Find Sally Wasef on
Doctor of Philosophy (Griffith University)
I am a female Forensic Research Fellow in Paleogenetics's exciting but male-dominated field, with over 12 years of experience working on population genetics and history. I have specific expertise in ancient DNA (aDNA) retrieval, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), target enrichment and Bioinformatics analyses. I am the only woman of colour among a small group of ancient DNA experts in Australia with many years of experience researching population genetics and history using advancements in the ancient DNA field. I have successfully retrieved ancient DNA from human remains in arid and humid tropical environments like Egypt, Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Throughout my academic career, I have undertaken high-quality research that has a measurable impact on policy and practice in the wider community, generates media interest and attracts competitive research funding.
While I have only worked as an early career academic for 3 years (FTE), I am already an established, nationally and internationally recognised aDNA researcher. I am ranked in the top 10% of researchers in Ancient DNA (aDNA); Neanderthals; Anatomically Modern Humans in Australia, and the Asia Pacific region (2016-2021) (Web of Science/Incites, December 2021), and one of only two female aDNA researchers in Australia. 75% of my publications have appeared in Q1 journals, 25% in the top 10% most-cited publications in my field worldwide, and 62.5% in the top 10% journals by CiteScore. I am the first or communicating author of 75% of my output for all of my publications, including those involving international collaborators. Further, 12.5% of my publications with both academic and corporate affiliations are three times above average for Field-Weighted Views Impact (SciVal, December 2021). I have produced 31 research publications, of which 14 are research papers and two book chapters in high-impact journals such as Science, Science Advances, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The British Medical Journal, Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution, Quaternary International and PLOS One. The rest are conference presentations, news articles, or scientific magazine communications. My publications have been cited more than 850 times, and my h-index is 8 (Google Scholar).