CONTACT Team

Associate Professor
Michael Dee
Principal Investigator
Michael Dee is Associate Professor of Isotope Chronology and Head of Radiocarbon Dating at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) of the University of Groningen. He is the Principal Investigator on the CONTACT (ERC Consolidator) project, and held the same position on the forerunning ECHOES (ERC Starter) project. Michael's background is in chemistry, and he began specialising in radiocarbon dating during his PhD and post-doctoral positions at the University of Oxford.

Associate Professor
Hannes Schroeder
Co-Investigator
Hannes Schroeder is Associate Professor and Head of Section at the Globe Institute of the University of Copenhagen. Hannes is an ancient DNA researcher who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic and on analysing ancient DNA in new materials.

Dr Margot Kuitems
Researcher
Margot Kuitems is a researcher at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) of the University of Groningen. Margot has a background in archaeology, isotope analysis and Quaternary science. Her current research focuses on radiocarbon spike dating of wood. She is the co-supervisor of three PhD students, including the two PhD candidates of this CONTACT project.

Assistant Professor
Sean Desjardins
Researcher
Sean Desjardins is Assistant Professor of Anthropological Archaeology at the Arctic Centre and Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen. With fieldwork experience across the North American Arctic, he studies long-term human-animal/human-environment relationships, with an emphasis on subsistence harvesting in Nunavut (the traditional Inuit and Inuvialuit territories of what is now Canada).

​Associate Professor
Jason Laffoon
Researcher
Jason Laffoon is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Archaeological Sciences, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. Jason obtained his BA (2004) and MA (2006) in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his PhD in Archaeology (2012) from Leiden University. His main research interests concern assessing variability in patterns of migration, mobility, diet, and exchange over space and time. His research approach focuses on integrating archaeological, bioarchaeological and biochemical approaches to the study of the human past.

John du Plessis
PhD
John du Plessis is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen Centre for Isotope Research. He obtained a Bsc in applied physics before completing a Msc in energy and environmental sciences. John's research is primarily focused on stable isotope analysis of wood and tree rings.

Fanny Sikström
PhD
Fanny Sikström is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) at the University of Groningen. Fanny completed a Bachelors (2021) and a Masters (2023) in archaeology at NTNU before taking up their current position.