Faidra Katsi

PhD Candidate

Email: faidra.katsi@nottingham.ac.uk

Faidra is a PhD candidate with the Palaeobenchmarking Resilient Agricultural Systems project. Faidra holds a first degree in Archaeology (from Aristotle University in Greece) and an MSc in Environmental Archaeology from the University of Reading. Her PhD research is focused on cereal pollen identification using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy. Pollen extracted from the sediments of Lake Nar in Turkey (Central Anatolia) will be used in order to distinguish domesticated cereal grains from their wild progenitors, using the chemical signal of the fossil pollen. By reconstructing the cereal diversity of Central Anatolia through the Holocene, she aims to investigate how cereal cultivation adapted during periods of environmental change. With this research, Faidra will discuss the response mechanisms of cereal agriculture in the past, which can lead us towards thinking about more sustainable agriculture systems in the future.