Seven European research institutions and one commercial partner have formed a consortium providing cutting-edge training in the scientific study of the human past. The BEAN (Bridging the European and Anatolian Neolithic) Initial Training Network has been awarded four years of funding from the European Commission through the Marie Curie Actions program.

The BEAN network will provide state-of-the-art training to early-stage researchers in the allied fields of genomics, demography, computer simulations and modelling, physical anthropology, and archaeology in the context of an integrated research program investigating the genetic and cultural ancestry of modern Europeans, and the origins of settled farming life in Europe. The BEAN consortium will augment its research into European prehistory with modern technological innovation through its partnership with German biotech firm GATC, where early-stage researchers will develop next-generation genomics methods optimized for the study of ancient DNA.

The BEAN network takes a multidisciplinary and international approach, focusing on demographic questions surrounding the dissemination of the cultural, technological, and biological components of the Neolithic from western Anatolia and the Balkans to the rest of Europe.

The BEAN network is a transnational effort incorporating specialists from different regions and scientific disciplines: nine independent but interrelated scientific projects will explore various facets of the transition to agriculture in Europe, including the cultural artefacts associated with the arrival of agriculture, the physical and genetic characteristics of the first farmers, and the interplay of foraging and early farming communities in Europe.

In addition to scientific training, the eight doctoral candidates and two postdoctoral researchers of the BEAN network will have the opportunity to develop marketable business and management skills through internships offered by the network's private and public sector Associate Partners, which include the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), OTI Holding Company, and Springer Publishing, as well as the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Aegean University.

The BEAN project is an Initial Training Network sponsored by the European Union, and coordinated by Prof. Dr Joachim Burger of Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz. In addition to JGU Mainz, the Full Partners of the network are the University of Belgrade, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), GATC Biotech AG, the University of Geneva, the University of Istanbul, the University College London, and Trinity College Dublin.

http://beanworkshop.com/network.html