In the 21st century, advances in research methods have transformed the study of human origins. Scientists have discovered that multiple hominin species coexisted and interbred, challenging traditional definitions of species and previous evolutionary assumptions like steady brain size growth. These findings call for new, adaptable approaches that integrate biological, cultural, and ecological data to fill research gaps and reveal unseen connections in human evolution.
This new Cluster of Excellence focuses on three interconnected themes: systematics and evolutionary relationships, the evolution of human cognition, and the evolution of the human ecological niche. By examining the past five million years of human evolution, it seeks to answer key questions about our origins and why Homo sapiens is the only surviving hominin species. HUMAN ORIGINS is set to help bring about a paradigm shift in the study of human evolution. Associate Professor Douka is one of four PIs based outside Germany. She will be contributing to the expansion and internationalization of the Cluster’s biomolecular research capacities, leading efforts in palaeoproteomic and chronometric analyses.
About Katerina Douka
Katerina Douka is Associate Professor in Archaeological Science at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Vienna. She is also a member of the HEAS Research Network. Assoc. Prof. Douka joined the University of Vienna in 2021 and is directing the Palaeoproteomics Lab. She is currently the PI of the ERC CoG Project RIFT-To-RIM (2025-2030) and, previously, of the ERC StG Project FINDER (2016-2024). Prior to coming to Austria, she was W2 Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Germany (2017-2021), and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, UK (2011-2017). She holds a Masters and DPhil degree in Archaeological Science from the University of Oxford (2006 and 2011, respectively), and a Bachelor from the Technological University of Athens, Greece (2004).
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