Rate My Professor Amélie Beaudet

Amélie Beaudet is a paleoanthropologist whose research centers on the paleobiology and evolutionary history of early hominins from the African fossil record. She completed her PhD in Biological Anthropology at the University of Toulouse Paul Sabatier in 2015, with a thesis examining inner craniodental structures in cercopithecoids and their morphological variation in the Plio-Pleistocene South African sequence. Beaudet served as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand from 2017 to 2020, where she studied the fossil hominin assemblage from Sterkfontein and contributed to the description of specimens such as StW 573 (“Little Foot”). She holds honorary researcher status at the same school since 2018. Her work employs advanced imaging techniques, including microtomography and 3D analyses of endocasts, the bony labyrinth, and cranial vault structures, to investigate brain evolution, locomotor behavior, and taxonomic diversity in Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo. Key publications include studies on the atlas and bony labyrinth of StW 573 (2020 and 2019), the endocast of StW 573 (2019), and analyses of Broca’s area variation in early Homo (2023). Beaudet has also examined the inner ear of Paranthropus specimens and contributed to broader discussions on hominin brain evolution in journals such as Science and Journal of Human Evolution. Her research has advanced understanding of South Africa’s role in palaeoneurology and hominin adaptations. Beaudet previously held a lectureship at the University of Cambridge (2020–2023) and currently serves as CNRS Junior Professor Chair at the Laboratoire Paléontologie, Évolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie at the University of Poitiers, while maintaining honorary affiliations at Cambridge and Wits.

Throughout her career, Beaudet has participated in fieldwork projects in southern Africa and collaborated on international teams examining sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa. Her selected publications span topics from cercopithecoid endocasts (2016) to reappraisals of crania such as Border Cave 1 (2022) and new hominin remains from the Shungura Formation (2026). She has contributed to edited volumes on digital endocasts and the evolution of the human brain. Beaudet’s analyses of variation in palaeontology and the concept of species in the Australopithecus assemblage from Sterkfontein Member 4 (2023) highlight methodological approaches to fossil interpretation. No major awards or editorial roles are documented in official profiles.