Claudio Ottoni

Claudio Ottoni

Nationality: Italian

ORCID identifier: 0000-0001-8870-1589

Professional and academic experiences

2021 – present: Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata. 

2018 – 2021: Post-doctoral researcher. DANTE - Diet and ANcient TEechnology Laboratory, Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).

2019: Visiting research fellow, Ancient DNA Genomics and Biological Anthropology group. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria (January-March).

2016 – 2018: Post-doctoral researcher. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Oslo (Norway).

2012 – 2014: Visiting research fellow (FWO grants), Epigenome and Paleogenome group. Jacques Monod Institute, University of Paris Diderot VII (France).

2009 – 2016: Post-doctoral researcher. Centre for Archaeological Sciences (CAS), University KU Leuven (Belgium).

2008 – 2009: Research assistant, Laboratory of Forensic Veterinary Genetics “UNIRE-LAB”, Pomezia (Italy).

2008: PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy).

2007 – 2008: Visiting research fellow (DAAD grants), Palaeogenetic group. Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany), Department of Anthropology.

2004: Master degree in Biological Science, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy). 

Professional qualifications

2023: professional qualification of level I (Full Professor) “Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale”, BIO/08 (Anthropology), Italy.

2017: professional qualification of level II (Associate Professor) “Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale”, BIO/08 (Anthropology), Italy.

2014: Professional qualification “Maître de Conférence”, Population Biology and Ecology, France.

Fellowships, funding and awards

2021 – 2026: Principal Investigator ERC Consolidator Grant, “Felix – Genomes, food and microorganisms in the prehistory of cat-human interactions”. € 1,999,420.

2021 – 2021: Principal Investigator NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Explorer Grant, “The making of a pet”. University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy). $ 18,000. 

2021 – 2018: Coinvestigator FWO (Fonds voor Weteschappelijk Onderzoek, Belgium) research grant “Contrasting population well-being in urban Roman Imperial Sagalassos (Pisidia, SW Turkey) with its Middle Byzantine successor settlement (1st-6th c. CE and 10th-13th c. CE)”, KU Leuven, € 313,000.

2014: FWO (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Belgium) mobility grant. Institut Jacques Monod, Paris (France). € 3,800 (April, October).

2011 – 2012: FWO (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Belgium) mobility grant. Institut Jacques Monod, Paris (France). € 10,000.

2008: DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Germany) research scholarship. Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany). € 4,500.

2004 – 2007: MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione Università Ricerca, Italy), PhD fellowship University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome (Italy). € 30,000.

Teaching activities

2023 – present: BSc course of Anthropology (5 CFU), University or Rome Tor Vergata. 

2021 – present: MSc course of Molecular Anthropology and Paleogenomics (6 CFU), University or Rome Tor Vergata. 

2019 – 2022: Advanced course “Archaeogenetics approaches to investigate domestication and evolution”, CBIO-InBIO, Vairão (Portugal). One-week intensive course (two editions).

2018 – 2021: Advanced international school “Paleogenomics”, Physalia, Berlin (Germany). One week week intensive course (three editions)

Supervision of PhD, master and Erasmus+ students at KU Leuven University (2012-2015), University of Oslo (2016-2018) and University of Rome Tor Vergata (2006-2007, 2021-present). 

Reviewing activities

Peer-reviewer for the following journals: Journal of Archaeological Sciences, Plos One, Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Human Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Conservation Genetics, Annals of Human Biology, Heredity, Journal of Biogeography, Plant Biosystems. 

Other editorial and reviewing activities: 

2022 – present: Editorial Board member, peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Genetics

2021 – present: Guest Advisor, peer-reviewed journal Open Research Europe – Evolutionary Biology

2013 – present: Editorial Board member, peer-reviewed journal Annals of Human Biology

2023: ERC Adv remote referee. 

2020: Research Grant application external reviewer, NSC (National Science Center), OPUS 18 Research Grant Schemes, Poland.

2018: Internal Reviewer of the PhD thesis “Evolution and Paths of Transmission of Yersinia pestis during the second plague pandemic (1346 CE-18th Century) in Medieval Europe”, by Meriam Guellil, University of Oslo (Norway).

2017: Research Grant application external reviewer, NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research), Innovational Research Incentives Schemes, The Netherlands. 

2015: External Reviewer of the PhD thesis “Charting the most likely geographical origin of maternal and paternal human lineages in mixed Ecuadorian populations”, by Giuseppina Primativo, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy)

2015: External Reviewer of the PhD thesis “Genetic characterization of Copper and Bronze Age populations from the Meseta North (Spain)”, by Sara Palomo Díez, Computense University of Madrid (Spain).

2011: External Reviewer of the PhD thesis “Guatemalan genetic structure, applications in forensic and anthropological sciences”, by Luis Javier Martinez Gonzalez, Universidad de Granada (Spain).