Tracy Kivell
Director
Abteilung für Menschliche Ursprünge
Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
E-Mail:
tracy_kivell@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research focus
Tracy Kivell is a paleoanthropologist whose research focuses on the evolution of the skeleton in living and fossil primates, including our human ancestors (hominins), to further our understanding of the evolution bipedal locomotion, manipulation and tool use throughout our evolutionary history. Tracy aims to better understand the relationship between bone shape and function through analyses of ontogeny (development), internal (trabecular and cortical) bone structure, and the biomechanics of primate locomotion.
Career & Education
| Since 2023 | Director of Department of Human Origins Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. |
| Since 2014 | Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 2013-2023 | Professor of Biological Anthropology University of Kent Canterbury, UK |
| 2009-2013 | Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Human Evolution Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig, Germany |
| 2007-2009 | Assistant Professor, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Duke School of Medicine Duke University Durham, USA |
| 2007 | PhD in Biological Anthropology University of Toronto, Canada |
| 2002 | MA in Biological Anthropology University of Toronto, Canada |
Selected Research Awards and Funding
| 2020 | The Wolfson Foundation, support for creation of “The Imaging Centre for Life Sciences”, University of Kent, PIs: M. Skinner and T. Kivell, £250,000 |
| 2021 | ERC ‘GRASP’ project selected as 1 of 15 projects for the ‘15 ways ERC transformed science’ series in honour of 10,000th ERC awardee |
| 2019-2024 | European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant, “NEWHUMAN, Pathways to humanity: adaptive niche diversity at the origins of the human lineage” PI: M. Skinner, Co-investigator T. Kivell (20%) €2.0 million |
| 2019 | University Consolidator Research Award, University of Kent |
| 2014-2019 | European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, “GRASP, The evolution of the human hand: grasping trees and tools” PI: T. Kivell €1.6 million |
| 2017-2019 | Public Engagement and Science Education, University of Kent, £35,000 |
Supervision
Postdoctoral researchers
| 2020-2022 | Dr Marine Cazenave, Fyssen Foundation Fellowship |
| 2017-2021 | Dr Ameline Bardo, Fyssen Foundation Fellowship & University of Kent |
| 2016-2019 | Dr Alastair Key, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship |
| 2016-2018 | Dr Julia Arias Martorell, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship |
| 2015-2018 | Dr Szu-Ching Lu, European Research Council Starting Grant |
| 2014-2016 | Dr Diana Samuel, European Research Council Starting Grant |
PhD Supervision & co-supervision
| since 2021 | Rhianna Drummond-Clarke |
| since 2021 | Andrea Lukova (University of Kent) |
| since 2020 | Samar Syeda (University of Kent) |
| 2018-2023 | Simon Chappell (University of Kent) |
| 2017-2023 | Victoria Lockwood (George Washington University) |
| 2018-2022 | Emma Bird (University of Kent) |
| 2017-2021 | Kim Deckers (University of Kent) |
| 2015-2019 | Chris Dunmore (University of Kent) |
| 2015-2019 | Leoni Georgiou (University of Kent) |
| 2013-2018 | Zewdi Tsegai (MPI-EVA) |
| 2013-2018 | Nicholas Stephens (MPI-EVA) |
| 2013-2017 | Johanna Neufuss (University of Kent) |
Research Projects & Partners
Tracy Kivell’s research investigates the functional morphology of the postcranial skeleton and the hand specifically to better reconstruct of ape and hominin behaviour in the past. She leads the research on the Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi hands fossils from South Africa. Tracy applies a variety of methods to understand relationship between bone form and function in extant and fossil primates, including the study of internal bone structure via microCT scanning, experimental biomechanics and musculoskeletal modelling, and the study living ape behaviour. This research is only made possible via numerous collaborative research partners.