This step was the logical succession plan after Prof Dr Roland Schwab decided to leave the Institute.
Since April 2022, the experienced PR consultant Matthias Fries has been supporting the management in the development and implementation of suitable communication and marketing measures in order to strengthen the public perception of CEZA as an outstanding research institute and to open up new customer groups.
The bioarchaeology department and the 14C laboratory were strengthened in 2022. Hanifeh Beigzad started as a laboratory assistant on 1 April 2022, followed by another technical employee, Eugenia Podolskaya, on 1 July 2022. In addition, an additional position was advertised due to the increasing workload in bioarchaeology. This was filled on 1 May 2022 by Laura Sophia Schwarz, who also carries out anthropological skeletal examinations in addition to her work in the isotope laboratory.
With the start of the DFG project to investigate the Bronze Age Sögel blades, two new employees joined us: Dr Andreas Wittke on 1 February and Bart Cornelis, M.A., on 1 March 2022. Andreas Wittke works as an isotope geochemist and is primarily concerned with the isotope analyses planned in the project. Bart Cornelis works as a PhD student and completes the project team. He will deal with the objects in the interdisciplinary field of tension between archaeology and archaeometry and investigate the metallographic and technological aspects.
With Brittany Kucera, Johannes Wintel and Dr Ivan Stepanov, CEZA was able to recruit a further colleague and two new colleagues in the second half of 2022.
Johannes Wintel has been working as a technical assistant with colleagues in the laboratory areas of radiocarbon dating, C/N isotope analysis and O isotope analysis since October 2022. He supports the technical supervision of the mass spectrometers for light stable isotopes and the MICADAS accelerator.
Dr Ivan Stepanov began his work as a research associate at CEZA on 1 August 2022 and has taken on a wide range of metallurgy tasks that were previously the responsibility of Prof. Dr Roland Schwab.
Brittany Kucera, MSc., has been working in the field of bioarchaeology since October 2022, providing scientific support in the evaluation of isotope analyses. As a native speaker, she also provides valuable support with English-language editing work.
All new colleagues were able to quickly integrate their expertise into the team and have become important pillars in their respective areas.
There was a reunion in 2022 with Humboldt Fellow Prof Khaled Al-Bashaireh from Yarmouk University, Irbid (Jordan), who already worked in the CEZA dating laboratories from 21 June to 15 September 2021. He is working intensively on the 14C dating of mortar.
In addition to the new colleagues, Nicole Lockhoff, who has worked at CEZA for many years, has left the institute. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Lockhoff once again for her outstanding commitment and wish her all the best for the future, both personally and professionally.