Associate Professor Ronika Power
Macquarie University
Research Field: Bioarcheology
Associate Professor Power studies ancient human remains to understand what it was like to live – and die – in the past, and to communicate the science of human health, climate change, violence and mass migrations.
Ronika Power hopes to build better futures by guiding decision-makers with lessons from the past.
Associate Professor Power studies human skeletons and mummies from the ancient world to communicate the science of human health, human migration, palaeodiet and palaeoclimate data.
By bringing together the fields of science, technology, humanities, mathematics and medicine, Ronika tells detailed stories about the health, lifestyles and environments people experienced as long as 10,000 years ago.
As the primary human remains expert on four ERC-funded projects, Ronika collaborates across Australia, the UK, Europe and Canada and has generated high-impact publications across a variety of fields, including her co-authored work on the late Holocene massacre at Nataruk in Kenya.
A/Prof Power’s community engagement extends across traditional, online and social media, with public outreach activities across every Australian state and territory, including participation in the Superstars of STEM pilot program. Interdisciplinary teaching resources developed by Ronika have been implemented in schools in NSW.
A/Prof Ronika Power was awarded her PhD by Macquarie University in 2012 and is currently a lecturer in Bioarchaeology, Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts and Deputy Director, Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and the Environment (CACHE), Macquarie University.