ANU archaeologist wins one of university’s five Future Fellowships

Dr Tim Denham from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology has won one of the five prestigious Future Fellowships awarded to the Australian National University.

Dr Denham will study ancient farming practices, while other winners will research topics including the origin of the stars, fighting infectious diseases and effects of climate change on wildlife.

ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO said the four-year Fellowships from the Australian Research Council reward the nation's best and brightest mid-career researchers.

"To win five Fellowships in such diverse areas shows the breadth of world-class research leadership at ANU," Professor Young said.

"I congratulate the recipients of the Fellowships and look forward to the contribution they will make to ANU and to Australia."

Dr Denham, an Associate Dean (Higher Education Research) in the College of Arts and Social Sciences, received the grant for further research in archaeobotany.

"I'm over the moon. It means I can push forward archaeological research into early agriculture and plant domestication in the wet tropics," Dr Denham said.

"This fellowship will hopefully lead to a whole range of new research directions and opportunities."

Dr Denham said the new understanding of past domestication of crops such as bananas, sugarcane and sago could contribute to the future generation of sustainable varieties and help secure future tropical food production.

The other Future Fellowships recipients were Professor Naomi McClure Griffiths and Dr Elisabete da Cunha in the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Dr Janet Gardner of the ANU Research School of Biology and Dr Denisse Leyton from the ANU Medical School.