Ronika Power

Ronika K. Power is an Australian archaeologist who is a Professor of Bioarchaeology in the Department of History and Archaeology and Director of the Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment at Macquarie University. Power is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Early life and education Power became interested in mummies as a child. She became ill with glandular fever and missed her high school leaving exams. Her doctorate evaluated burials in the early Dynastic period. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. In 2014, she started working on the ERC Fragility and Sustainability in the restricted island environments of Malta (FRAGSUS) project, which studied why certain cultures maintained civilisations for centuries whilst other collapsed more quickly. FRAGSUS was the outcome of a long-term collaboration between the University of Malta and the University of Cambridge, largely driven by Caroline Malone.

In 2016, Power returned to Macquarie University, where she was made a lecturer in bioarchaeology. Her research considers ancient human remains to better understand human health and migration. This study was named by Archaeology as one of the Top Ten Discoveries of 2016. Alongside her research, Power taught courses on the archaeology of death and burial. She delivered a TED talk at TEDxMelbourne in 2019.

Awards and honours 2018 Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London 2018 Appointed a Superstar of STEM 2019 Australian Academy of the Humanities Max Crawford Medal 2019 Union Académique Internationale Kwang-su Lim Early Career Award 2019 Australian Institute of Policy in Science Tall Poppy Award

Selected publications