Postdoctoral research projects
Our postdoctoral researchers contribute to the Center’s overarching goal to illuminate and understand various aspects of human development over the past 10,000 years.
They work with computer-based analysis methods and large databases to develop theories and methods for analysing aggregated data from genetics, archaeology, and linguistics, thereby advancing innovative interdisciplinary research on human history.
2026-28
Lydia Furness
Population histories of mesolithic Scandinavia through palaeogenetics: bones and beyond
Project summary
I will primarily work with palaeogenetic data from Mesolithic Scandinavia, integrating perspectives from archaeology and linguistics to investigate life histories and patterns of human population change throughout prehistory.
My background spans archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and biomolecular science.
I have recently completed a PhD in archaeogenomics, specialising in ancient DNA and population genetics within the context of historical ecology. During my PhD, I explored methods for retrieving ancient DNA from a range of materials beyond preserved bone.
At CHP, I will continue this work, investigating stone tools and masticated materials from Scandinavia and other regions.
2026-28
Daniel Brown
Development of new methods to answer large-scale archaeological research questions
Project summary
Daniel’s proposed research aims to develop new cutting-edge methodologies to test how computer-based analytical methods and QGIS modelling can be used in conjunction with multiple large databases to answer large-scale archaeological research questions.
These novel methods will be used to shed light on the origins and spread of subsistence agriculture across Northern Europe, beginning in the Neolithic period (approximately 4000 BCE). This will be done by aggregating data from various databases hosted by the Swedigarch national infrastructure.
2025-27
Francesco Giannelli
The expansion of Bantu-speaking populations in sub-Saharan Africa, integrating genomic, linguistic, and spatial data
Project summary
My research focuses on population genomics, with experience across multiple animal species and evolutionary contexts. During my PhD at the Polytechnic Marche University (Italy), I investigated how expansion dynamics affect neutral and deleterious genetic diversity. I am specialised in forward simulations with SLiM, particularly in continuous-space modelling.
2024-26
Mattias Sjölander
Tracing human and natural change in big interdisciplinary data
Project summary
My research interests includes interdisciplinary apporaches in the study of how human – environment relationships have developed over time. In my research I have studied the use of bifacial points, and its relation to the exploitation of quartzite, among hunter-gatherers in Västerbotten County during the Bronze Age period.
In my current project I am using exploratory techniques for interrogating large environmental datasets, including fossil insect and pollen data, from the European region. The aim is to integrate the information from the two proxies for environmental change in order to reconstruct the Holocene European landscape and study human mobility over time.