2025 in a nutshell


The activities

Talks of the Past open seminars

with invited speakers: Ester Oras, Jenny Hagenblad, Outi Vesakoski, Mehmet Somel, Tanya Uldin, Hugo Reyes-Centeno & Julia Sturm

Mini-Seminars

with guest researchers Joakim Wehlin, Yair Sapir, Samuli Simelius & Julia Velkova

Journal Club discussion meetings

with guest speakers and/or moderators: Noel Amano, Luciana G. Simoes, Anthony Jakob, Hugo Reyes Centeno, and others

The first Human Past Interdisciplinary Retreat

with 23 senior and junior researchers and PhD students at Sigtuna Stiftelsen.

The people

Axel Palmér joined the Center as a new Assistant University Lecturer (known as BUL, in Swedish) in linguistics.

Francesco Giannelli is the second postdoctoral researcher in the Center (Mattias Sjölander, the first postdoc, has been with us since October 2024).

We also had the pleasure of working with the Human Past SCAS fellows: Axel Palmér, Mehmet Somel, Hugo Reyes Centeno and Anthony Jakob this year.


  • A new grant to develop cross-cutting research projects

    A new grant to develop cross-cutting research projects

    Uppsala University Future Institutes (UUniFI), CIRCUS (Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society) has decided to support our work on the development of an interdisciplinary research project titled “Mechanisms of Human Migration: Causes, Processes & Consequences“. The UUniFI Circus will provide both financial and administrative support and host a seminar series in which project…

  • UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinction

    UU researcher profile: Harald Hammarström documents languages on the verge of extinction

    A professor of linguistics with a Master’s in computer science and a PhD in computational linguistics, Harald goes an extra mile to document the languages that head towards extinction. “Throughout time, smaller languages have always been swallowed up by larger ones. But now, with globalisation, this is happening at an incredibly accelerated pace.” Language has…

  • Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshell

    Carina Schlebusch’s current research—in a nutshell

    Carina Schlebusch is combining archaeology, genetics and biochemistry with the aim of discovering how human genes have adapted to changing lifestyles over thousands of years. Prehistoric DNA from skeletal remains in Africa can provide answers to questions about diet, disease and survival, and perhaps even offer clues about humanity’s future health. The goal now is…