CV

Current position

2020-present
  • Lecturer in Human Origins at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge (UK).
2021-présent
  • Research Associate at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont of the University of Barcelona (Espagne).
2018-present
  • Honorary research fellow at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa).

Postdoctoral activities

2017-2021
  • Extraordinary lecturer at the University of Pretoria (South Africa).
2017-2020
  • Postdoctoral researcher at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa).
2015-2016
  • Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Anatomy of the University of Pretoria (South Africa).

Education and training

2012-2015
  • Ph.D. at the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, UMR 5288 CNRS of the University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier (France) with a dissertation entitled: Characterization of Inner Craniodental Structures in Cercopithecoids and Diachronic Study of their Morphological Variation in the Plio-Pleistocene South African Sequence.
2010-2012
  • Erasmus Mundus Master degree in Quaternary and Prehistory-Paleoanthropology at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle of Paris (France) and the University Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona (Spain) with a master thesis entitled: The Influence of Locomotion on Trabecular Bone Organization. The Example of the Catarrhine Tibial Plateau.
2007-2010
  • Bachelor degree in Earth Sciences and Environment obtained at the University of Poitiers (France).

Collections

Belgium
  • Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren).
France
  • Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle of Paris.

    Collections of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium).
  • Muséum d’Histoire naturelle of Toulouse.
Namibia
  • National Earth Science Museum at the Geological Survey (Windhoek).
South Africa
  • Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Pretoria).
  • University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg).
  • University of Pretoria (Pretoria).
UK
  • Natural History Museum (London).
USA
  • Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Cleveland).
  • University of California (Berkeley).
  • New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (New York).

Selected publications

2023
  • Beaudet A. (2023) The Australopithecus assemblage from Sterkfontein Member 4 (South Africa) and the concept of variation in palaeontology. Evolutionary Anthropology (link).
2022
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2022) A reappraisal of the Border Cave 1 cranium (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). Quaternary Science Reviews 282: 107452 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2022) Shape analysis of the StW 578 calotte from Jacovec Cavern, Gauteng (South Africa). South African Journal of Science doi: 10.17159/sajs.2022/11743 (link).
  • de Jager E.J. … Beaudet A. (2022) Sulci 3D mapping from human cranial endocasts: A powerful tool to study hominin brain evolution. Human Brain Mapping 43: 4433-4443 (link).
2021
  • Beaudet A., Holloway R. & Benazzi S. (2021) A comparative study of the endocasts of OH 5 and SK 1585: Implications for the paleoneurology of eastern and southern African Paranthropus. Journal of Human Evolution 156: 103010 (link).
  • Beaudet A. (2021) The enigmatic origins of the human brain. Science 372 : 124-125 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2021) Preliminary paleohistological observations of the StW 573 (‘Little Foot’) skull. eLife 10 : e64804 (link).
  • Dumoncel J. … Beaudet A. (2021) Are endocasts reliable proxies for brains? A 3D quantitative comparison of the extant human brain and endocast. Journal of Anatomy 238: 480-488 (link).
  • Urciuoli A., Zanolli C., Almécija S., Beaudet A. et al. (2021) Reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships of the late Miocene apes Hispanopithecus and Rudapithecus based on vestibular morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118: e2015215118 (link).
2020
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2020) The atlas of StW 573 and the late emergence of human-like head mobility and brain metabolism. Scientific Reports 10: 4285 (link).
  • Beaudet A. & Fonta C. (2020) Aux origines de l’humanité : retracer les grandes étapes de notre évolution biologique et culturelle à partir de l’étude du cerveau de nos ancêtres. Intellectica 73: 93-106 (link).
  • Urciuoli A., Zanolli C., Beaudet A. et al. (2020) The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans. eLife 9: e51261 (link).
2019
  • Beaudet A. (2019) The inner ear of the Paranthropus specimen DNH 22 from Drimolen, South Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 170: 439-446 (link).
  • Beaudet A., Du A. & Wood B. (2019) Evolution of the modern human brain. In: Hofman M.A. (Ed.) Evolution of the human brain: from matter to mind. Progress in Brain Research (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2019) The endocast of StW 573 (“Little Foot”) and hominin brain evolution. Journal of Human Evolution 126: 112-123 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2019) The bony labyrinth of StW 573 (“Little Foot”): implications for hominin evolution and paleobiology. Journal of Human Evolution 127: 67-80 (link).
  • Pereira-Pedro A.S., Beaudet A. & Bruner E. (2019) Parietal lobe variation in cercopithecid endocasts. American Journal of Primatology 81: e23025 (link).
  • de Jager E., Van Schoor A.N. … Beaudet A. (2019) Sulcal pattern variation in extant human endocasts. Journal of Anatomy235: 803-810 (link).
  • Bouchet F., Ribéron A. … Beaudet A. (2019) The inner craniodental anatomy of the Papio specimen UW 88-886 from the Early Pleistocene site of Malapa, Gauteng, South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 53: 192-206 (link).
  • Mataboge B., Beaudet A. et al. (2019) Endostructural assessment of a hominin maxillary molar (StW 669) from Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa. South African Journal of Science doi: 10.17159/sajs.2019/6404 (link).
2018
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2018) Hominin cranial fragments from Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 114: 1-6 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2018) Cranial vault thickness variation and inner structural organization in the StW 578 hominin cranium from Jacovec Cavern, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 121: 204-220 (link).
  • Beaudet A. & Gilissen E. (2018) Fossil primate endocasts: perspectives from advanced imaging techniques. In: Bruner E., Ogihara N. & Tanabe H. (Eds.) Digital Endocasts: from skulls to brains. Springer, Nagoya, 47-58 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2018) The endocranial shape of Australopithecus africanus: surface analysis of the endocasts of Sts 5 and Sts 60. Journal of Anatomy 232: 296-303 (link).
2017
  • Beaudet A. (2017) The emergence of language in the hominin lineage: perspectives from fossil endocasts. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 11: 427 (link).
  • Beaudet A. & Bruner E. (2017) A frontal lobe surface analysis in three archaic African human fossils: OH 9, Buia, and Bodo. Comptes Rendus Palevol 16: 499-507 (link).
2016
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2016) Morphoarchitectural variation in South African fossil cercopithecoid endocasts. Journal of Human Evolution 101: 65-78 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2016) Upper third molar internal structural organization and semicircular canal morphology in Plio-Pleistocene South African cercopithecoids. Journal of Human Evolution 95: 104-120 (link).
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2016) Neutron microtomography-based virtual extraction and analysis of a cercopithecoid partial cranium (STS 1039) embedded in a breccia fragment from Sterkfontein Member 4 (South Africa). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 159: 737-745 (link).
  • Fourvel J.B., Brink J., Beaudet A. et al. (2016) Some preliminary interpretations of the oldest faunal assemblage from Kromdraai B. In: Braga J. & Thackeray F.J. (Eds.) Kromdraai: a Birthplace of Paranthropus in the Cradle of Humankind, chapter 5. Sun MeDIA MeTRO, Johannesburg, pp. 71-104.
  • Dumoncel J., Subsol G., Durrleman S., Jessel J.-P., Beaudet A. et al. (2016) How to build an average model when samples are variably incomplete? Application to fossil data. IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops. IEEE, Las Vegas, pp. 541-548.
2015
  • Beaudet A. et al. (2015) A new cercopithecoid dentognathic specimen attributed to Theropithecus from the late Early Pleistocene (c. 1 Ma) deposits of Simbiro, at Melka Kunture, Ethiopian highlands. Comptes Rendus Palevol 14: 657-669 (link).

Organisation of scientific events

  • Founder and co-organizer of the webinar Women in Bio Anth and Archaeology (link) (hybrid, 11/03/2022).
  • Co-founder and co-organizer of the workshop From Fossils to Mind (link) (online, 30/11/2021-1/12/2021).
  • Organizer of the internal seminar series in biological anthropology of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge (link) (online, Lent term 2021).
  • Co-organiser of the seminar 3.5 million years of human evolution at Sterkfontein (Johannesburg, 24/8/2017).
  • Member of the executive committee of the international symposium The African Fossil Human Record (link) (Toulouse, 26-27/9/2014). 

Research grants and awards

  • PROTEA program, funded by the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (2021-2023).
  • Rating Y1 Promising Young Researcher granted by the South African National Research Foundation (2019).
  • Palaeontological Scientific Trust (2019).
  • Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (2017, 2018, 2019).
  • Claude Leon Foundation (2017, 2018).
  • National Research Foundation of South Africa (2017, 2018, 2021).
  • Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud (2017).
  • European program Erasmus Mundus AESOP+ (2016).

Memberships, editorial activities

  • Member of editorial boards: Journal of Human Evolution (Associate Editor since 2019), Comptes Rendus Palevol (Internal Reviewer since 2021).
  • Member of (since 2016): American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Anatomical Society of Southern Africa, British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, European Society for the study of Human Evolution, Paleoanthropology Society, Royal Microscopical Society, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris.
  • Reviewer of scientific articles (since 2015): Annals of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, American Journal of Primatology, Comptes Rendus Palevol, Frontiers, Intellectica, Journal of Anthropological Sciences, International Journal of Primatology, Journal of Human Evolution, Journal of Neurolinguistics, Journal of Imaging, Nature Ecology & Evolution, PLoS ONE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., Science, The Anatomical Record.
  • Reviewer of grant proposals (since 2016): Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, National Science Centre of Poland, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, National Science Foundation of the United-States, Leakey Foundation, National Research Foundation of South Africa.

Past/ongoing collaborations

  • Bath Spa University (UK)
  • Calcul en Midi-Pyrénées (CALMIP) in Toulouse (France)
  • Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition (CerCo) in Toulouse (France)
  • Centre Inter-universitaire de Recherche et d’Ingénierie des Matériaux (CIRIMAT) in Toulouse (France)
  • Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre Evolución Humana (CENIEH) in Burgos (Spain)
  • Centre for high performance (CHPC) in Cape Town (South Africa)
  • Centre for X-ray Tomography of the Ghent University (UGCT) (Belgium)
  • Croatian Natural History Museum of Zagreb (Croatia)
  • Department of Anatomy of the University of Pretoria (South Africa)
  • Department of Anatomy and Histology of the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (Afrique du Sud)
  • Department of Anthropology of the University of Wisconsin (USA)
  • Department of Biology of the Birmingham-Southern College (USA)
  • Department of Geosciences of the University of Poitiers (France)
  • Department of Radiology of the University of Pretoria and the Steve Biko Hospital (South Africa)
  • Diamond Light Source in Didcot (UK)
  • Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (Spain)
  • Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM) in Paris (France)
  • Italian Archaeological Mission at Melka Kunture and Balchit and the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
  • Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USA)
  • Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse in Toulouse (France)
  • Laboratoire d’Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM)
  • Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography facility of the Palaeosciences Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa)
  • Multidisciplinary Laboratory of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste (Italy)
  • Technische Universität München in Munich (Germany)
  • UMR 7194 CNRS of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (France)
  • South African Nuclear Corporation (Necsa) in Pelindaba (South Africa)
  • Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum of Frankfurt (Germany)