Leverhulme Trust award LJMU researcher

26 March 2012

The Leverhulme Trust has awarded a Research Project Grant of £222,780 to LJMU’s Dr Hannah O’Regan for the project: ‘Quantifying the mosaic:testing modern analogues for African palaeoenvironments’.
 
Dr Hannah O’Regan  is a Lecturer in Archaeology in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology.  She commented: 
 
"Since I became interested in human evolution, the term ‘mosaic habitats’ has intrigued me. Environmental reconstructions of many early human fossil sites are described as ‘mosaics’ (landscapes with a mix of water (rivers or lakes), forest, grassland and wooded savannah). But did our ancestors really live in mosaics or is this apparent ubiquity a result of processes that have mixed the fossils at the sites we are studying? Our project will examine mosaics across modern Africa using satellite imagery, and then compare the results to our knowledge of the fossil sites. We hope this will provide new insights into the environments in which our ancient ancestors lived, and also tell us more about the world in which we live today."
 
Professor Andy Young, LJMU Director of Research commented on this success:
 
"This is fantastic news for LJMU’s Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology and for the University as a whole,  emphasising how research and scholarship is at the heart of LJMU and integral to everything we do. It’s a great example of how our Research Institutes and Centres are recognised as beacons of excellence that provide inspiration and motivation to staff, students and society."
 
Collaborators: Dave Wilkinson, LJMU;
Advisors: Graeme Ruxton, St Andrews; Felix Eigenbrod, Southampton; Julien Louys, University of Queensland.
 
You can read more about Dr Hannah O’Regan’s  work at http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/NSP/100104.htm
 
Assistant Director of The Leverhulme Trust Jean Cater will be visiting LJMU on Tuesday 24th April.
 
The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £60 million every year. For further information about the schemes that the Leverhulme Trust fund visit their website at www.leverhulme.ac.uk / www.twitter.com/LeverhulmeTrust   
 
 
 

Photo shows Blesbok in South Africa