Discovery Indigenous - Grant ID: IN180100017 [ 2018 - 2023 ]

Research Grant

Researchers Dr Raymond Tobler; Prof Murray Cox; Dr Francois-Xavier RICAUT; Dr Wolfgang Haak; Dr Fernando Racimo; A/Prof Herawati Sudoyo

Brief description A recent landmark study has revealed that people who first arrived on Sahul (the landmass connecting Australia with New Guinea) remained largely genetically isolated from subsequent migrations. However, there is still little known about the route(s) taken into Sahul, or how adaptation has shaped the enormous diversity now observed across Indigenous Australians and Papuans. This project aims to look at these issues by applying phylogenetic and population genetic tools to the largest genetic dataset yet analysed from populations across Australia, New Guinea, and Island South East Asia. The outcomes of the project should reveal both the route(s) taken into Sahul and how adaptation has shaped the diversity now observed in descendants of the colonisation.

Funding Amount $512,688

Funding Scheme Discovery Indigenous