Staff

I am Dr Federica Landi, postdoc researcher at the IPHES-CERCA centre in Tarragona, Spain, under the Marie Curie Grant Programme (Horizon 2020) in co-funding with the Program Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence (State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation).

My passions include human anatomy as well as hominin and primate ecology and morphological evolution. After my master in Eco-Biology, I obtained a research grant from Italy (Tornosubito, Lazio) to investigate primate and hominin locomotion at John Moores University, UK.

Afterwards, I completed a PhD at the Hull York Medical School, UK, focussing on the analysis of human and Neanderthal crania using 3D-reconstructed digital models. Results suggest significant differences in the ontogenetic trajectories and led to international publications in impacted journals.

I then went on to work as Anatomy Teaching Assistant and later as an Anatomy Lecturer at the Peninsula Medical School and St George’s University, UK, particularly focussing on the teaching of musculoskeletal anatomy both online and in person, with plastic models and cadaveric specimens.

My postdoctoral project looks at patterns of growth and development in the craniofacial morphology of modern humans, the hierarchies of interactions among cranial modules during development and their comparison with Neanderthal fossils using CT scans and Geometric Morphometrics. The virtual acquisition and manipulation of specimens allow me to readily visualise, explore, alter, repair and study biological specimens. This set of digital skills, combined with advanced statistical methods, consent archaeologists, paleoanthropologists and biologists to gain insights into current and past mechanisms of cranial growth and development.

I am currently conducting various international collaborations with the UCL (London, UK), the University of York (York, UK), the University of Pisa (Pisa, Italy), Sapienza University (Rome, Italy), Musee de l’Homme (Paris, France).

I have experience in excavation sites (El Valle De Los Neandertales, Pinilla del Valle, Spain), as well as in the planning and running of international conferences (Royal Anatomical Society, York, 2018).