Dr Guy Jacobs announced as new lecturer in the Department of Archaeology.
The Department of Archaeology is pleased to announce Dr Guy Jacobs as the new lecturer in Human Evolutionary Genetics and Bioinformatics.
Dr Jacobs studied biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge before completing his PhD in Complex Systems Simulation at Southampton University. His PhD research focused on the study of population genetic methods for detecting natural selection and models of species invasions.
Subsequently, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, studying genomic diversity in Indonesian populations. Guy's post-doctoral research has focused on understanding genetic signals of archaic introgression and using reconstructed introgressed sequences to understand the demography of Denisovan groups. He has also studied the relationship between social processes and genetic diversity - profiling the role of kinship in structuring gene/language associations, for example. During the course of this work Dr Jacobs was awarded a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship at NTU.
In his ongoing work, Guy continues to study spatial and temporal variation in introgression, and uses population genetics - of humans, but also domestic animals and the microbiome - coupled with simulation models to understand how evolutionary forces and social practices interact to build diversity at village, community and regional scales in South and Southeast Asia.
Guy says, “It's amazing to be joining Archaeology at Cambridge. The Department is so diverse, with an immensely creative atmosphere, and I'm eager to see what collaborations and ideas the future holds. I'm very grateful for the support I've had in getting here, and for the opportunity to work with and contribute to such an exceptional research and student community."
Head of Department, Prof Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, said, "Guy's research is extremely interesting and he will bring novel ideas and interests to this part of our research field. We look forward to having him as a colleague and to follow the further developments of this particular field within Biological Anthropology under his guidance."
Dr Jacobs will take up the lectureship from January 2020.
