Stephen Bulyar

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Doctoral student

Department of Human Origins
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

e-mail: stephen_bulyar@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research interests
Curriculum Vitae

Research interests

I am broadly interested in the evolution of Plio-Pleistocene hominins. My research interests cover aspects of hominin taxonomy and systematics. My doctoral research will examine morphological variation in the anterior dentition of African Plio-Pleistocene hominins (Australopithecus,Paranthropus and earlyHomo). This research will focus on documenting patterns of variation in anterior dentition with particular focus on tooth roots morphology. The goals of this research are two-fold; first, to assess the functional and developmental basis of this variation, and to investigate the effectiveness of different aspects of anterior tooth morphology for recovering reliable taxonomic signals in extinct hominins which would allow taxonomic reassessment of some specimens with problematic allocations. I aim to exploit microCT imaging and 3D geometric morphometrics methods to quantify phylogenetic differences. I am supervised by Dr. Matthew Skinner.

Curriculum Vitae

Career and Education

Since 2025PhD student, Department of Human Origins, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
2025Field school student, Koobi Fora Field School, George Washington University, USA and National Museums of Kenya.
Project: “Digital age of fossil hunting?” Testing the effectiveness of Machine learning Models in predicting fossil rich areas in Koobi Fora Formation.
2024-2025Research Assistant. Koobi Fora Research project (KFRP). Funded by Mastercard Scholars program at the university of Cambridge.
Project: New fossils ofParanthropus boiseifrom Koobi Fora, East Turkana, Kenya (2001 to 2012).
2023-2024Master of Philosophy (Mphil) in Human Evolutionary studies, University of Cambridge, UK.
Thesis: Inferring Morphological Variation and Taxic Affinities in isolated Hominin Postcrania; A Geometric Morphometric study of humeri from Koobi Fora Formation, Kenya.
2022Field school student, Turkana Basin Origins Field School. Stony Brook University, USA and the Turkana Basin Institute, Kenya.
2021-2023Intern, Turkana Basin Institute, Kenya.
2015-2020Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Fieldwork

2025KFFS Hominin Paleobiology group. Koobi Fora, East Turkana. Fossil prospection in Burgi and Okote members. Project PI, Dr. Matthew Skinner, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
2023Turkana Miocene Project- Buluk, Sibiloi and Loyangalani Miocene sites, East Turkana. Fossil prospection and collection. Project PI, Prof Craig Feibel, Rutgers University, USA.
2023Koobi Fora Research Project (KFRP). Koobi Fora, East Turkana. Collection and investigation in Area 101. PI, Dr Louise and Maeve Leakey. Stony Brook University, USA.
2023Turkana Basin geology project. Koobi Fora, East Turkana. Field prospection and collection pumice clast samples from tuff strata. PI, Prof David Phillips, University of Melbourne.
2022Turkana Miocene Project. Buluk Miocene site. Site prospection for fossils and paleosol samples PI, Prof Craig Feibel, Rutgers University, USA.
2022In Africa Project - Site survey and prospection. PI, Prof Marta Mirazon Lahr, Cambridge University, UK.
2022Buluk Miocene Project. Fossil collection, prospection, and preparation. PI, Prof Ellen Miller Wake Forest University, USA.

 

Teaching

2025Guest lecture, Turkana Basin institute Origins Field school.
2025Guest lecture, Turkana Basin institute Astronomy Field school.
2025Guest lecture, Turkana Basin institute Engineering Field school.

 

Awards and funding

2024Mastercard foundation scholars’ program at the University of Cambridge “Transition Project”.
2023Mastercard foundation scholarship awarded for Master in Philosopy at University of Cambridge.
2022Read scholarship awarded for the Turkana Basin Institute Origins Field school.