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Nicolas Brucato

Participation: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Nicolas Brucato is a biological anthropologist specialized in the analysis of genetic and epigenetic variation. For the last 10 years, he has studied the complex human migratory histories of human populations in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Island Southeast Asia, taking in account cultural and environmental components. He obtained his Ph.D in Biological Anthropology at the University of Toulouse (France), and held postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (the Netherlands), Leiden University (the Netherlands) and the AMIS laboratory (France). He brings his expertise to the project to explore the biological history of populations from Papua New Guinea and how they adapt themselves to their complex environments.

Alois Kuaso

Participation: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Alois KUASO is born in Maorik in East Sepik. Mr Kuaso holds a bachelor degree in Social Anthropology and Archeology from the University of Papua New Guinea. He graduated in 1996 and started working with the National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) as a casual trainee and later got confirmed on the position of Curator for Traditional sites in 1998. He was offered an Australian Scholarships to undergo a Masters Program in Australian National University in 2003- 2005. Kuaso has acted on several positions within the Museum as Principal Curator of Prehistory and Chief Curator of Pre-history before being confirmed as the Chief Curator of Prehistory in 2016, and the Acting Deputy Director for the Science Research and Consultancy Division. He is currently the Acting Director of NMAG. Alais Kuaso has extensive fieldwork experience in PNG, and knows perfectly the Papua New Guinean administrative and scientific system. He will bring to the project his fieldwork skills, his knowledge of the archaeological and anthropological material stored at the NMAG and usable as comparative material, and through him the full support from the NMAG.

Matthew Leavesley

Participation: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

Matthew LEAVESLEY has 25 years of archaeological/anthropological experience in Papua New Guinea. He performed the duties of Deputy Dean for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences at UPNG (1998-2012), has supervised numerous PNG students to the award of BA (Hons) and MA, and projects at Phd level, and has extensive fieldwork experience (>30 fieldworks since 1998 in PNG). He has the advantageous knowledge and experience of both the PNG and Western research system (James Cook University and Australian National University in Australia, University of Otago in New Zealand, and University of Cambridge, UK). He will bring to the project his knowledge of PNG people, his fieldwork skills, and his skills as an archaeologist and archaeozoologist.

François-Xavier Ricaut

Participation: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

François-Xavier Ricaut is a biological anthropologist with 15 years of research experience across Island South East Asia and Australo-Melanesia. Since 2008 he has been affiliated to the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and he is based at the University of Toulouse (France). He received his Ph.D. in biological anthropology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris, France) in 2003, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Leuven (Belgium). His research explores different aspects of the history and evolution of human populations, in particular the modalities of human settlement and adaptation that explain the observed genetic population structure and diversity. He has experience analyzing genetic and skeletal morphological variation in contemporary and ancient populations, and discusses his results in a large interpretative framework. Dr Ricaut is director of the French Prehistoric Project in Papua New Guinea (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).