Brenna Hassett | |
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| Born | California, USA |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles; University College London |
| Occupation(s) | Researcher and author |
| Employer | University College London |
Brenna R. Hassett is an American British bioarchaeologist at University College London (UCL), author, public speaker and one of the founders of TrowelBlazers, which celebrates women archaeologists, paleontologists and geologists.
Hassett was born in California, USA and attended Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California.
She holds a BA in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MA in archaeology from University College London in the United Kingdom. She was awarded a PhD in dental anthropology from UCL in 2011, supported by a Wenner Gren Foundation Research Scholarship.
Hassett has undertaken substantial archaeological fieldwork, including in Greece, Thailand and Turkey. The majority of her fieldwork has concerned analysis and recording of human remains for Aşıklı Höyük (Istanbul University), the Çatalhöyük Project (Stanford/UCL), Giza Plateau Mapping Project (Oriental Institute Chicago/American Research Center in Egypt), AOC Archaeology Unit (London), and the British Museum (London).[ citation needed ]
Hassett was a post-doctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum in London from 2012 to 2016, working on the "Tooth fairy" project, [1] researching what forensic analysis of teeth can tell us about the diet and lifestyles of children in the past. Hassett remains a scientific associate of the Natural History Museum.[ citation needed ]
Since 2018, she has been co-leading the large four year research project "Radical Death", [2] [3] funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, at University College London. Using new evidence from the Early Bronze Age graves of Başur Höyük, on the Upper Tigris in Turkey, the project is researching how ritual killing was implicated in the political transformations of the third millennium BC. In 2019, Hassett was awarded a British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) study grant to extend the impact of the Radical Death project to include conservation and finds training for graduate students and undergraduates at Ege University. [4] [5]
In 2017, her first book Built on Bones 15,000 Years of Urban Life and Death [6] was published by Bloomsbury Sigma press to critical acclaim. [7] [8] [9] She wrote her second book, called Growing Up Human: the evolution of childhood, published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2022. [10]
Hassett has a regular column "Dirty Science" on the Cosmic Shambles Blog Network which was created in 2017 by Robin Ince and Trent Burton. She also writes for The Guardian [11] [12] [13] and History Today . [14]
Hassett is a regular invited speaker at public events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival, [15] New Scientist Live, [16] the London Feminist Conference, Skeptics in the Pub, [17] the Cambridge Science Festival and Nature Live amongst others. She has also appeared on the BBC, [18] [19] PBS, [20] the Guardian Science Podcast, [21] Nine Lessons Live, [22] and was a speaker in the 2017 March for Science in London. [23]
She is a founding member of the TrowelBlazers collective, which seeks to promote awareness of female participation in science, particularly contributions to archaeology, palaeontology, and geology. This project has included a public-participatory online archive , as well as much wider engagement with social media communities and public talks, panel discussions, and lectures aimed at diverse audiences. In 2015, TrowelBlazers worked with the toy company Arklu to develop the Fossil Hunter Lottie Doll, [24] which is now sold all over the world. [25] [26] In 2016, TrowelBlazes developed and launched the Raising Horizons project, which was a collaboration highlighting the contributions of women geoscientists past and present with artist Leonora Saunders and toured the UK throughout 2017-19. [27] [28] [29]
University College London, which operates as UCL, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.
Sir George William John Benjamin, CBE is an English composer of contemporary classical music. He is also a conductor, pianist and teacher. He is well known for operas Into the Little Hill (2006), Written on Skin (2009–2012) and Lessons in Love and Violence (2015–2017)—all with librettos by Martin Crimp. In 2019, critics at The Guardian ranked Written on Skin as the second best work of the 21st-century.
The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment is the academic centre for the study of the built environment at University College London (UCL), part of the University of London in London, United Kingdom. It is home to thirteen departments that have expertise in individual fields of the built environment, including the Bartlett School of Architecture, Bartlett School of Planning, Bartlett Development Planning Unit, and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. The Bartlett is consistently ranked the highest in Europe and the UK and among the highest in the world for the "Architecture and the Built Environment" category in major rankings. In the 2021 QS World University Rankings, it was ranked second in the world, and was ranked third in the 2022 Rankings.
Professor Roland Levinsky was an academic researcher in biomedicine and a university senior manager. His last post, which he held at the time of his death, was as vice-chancellor of the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom.
The UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The current Executive Dean of the Faculty is Professor Jennifer Hudson, having been appointed from September 2022.
Victoria Louise "Tori" Herridge, born 1980, is a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London and one of the founders of TrowelBlazers, which celebrates women archaeologists, palaeontologists and geologists.
Lottie Dolls are a series of dolls created by Arklu Ltd. Launched in August 2012. Lottie promotes STEM subjects for kids and was even the first doll in space when she travelled to the International Space Station alongside British European Space Agency Astronaut, Tim Peake, on the Principia Mission, in December 2015.
Shahina Farid is a British archaeologist who is best known for her work as Field Director and Project Coordinator at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey. She is currently the scientific dating coordinator for Historic England.
Ufuk Esin was a Turkish archaeologist known for pioneering archaeological science in Turkey and for her excavations at Aşıklı Höyük. She was a professor at Istanbul University from 1966 until her retirement in 2000 and was instrumental in founding the Turkish Academy of Sciences.
Raksha Dave is an archaeologist and TV presenter, and is the current President of the Council for British Archaeology.
Claire Lucy Dwyer was a British academic, geographer and Professor of human geography at University College London until her death in 2019.
Goat Girl is an English post-punk band from South London. Their initial lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Clottie Cream, guitarist and occasional lead vocalist L.E.D., bassist Naima Jelly and drummer Rosy Bones. UK music magazine DIY describe them as being "imbued with an innate ability to voice the socio-political concerns of their peers with wit and style". In 2019, bassist Holly Hole joined the band, replacing Naima Jelly.
TrowelBlazers is a project aimed at increasing the representation of women in the fields of archaeology, geology and palaeontology. The project is run by Brenna Hassett, Victoria Herridge, Suzanne Pilaar Birch and Rebecca Wragg Sykes.
Christina Pagel is a German-British mathematician and professor of operational research at University College London (UCL) within UCL's Clinical Operational Research Unit (CORU), which applies operational research, data analysis and mathematical modelling to topics in healthcare. She was Director of UCL CORU from 2017 to 2022 and is currently Vice President of the UK Operational Research Society. She also co-leads, alongside Rebecca Shipley, UCL's CHIMERA research hub which analyses data from critically ill hospital patients.
Nicola Rollock is a British academic, writer and activist. She is professor of social policy and race at King's College London, having previously been reader in equality & education at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has written several books, including The Colour of Class: The educational strategies of the Black middle classes. She has been included in the Powerlist list of the most influential black Britons and been recognised by the PRECIOUS award for her work in racial equality.
Başur Höyük in Turkey's south-eastern Siirt province is the location of a 5,000-year-old Bronze Age burial site. The 820-foot by 492-foot burial mound in a valley of the upper Tigris River was excavated in the years up to 2018, by Brenna Hassett of the Natural History Museum in London, and Haluk Sağlamtimur of Ege University in Turkey. The tomb contained the remains of two 12-year-old children, and the remains of an adult which may have been reburied. The remains of eight other people aged 11 to 20 were found buried outside the tomb. These remains were carbon-dated to between 3100 and 2800 BCE, and at least some of the people are believed to have been sacrificed.
Agness Gidna is a Tanzanian paleontologist and a former Senior Curator of Paleontology at the National Museum of Tanzania. She is currently working with Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a Senior Cultural Heritage Officer. She is the first Tanzanian woman to hold a doctorate in Physical Anthropology and she is the first Tanzanian female research director at Olduvai Gorge, where she has been a co-principal investigator of the Olduvai Palaeoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP) since 2017.
Amara Thornton is a historian of archaeology. Her work focuses on British archaeologists in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She situates archaeology within its broader historical context, including the history of tourism, the history of publishing and popular media, the history of education, government policies and women's history. She is an Honorary Research Associate at UCL.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes is a British Paleolithic archaeologist, broadcaster, popular science writer and author who lives in Wales. She is interested in the Middle Palaeolithic, specifically in the lives of Neanderthals; and she is one of the founders of TrowelBlazers, a website set up to celebrate the lives of women in archaeology, palaeontology and geology.
Mike Seager Thomas is a British archaeologist and Honorary Research Fellow of the UCL Institute of Archaeology specialising in the study of stone in prehistoric archaeology and landscape archaeology.
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