PD Dr. Philipp Gunz
Group Leader (W2) — Cranial Evolution and Development
Department of Human Origins
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 853
e-mail:
gunz@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Download CV and list of publications
Research Interests
Current Academic Positions
Education: University of Vienna, Austria
Research Awards and Funding
Research Projects
Supervision & co-supervision of PhD students
Publications
Research Interests
Dr. Philipp Gunz is a paleoanthropologist who investigates the evolution of human development by studying the growth patterns and morphology of humans, their fossil ancestors, and primate relatives. Philipp is a specialist for the virtual reconstruction of fossils, and the statistical analysis of shape — a set of methods called geometric morphometrics.
Current Academic Positions
| Since 2015 | Research Group Leader (W2) Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. |
| Since 2019 | Fellow of the Max Planck School of Cognition Germany. |
| Since 2001 | Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna Austria. |
Education: University of Vienna, Austria
| 2013 | Habilitation |
| 2005 | Dissertation Department of Anthropology (Dr. rer. nat) |
| 2001 | Master’s Degree (Mag. rer. nat.) |
Research Awards and Funding
| Since 2019 | Evolution of Hominoid Brain connectomics (6 Mio €, PIs: C. Crockford, P. Gunz, D. Haun, N. Weiskopf, A.D. Friederici, A. Anwander) |
| 2010 | MaxNet Cognition Phenotypic analysis of 1000 human brains |
| 2008 | Minerva Foundation Research Grant Virtual reconstruction of fossil crania |
| 2004-2007 | Austrian Council for Science and Technology New Perspectives in Anthropological Studies (PI Horst Seidler). Co-PI on the geometric morphometrics section: 522 000 € |
| 2001, 2004 | Travel Grants of the "Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft" |
Research Projects
Dr. Gunz's research explores different aspects of developmental and evolutionary shape changes in the living and fossil primates — the evolution of the face, as well as subtle shape differences among teeth, and the bony labyrinth. One key research focus is the evolution of the brain and its endocranial imprint in the skull. Changes in endocranial shape observed in the hominin lineage may be linked to evolutionary changes to brain organization. However, brain tissues do not fossilize, making the underlying biology difficult to study. Philipp’s research tackles this challenge through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates analyses of fossil skulls, ancient genomes, brain imaging, and gene expression.
Supervision & co-supervision of PhD students
- Weldeyared Reda
- Hajar Alichane
- Inga Bergmann — Graduated 2023
- Julia van Beesel — Graduated 2022
- Thomas Davies — Graduated 2021
- Alexandra Schuh — Graduated 2021
- Nadia A. Scott — Graduated 2021
- Stefanie Stelzer — Graduated 2018
- Stephanie Kozakowski — Graduated 2013
- Sarah E. Freidline — Graduated 2012
- Simon Neubauer — Graduated 2010
- Christoph Kulemeyr — Graduated in 2009