My primary research areas are within the fields of human osteology and funerary archaeology. As an undergraduate at Queen’s University Belfast, I first went to Malta as an Erasmus exchange student at the Department of Classics & Archaeology, University of Malta (2011/2012). My time as a student in Malta allowed me to engage with the Maltese archaeology community - an experience which has entirely shaped why, and how, I have chosen pursue a career in archaeology. Through my experiences in Malta, and through the guidance of staff at Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Malta, I chose to undertake a MSc in Human Osteology & Funerary at the University of Sheffield (2013/2014).

I have working with FRAGSUS at QUB since June 2014, first as a volunteer site-assistant (Tac-Cawla excavation) and then as a post-graduate research assistant (Santa Verna, Ggantija & Kordin III excavations & the Brochtorff-Xaghra Circle Digitising Project). The opportunities presented by FRAGSUS led me to expand my knowledge and interests in Maltese prehistory, but more importantly allowed me to further develop a vast professional skill set. At present I am undertaking my PhD at the University of Cambridge, within FRAGSUS’ Mortuary Research area (Link: www.arch.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/fragsus/fragsus-mortuary). My project is investigating body size and skeletal biomechanics in order to understand how socio-cultural and environmental change impacted on the human skeleton in Neolithic Malta (Supervisors, Dr. Simon Stoddart & Dr. Jay Stock). This project directly feeds into how FRAGSUS aims to examine fragility and sustainability in restricted island environments, and how that prompts change and adaption in humans. My time in Malta, both independently and as a part of FRAGSUS, has driven me to develop a career studying Maltese archaeology, within the context of wider central Mediterranean prehistory, and to one day become an active researcher in this area.

Links

http://www.pave.bioanth.cam.ac.uk/parkinson.html
http://www.ahrcdtp.csah.cam.ac.uk/students-starting-october-2015-cohort-2/student-profiles