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Prof Mark Thomas
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
The BEAN Initial Training Network aims to carry out research into the origins of settled farming life in Europe and of the European peoples while providing state-of-the art training to early-stage researchers in the scientific disciplines of anthropology, genomics, simulations and modelling, and prehistoric archaeology, as well as business and management skills pertaining to cultural heritage entrepreneurship, public outreach, and scientific publication.
Start: Between 1 February and 1 May 2012
Demographic processes, including migration, population growth and decline, and admixture have been shown not only to affect patterns of genetic variation, but also the accumulation and distribution of culturally inherited traits. It is therefore to be expected that both genetic and cultural data contain information on the shared population histories and processes that have shaped them. Recent advances in modelling cultural evolutionary processes have drawn heavily on the ‘neutral model’ in population genetics, and have been widely applied to explain typological variation in many archaeological and cultural datasets. Furthermore, through the application of newly developed statistical inference methods such as approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), which rely on comparisons of simulated and observed datasets, and models that incorporate both genetic and cultural processes, it is possible to infer population histories and evolutionary trajectories, and to explicitly compare different competing hypotheses. Critically, this latter approach allows the formal integration of both cultural and biological data on an equal footing in a coherent statistical framework for the first time.
By considering genetic (Bradley and Burger) and cultural (Shennan and Karul) data generated by network partners, the ESR in this project will test a range of different hypotheses on the spread of Neolithic people and lifeways from the Near East to Europe around 7,000 years ago. Genetic data will include both ancient and modern human DNA, and cultural data will include information on the frequencies of different pottery and other artefact styles through time. Genetic variation will be analysed using serial coalescent approaches, which allows the incorporation of ancient DNA data from different time periods with modern genetic data. The distribution of culturally inherited traits through time will be studied using a newly developed neutral model. This approach uses a generation time-independent Moran process to overcome many of the unrealistic assumptions of previous neutral models of cultural change and incorporates factors such as population size and structure. In addition to looking at changes in the frequencies of specific artefact types through time, we will also consider archaeological proxies for overall accumulation of cultural complexity using the cultural transmission model described by Powell et al.. We will generate expectations of genetic and cultural data under the same range of demographic scenarios and compare these different hypotheses using ABC, which rests on the ability to generate simulated data from models that describe realistic demographic scenarios. The model will incorporate genetic and cultural data generated by partner ESRs and ERs, and the predictions of the model will be used to test the strength of the correlation between the genetic and material culture correlates of the Neolithic expansion.
Start: Between 1 February and 1 May 2012
Demographic processes, including migration, population growth and decline, and admixture have been shown not only to affect patterns of genetic variation, but also the accumulation and distribution of culturally inherited traits. It is therefore to be expected that both genetic and cultural data contain information on the shared population histories and processes that have shaped them. Recent advances in modelling cultural evolutionary processes have drawn heavily on the ‘neutral model’ in population genetics, and have been widely applied to explain typological variation in many archaeological and cultural datasets. Furthermore, through the application of newly developed statistical inference methods such as approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), which rely on comparisons of simulated and observed datasets, and models that incorporate both genetic and cultural processes, it is possible to infer population histories and evolutionary trajectories, and to explicitly compare different competing hypotheses. Critically, this latter approach allows the formal integration of both cultural and biological data on an equal footing in a coherent statistical framework for the first time.
By considering genetic (Bradley and Burger) and cultural (Shennan and Karul) data generated by network partners, the ESR in this project will test a range of different hypotheses on the spread of Neolithic people and lifeways from the Near East to Europe around 7,000 years ago. Genetic data will include both ancient and modern human DNA, and cultural data will include information on the frequencies of different pottery and other artefact styles through time. Genetic variation will be analysed using serial coalescent approaches, which allows the incorporation of ancient DNA data from different time periods with modern genetic data. The distribution of culturally inherited traits through time will be studied using a newly developed neutral model. This approach uses a generation time-independent Moran process to overcome many of the unrealistic assumptions of previous neutral models of cultural change and incorporates factors such as population size and structure. In addition to looking at changes in the frequencies of specific artefact types through time, we will also consider archaeological proxies for overall accumulation of cultural complexity using the cultural transmission model described by Powell et al.. We will generate expectations of genetic and cultural data under the same range of demographic scenarios and compare these different hypotheses using ABC, which rests on the ability to generate simulated data from models that describe realistic demographic scenarios. The model will incorporate genetic and cultural data generated by partner ESRs and ERs, and the predictions of the model will be used to test the strength of the correlation between the genetic and material culture correlates of the Neolithic expansion.
Funding Notes
Marie Curie ITN programs mobility requirement
At the time of the selection, applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country where their Fellowship is to be held for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the starting date of the fellowship. Researchers can be nationals of any country other than the country of the premises of the host organisation where they will carry out their project. However, the ESR Fellowships only cover the fee levels for EU citizens, not those for students from outside the EU.
At the time of the selection, applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country where their Fellowship is to be held for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the starting date of the fellowship. Researchers can be nationals of any country other than the country of the premises of the host organisation where they will carry out their project. However, the ESR Fellowships only cover the fee levels for EU citizens, not those for students from outside the EU.
References
Further information about all the Fellowships may be found at:
https://sites.google.com/site/beanresearchnetwork/description-of-research-projects
Applicants should send a CV (max 2 pages), a covering letter (1 page) outlining why they are suitable for the position, and the names of two referees, to the project leader listed above for the project in which they are interested, to whom further enquiries may also be made.
Academic Requirements
Eligible applicants for ESR Fellowships (equivalent to a PhD position) must be in possession of a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree, in a relevant field. However, individual departments and universities will have their own specific entry requirements.
Eligibility criteria set by the European Union for Marie Curie ESR fellowships require that the applicants have no more than 4 years research experience prior to the envisaged starting date.
https://sites.google.com/site/beanresearchnetwork/description-of-research-projects
Applicants should send a CV (max 2 pages), a covering letter (1 page) outlining why they are suitable for the position, and the names of two referees, to the project leader listed above for the project in which they are interested, to whom further enquiries may also be made.
Academic Requirements
Eligible applicants for ESR Fellowships (equivalent to a PhD position) must be in possession of a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree, in a relevant field. However, individual departments and universities will have their own specific entry requirements.
Eligibility criteria set by the European Union for Marie Curie ESR fellowships require that the applicants have no more than 4 years research experience prior to the envisaged starting date.
