Rory is an environmental geoarchaeologist who specialises in the application of soil micromorphology, lipid biomarker characterisation, and compound-specific isotope analysis for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. During his doctoral research at Universidad de La Laguna in Spain Rory combined these techniques to explore the role of climate in Neanderthal social and cultural evolution in Eastern Iberia. He joined the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin as an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in October 2021. His current research focuses on coastal shell middens and aims to shed new light on how Neolithic farming communities adapted to the marginal coastal environments of NW Europe. He also aims to promote citizens’ active participation in research through public archaeology and community-driven citizen science.

Jessica is a lecturer in the UCD School of Archaeology and has a long-standing interest in daily life in prehistory. Initially her research explored settlement and domestic architecture in the Neolithic, however, she now uses both laboratory and library to explore early farming communities. Jessica's early research focused on the settlement archaeology of the Irish Neolithic, in particular domestic architecture. To further explore aspects of daily life, she moved into material culture studies and archaeological science, with work at the University of Bristol yielding important data on early dairying and prehistoric farming in general. The success of this molecular-level approach has led to an interest in developing micro-analytical toolkits to tap the potential of low visibility, poorly-preserved archaeological sites, such as those along the Atlantic Façade. This is the focus of her current project 'Passage Tomb People: investigating the social drivers of passage tomb construction' (IRC Laureate 2018-2022).

Alan is a licence eligible archaeologist based in the northwest of Ireland. He currently works with Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) on their excavation team. Alan has a wealth of experience in the excavation of sites, conducting monitoring visits and assisting on site remediation. He has worked on numerous small and large-scale infrastructural projects throughout Ireland, including the N61 Ranelagh Realignment Road Project, Co. Roscommon, N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin Road Development, Co. Sligo, the N60 Oran Realignment Road Project, Co. Roscommon, the N69 Listowel Bypass, Co. Kerry and the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge, Co. Roscommon.

Alan has a wide range of research interests, including how past peoples used their surrounding landscape and the flora and fauna within, whether for food or making tools or personal items. In addition to working as a field archaeologist he has also been involved in running a number of public archaeology related events designed for children.