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Alfred Kik

Participation: 2024, 2025

Alfred Kik is a senior lecturer and a researcher at the University of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. Kik has been based at the Biology Center within the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) since 2019, for his PhD studies. He also spent time as a visiting scholar at Columbia University and attended courses there in Anthropology in 2022. Prior to joining the CAS Biology Center, Kik had 10 years research experience. As project manager within the preeminent PNG research institute the New Guinea Binatang Research Center (Madang, PNG) for four years, Kik oversaw teams of other researchers and assistants to conduct a largescale survey of Indigenous language skills and ethnobiological knowledge, with over 7,000 secondary students participating. He established collaborations with both local and international researchers to conduct unprecedented studies on traditional knowledge on food and medicine, and acculturation in PNG. He has been running and assisting with other community-based studies in PNG since 2012. He is interested in studying the impacts of lifestyle changes on traditional diets and traditional biological knowledge systems in PNG. As a native Papua New Guinean, he will bring to this project his ethnobiological and anthropological knowledge and skills and field experiences specific to PNG settings.

[See details on his ORCID profile]

New scientific project in the framework of the Papuan Past Project

Summary of the NUTRIOCEO project

In 2025, a new scientific project, named NUTRIOCEO, will be launched by the Papuan Past Project (PPP) team. The NUTRIOCEO project is funded by the ANR funding body (ANR-24-CE21-0317) for the next three years and is led by Dr Nicolas Brucato. The project will focus on the interaction between Papua New Guinean human genomes, microbiomes and dietary changes in both historical and modern times. It will involve PPP team members (Nicolas Brucato, François-Xavier Ricaut, Christopher Kinipi and new partners from PNG (Alfred Kik) and from the USA (Laura Weyrich). A kick-off meeting will be held between all partners in Spring 2025 to initiate the project and to plan future fieldworks in different parts of PNG. The NUTRIOCEO project is the continuation of all the research already conducted by the PPP which aims to better understand the demographic and adaptive history of Papua New Guineans through archaeological, anthropological and biological approaches.

 

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The members of the Papuan Past Project at the AAA 2024 Conference

The members of the Papuan Past Project took part to the Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference 2024 (AAA), 3-6 December 2024, Cairns, Australia. Two members of the project were present, Avis Babalu and Matthew Leavesley. Avis Babalu presented a paper (oral presentation) entitled “A Collaborative Model for Archaeological Research in the Middle Purari, Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea” (co-authored with Matthew Leavesley at the session Highlighting Collaborative Research and Exploring Narratives of the Past in New Guinea. Continue reading “The members of the Papuan Past Project at the AAA 2024 Conference”