Josh Lindal is a PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, researching the development and evolution of molar roots in humans and nonhuman apes. He also works at palaeoarchaeological sites in Serbia as part of the team that identified the first archaic human fossils in Serbia and the oldest Neanderthals in Eastern Europe. As an instructor in anthropology at the University of Winnipeg, Josh is also interested in science education and outreach, and especially in exploring the intersection of archaeology and popular culture as a common ground for science communication.
Kimberly Plomp is a biological anthropologist whose work intersects with several related fields, including bioarchaeology, palaeopathology, paleoanthropology, and evolutionary medicine. Her main research interests align under an overriding theme: investigating how evolutionary adaptations have shaped modern human skeletal variation and how this variation influences human health and disease. To answer these questions, she analyzes the morphological variation of the skeleton of archaeological and modern humans, extant non-human primates, and extinct fossil hominins using cutting-edge approaches, such as photogrammetry and geometric morphometrics. The outcomes of her research are not only relevant for the field of biological anthropology, but also have the potential to impact the lives of people today.
Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine
Ross Barnett is a palaeontologist with a PhD in Zoology from the University of Oxford. He specialises in seeking, analysing and interpreting ancient DNA, but his area of expertise is the genetics and phylogeny of cats, especially the extinct sabretooths. Barnett’s research has led to many remarkable findings in recent years and has involved investigating escaped lynx in Edwardian Devon, rubbishing claims that the yeti is an ice-age polar bear and seeking the ancestral home of the enigmatic Orkney vole. In 2018, he received the Palaeontological Association’s Gertrude Elles Award for Public Engagement.