Fellowship on fossil human remains in Geneva (22 September - 17 October 2025)

A few months ago, the International Journal of Cultural Property announced that my article “‘Ubirajara’ and Irritator Belong to Brazil: Achieving Fossils Returns Under German Private Law” won the 2024 Pierre Lalive and John Henry Merryman Fellow in Art and Cultural Heritage Law. This fellowship is valued at CHF 6,000 and includes a four-week research stay at the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva (CH); for more background information please refer to my announcement from January.

Now that all things administrative have been settled and confirmed, I am excited to share that I will be in Geneva from 22 September to 17 October 2025. In terms of substance, I’ve decided to make use of this occasion to delve¹ into an issue that I’ve been meaning to explore for quite a while: human remains and the extent to which hominin fossils (i.e., the remains of Neanderthals, Homo erectus, maybe even Australopiths) can be considered as such. The legal regime that governs the treatment of human remains is quite fuzzy and internationally fragmented (to say the least), and their legal classification is highly intricate as is. Throwing fossils of organisms that we might (or might not) consider as humans into the mix compounds these issues. This makes fossil hominin remains a fascinating component of my PhD project which studies the intricacies in the legal classification of ambiguous substances such as fossils, human remains, amber, or meteorites.

I’m planning to use my time in Geneva to immerse myself into this topic and prepare one, possibly more research outputs. In addition, I’m looking forward to connecting with the research community at UNIGE, and to deliver two public lectures in French (watch this space for updates).

And last but not least: If you’re based in or passing through Geneva during my research stay and would like to connect, please do reach out and we’ll make it happen!