I am a lecturer in Biological Anthropology at the Department of Archaeology at University College Cork and joint Programme Co-ordinator of the BA Anthropology degree (https://www.ucc.ie/en/ck123/). My teaching and research explore prehistoric lifestyles, human adaptation and evolution, and prehistoric archaeology more broadly (with a focus on the Mediterranean).

Previously I was a Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at Queen’s University Belfast (2022-24). Prior to lecturing, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Malta (2020-22, funded by the Leverhulme Trust) and the CRASSH-BSR Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2020, funded by the Isaac Newton Trust), a position I held jointly between the British School at Rome and University of Cambridge, and during which I was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and St. John’s College, Cambridge. Parallel to my graduate studies I was a research assistant on the ERC-funded FRAGSUS project (2014-2019). In 2022 I was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) and as a Member of the UK Young Academy (March 2024).

I received my PhD in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge (2015-19), a MSc in Human Osteology & Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield (2013-14) and a BA in Archaeology from Queen's University Belfast (2010-13), during which I was also an Erasmus exchange student at the University of Malta (2011-12).

Research Interests: Biological Anthropology, Prehistoric Archaeology (especially Neolithic, Copper Age & Bronze Age), Mediterranean Prehistory.

My interests are focused on human bioarchaeology and recent human evolution across the transition to agriculture, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region (Italy, Sardinia & Malta). I am also interested in human adaptation, and more broadly the interrelation between economic, social and environmental change. I am also interested in prehistoric monument building societies in the Mediterranean (Malta and Sardinia) and funerary archaeology. Most recently I have co-directed excavations at the Nuraghe Genna Maiu, Siddi, south-central Sardinia, and have been part of international teams working in Malta, Italy, Sicily, Iraqi Kurdistan and Croatia.

My teaching covers biological anthropology and early prehistory (Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic) currently co-ordinate the following modules

AY1001: Introduction to Anthropology

AY2001: Anthropology Field School

AY2008: The Biology of Being Human

AY2009: Biological Anthropology Method & Theory

AY3001: Advanced Biological Anthropology

In addition, I contribute to teaching on the following modules

AR1001: Archeology of Ireland in Context

AY3001: Anthropology Research Seminar