Department of Human Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (341) 3550 - 350
fax: +49 (0341) 3550 - 399
e-mail: streiber@[>>> Please remove the brackets! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Information
Date/place of birth: | 7th October 1975, Linz |
Citizenship: | Austrian |
Research Brief
I am a biological anthropologist with a primary research interest in palaeoanthropology. I study the evolution of developmental patterns. My aim is to understand what makes us human by comparing our own species with our closest living and fossil relatives. As fossils are usually found broken into many pieces, and only partially complete, a central topic of my work is the virtual reconstruction of fossils using computed tomographic scans. I am a specialist for fossil reconstruction, and the statistical analysis of shape — a set of methods called «geometric morphometrics».
My publications explore different aspects of ontogenetic and phylogenetic shape changes — in particular the evolution and development of the brain and the imprint it leaves in the bony braincase. Alteration of endocranial shape in the hominin lineage is likely to reflect evolutionary changes in the organisation of structures of the human brain. However, brain tissue doesn’t fossilize, so the underlying biology has remained elusive. My research addresses this challenging question through an interdisciplinary approach that brings together analysis of fossil skulls, ancient genomes, brain imaging and gene expression.
Current Academic Positions
Since 2015 | Senior Scientist (W2) - Research Group Leader Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. |
Since 2019 | Fellow of the Max Planck School of Cognition Germany. |
Since 2017 | Extended Faculty KLI Institute for the Advanced Study of Natural Complex Systems Austria. |
Since 2017 | Affiliated Researcher Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen The Netherlands. |
Since 2001 | Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna Austria. |
Theses
2013 | Habilitation at the Dept. of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria. Thesis title: Evolution & Development of the hominin skull. |
2005 | Ph.D. (doctor rerum naturalium) at the Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria (with honors). Thesis title: Statistical and geometric reconstruction of hominid crania: reconstructing australopithecine ontogeny, supervised by G.W. Weber, F.L. Bookstein and H. Seidler. |
2001 | Master’s Degree (Mag. rer. nat.) in Anthropology at the Institute for Human Biology (now Dept. of Anthropology), University of Vienna, Austria (with honors). Thesis title: Using Semilandmarks on surfaces and curves in three dimensions to model human neurocranial shape, supervised by H. Seidler and F.L. Bookstein. |
Past Academic Positions
2011–2017 | Associate Professor (Status-Only Appointment), Department of Anthropology; University of Toronto Canada. |
2007–2015 | Research Fellow, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. |
2005–2007 | Postdoctoral Marie Curie Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany. |
2005 | Post-Doc Stipend at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Evolution, Leipzig, Germany. |
2004–2005 | Ph.D. research fellowship funded by a grant of the Ministry of Culture Science & Education Austria, and the Austrian Council for Science and Technology. |
2001–2004 | Ph.D. research fellowship funded by the project «Parameterised reference models forhominoid skulls», the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF). |
Academic Awards & Recognitions
2014 | ISI Higly Cited Researcher Thompson Reuters Essential Science Indicators (http://highlycited.com) |
2006 | Poster prize, 150 years of Neanderthal discoveries conference, Bonn |
2000 | Student prize for best oral presentation, European Anthropological Association, Cambridge |
Research Grants
Since 2019 | Evolution of Hominoid Brain connectomics (PIs: C. Crockford, P. Gunz, D. Haun, N. Weiskopf, A.D. Friederici, A. Anwander) |
2010 | MaxNet Cognition: Phenotypic analysis of 1000 human brains: 47 000 € |
2008 | Minerva Foundation Research Grant (with Alon Barash): 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". |
Fieldwork
2001-2007 | Member of the Paleoanthropological Research Team; fieldwork in the Ethiopian Galili-Region. |
Service
Since 2017 | Elected Representative Scientific Council (Human Science Section) of the Max Planck Society |
Since 2013 | Board member European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE) |
2012-2015 | Editorial Board, Journal of Human Evolution |
2002-2007 | Elected representative for the fellows (graduate students and postdocs) of the Marie Curie Research Training Network «EVAN» |