The Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna represents the only biological anthropology unit at university level in Austria. The department has recently considerably expanded and comprises now 10 PIs / workgroups. While cutting-edge research is a strong focus at the department, we are also deeply committed to teaching and training of students and postdocs. Human biological variability and the evolution of humanity are the key research themes at our department.
Our mission is to advance, increase, and disseminate knowledge of anthropology through research (both scientific and humanistic), analysis and interpretation, teaching, writing, and other forms of outreach.
A theoretical basis is of high importance in the fields of co-evolutionary theory and transition studies: Prof. Wilfing has gathered profound experience in epistemology, of which is mainly focused on theoretical biology. The main focus of the Work Group Human Ecology is currently on the topic: perspectives of sustainable development in industrialised societies and developing countries with special consideration of network research and the value action gap.
I am a PhD candidate and the Anthropology Lab Manager at the Austrian Archaeological Institute- Austrian Academy of Sciences. My doctoral research focuses on the early medieval Eastern Alpine region and will look at how the transitional period influenced health and diet as well as mobility in southern Austria and northern Slovenia. I am interested in palaeopathology and recreating the life history of individuals and communities.
I am an archaeologist and currently a PhD student in Ron Pinhasi's Lab group. My research areas include studying relationships between and within past societies, and I am especially interested in the field of bioarchaeology of children. The main focus of my PhD project is to observe sex-specific variations in subadult health status during Antiquity and Early Medieval times. My work includes aDNA analysis and other bioarchaeological methods where I compare the occurrence of physiological stress indicators, and other paleopathological indicators of bad health, in relation to the biological sex of the studied individuals. This will help me address questions on upbringing, weaning patterns, and overall health of the subadult population in the past.
