2019-2024 | PhD supervisor: Naihui Wang (Max Planck Institute & University of Tübingen)
  • 2017-2021 | PhD supervisor: Samantha Brown (Max Planck Institute & University of Tübingen)
  • 2016-2020 | PhD co-supervisor: Lorena Becerra-Valdivia (University of Oxford)
  • 2022-2024 | MSc supervisor: Theresa Bloß, Lidia Martin, Verena Penninger (University of Vienna)
  • 2020-2021 | MSc co-supervisor: Dawn Lewis, Rebecca Scott, Maxine McCarty (University of Oxford)
  • 2018-2019 | MSc co-supervisor: Mar Crego Walters (University of Oxford)
  • 2014-2015 | MSc co-supervisor: Lorena Becerra-Valdivia (University of Oxford)
  • 2014-2015 | MSc co-supervisor: Samantha Brown (University of Oxford)
  • 2011-2014 | Linacre College graduate student advisor (12 students)
  • 2009-2012 | Undergraduate and postgraduate tutor, University of Oxford. Modules taught: Science-based Archaeology, Dating methods.
  • 2008-2009 | Part-time tutor for the Oxford Programme for Undergraduate Studies (OPUS) (University of Oxford) Modules taught: Palaeolithic Archaeology, Modern Human Origins.

Grants, Awards, Scholarships

  • 2017-2024 | European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant “FINDER”. €1,999,200
  • 2014-2015 | Evans Fund Award, Cambridge University, U.K. £2,500
  • 2013 | 15th Tübingen Prize on Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology. Award €5,000
  • 2013 | British School at Athens, Early Career Fellowship. 3-month residential fellowship.
  • 2012 | John Fell Fund, University of Oxford. £7,200
  • 2009 | NRCF (NERC-AHRC) grant for 29 radiocarbon dates (with Snape et al.). £10,000
  • 2008-2010 | A.G. Leventis Foundation, postgraduate scholarship. £10,000
  • 2008 | NRCF (NERC-AHRC) grant for 55 radiocarbon dates (with Hedges). £18,900
  • 2005-2008 | Greek Scholarships Foundation (IKY) – Examination-awarded Master & PhD studentship. £40,000
  • 2006-2008 | Edward Hall Memorial scholarship. £3,000
  • 2006-2009 | Keble College Association Travel grants. £3,000
  • 2005 | Leonardo Da Vinci Intra-European Mobility Fellowship, European Union
  • 2003-2004 | St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt. 3-month residential fellowship.

Organization of scientific meetings (selection)

  • Ancient Proteins @20. “Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry” workshop. August 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark. Co-organizer.
  • Wenner-Gren Foundation Major Symposium “Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene“, 18-24 March 2016, Sintra, Portugal. Co-Organize.
  • 15th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (EurASEAA). 6 -10 July 2015. Université Paris Ouest, Paris, France. Session organizer.
  • XVII Congress of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP). 1-7 September 2014. Burgos, Spain. Session organizer.
  • Member of the Scientific Committee of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference, 9-13 July 2012. Paris, France. Session organizer.
  • “Time for the Palaeolithic”, 14-16 April 2011. University of Oxford, U.K. Co-Organizer.

Service to the community

  • Peer-reviewer for Nature, Science, PNAS, Science Reports, Antiquity, Journal of Human Evolution, Quaternary International, Geology, Quaternary Science Reviews, Radiocarbon, PLoS One etc
  • Assistant editor for PNAS
  • Grants proposal evaluator for the European Research Council, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action, the Leakey Foundation
  • Media and public outreach (Interviews with the New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Nature News, British Council, Natural Environment Research Council, SAPIENS, BBC World News, British Archaeology, Current Archaeology)