Hello all!
Although PAASTA is very much a bottom-up led community, there is still need for a small steering committee for the daily management. Here are short descriptions of who the people in the Steering Committee are and what they do.
To begin with what the Steering Committee, it is a small committee, whose main responsibility is to manage the practicalities of keeping a community running, such as finance and communication.
The Steering Committee Members
Zandra Fagernäs - Chair
I’m a postdoc in the Welker Group at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. My research focuses on method development for palaeoproteomics of Pleistocene skeletal elements, as well as some amazing Pleistocene hominins around the world. Outside of work, I enjoy knitting, dancing, and hanging out with my postdog Tjorven!
Contact: zandra.fagernas@sund.ku.dk,
Jan Dekker - Vice-chair
I am currently pursuing a joint PhD degree at the University of York and the University of Copenhagen. My research focuses on the role of charred foodcrusts as a reservoir of dietary proteins in an attempt to learn more about dietary change between the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic. Apart from all that, I like to go running and hiking.
Contact: jan@palaeome.org, twitter
Carli Peters - Secretary
I am a postdoc in the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany. My research mostly focuses on the application of ZooMS in Australia, and I also am interested in ways to combine zooarchaeological and ZooMS datasets. Outside of work, I love to cook and play badminton!
Paula Kotli - Secretary
Gwendoline Maurer - Social Media Officer
Rachel Winter - Social Media Officer
I am a postdoc in Arctic ecogeochemistry at the Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement (CRBE), Université of Toulouse. I am interested in using multidisciplinary approaches and biomolecular methods of analysis for historical ecology with partialities for paleoproteomics, marine ecosystems, and the Mediterranean. I enjoy hiking, dogs, baking, and listening to Taylor Swift.
Contact: rachelwinter@palaeome.org, twitter.
Helen Fewlass - Event and Engagement Officer
Lindsey Paskulin - Event and Engagement Officer
I am a PhD Candidate and the lab manager for ADaPT Laboratory Facilities, a centre for ancient DNA and protein analysis led by Dr. Camilla Speller at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My PhD research is focused on the extraction of proteins from pottery residues, particularly in Mexico and Peru for understandings of past foodways and cuisine. As the lab manager for ADaPT, I also regularly apply ZooMS to a wide range of materials for taxonomic identification.
Contact: lindseypaskulin@palaeome.org, twitter.
Laura Viñas Caron - Support Officer
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Textile Research and Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. I am interested in understanding the evolutionary journey of domesticated animals using ancient proteins and DNA. I love cooking, books and films!
Contact: laura@palaeome.org
Louise Le Meillour - Support Officer
I am a MSCA postdoc at Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. I did my PhD in the Natural History Museum in Paris, France where I studied the potential of ancient proteins for tracing the first Caprinae both in eastern and southern Africa. During my postdoc, I am mainly interested in studying ancient biomolecules in arid environments, especially concerning the advent of domestication and food production. I guess I really like challenges since dry and arid environments are not the best for preservation! I am really excited by the PAASTA community to grow and thrive, and we’ll do my best to help in the process!
Maria Codlin - Support Officer
Roles:
Management team: formed by the chair and the secretary. Responsible for ensuring the committee functions smoothly and achieves its goals.
- Chair: leads meetings, sets agendas, moderates discussions and delegates tasks to volunteer members. It represents the PAASTA community in any official meetings or interviews. They are also responsible for having an overview of the various initiatives by maintaining a close communication with the social media and event & engagement teams. Allows for discussion around long-term topics, needs to be forward thinking on this end.
-Vice-chair: supports the chair in their role and takes over the chair’s responsibilities in case of their absence.
- Secretary: Takes meeting minutes, sends them out via slack when they are ready, makes sure that assignments are noted. Organisational responsibilities (ie keeping google docs in order, annotating the minutes with required links, possibly doing same for the agenda ahead of time
Social media team
The social media team is responsible for the outreach of the community, by tweeting, emailing as well as updating the website. Social media officers will announce new initiatives, conferences, papers and jobs that are relevant for the PAASTA community. They will also be responsible for maintaining the YouTube channel of the community.
Engagement team
The engagement officers are responsible for coming up with new initiatives (projects, summer schools, outreach activities, etc.) and propose them to the community. They will also oversee ongoing initiatives and provide support for them to reach their goals. They will ensure that the initiative is known in the community, as well as outside the community together with the media team. As well as suggesting potential funding sources for the initiative, by engaging with the treasurer team.
Support team
In contrast to the other roles in the steering committee, the support team does not have a single defined task. Instead, its primary role is to support the other members of the steering committee where necessary in case of increased workload.
