Adam Powell

Adam Powell is a Senior Scientist and ERC Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture. He previously held research group leadership positions at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

• PhD in Population Genetics from University College London
• BSc in Mathematics from University of Exeter

His research focuses on gene-culture coevolution, integrating population genetics, archaeogenetics, anthropology, and historical linguistics to reconstruct human population history. He develops simulation frameworks like DeMIGOD and KinGLy to model demographic and cultural processes.

Recent publications emphasize human dispersals in the Pacific and Wallacea, cultural transmission dynamics, and methodological innovations in simulation modeling. Notable grants include an ERC Starting Grant and international collaborative awards.

• ERC Starting Grant (€1.5M) for 'Waves' project
• ANR-DFG, Marsden Fund, and FCT Portugal grants
• Recipient of UCL's 2010 Postgraduate Symposium 1st prize

Powell collaborates on ancient DNA studies and leads projects testing cultural-genetic hypotheses in diverse regions, from Western Europe to Indonesia and the South Pacific.