Ester Oras, the PI of our Archemy research group, was awarded L’Oreal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” Young Talents Program Baltics (Estonia) with the support of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO scholarship.Ester and her team work in biomolecular archaeology and employ modern omics methods – lipidomics, proteomics, and genomics – to reveal ancient dietary practices and diseases. By analysing centuries and millennia old ceramic vessels and human remains with topnotch laboratory techniques, Ester aims to show how past foodways affected the health of ancient populations, and reveal how historically developed dietary practices influence our overall wellbeing in the past as well as today. Ester says herself: “I want to give colour and taste to the past and bring the history closer to us today.”
L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents Programme aims to support and encourage young women researchers who represent the future of science in STEM fields. The Baltic regional programme opened first in Latvia in 2004 and widened to Lithuania and Estonia in 2017, with altogether 10 Young Talents recognised from Estonia so far.
Congratulations from all of us to you, Ester!