Contact details
- Email r.m.main@stir.ac.uk
About me
Rebecca holds a BA with Honours in History (2019) and MRes in Historical Research (2020), both undertaken at the University of Stirling. She currently holds the positions of Research Assistant and PGT Programme Tutor in the History, Heritage, and Politics Division.
Her interdisciplinary PhD research, supervised by Prof. Phil Slavin and Prof. Richard Oram, focuses on contextualising non-textual palaeoscientific data to understand the natural forces and human activities responsible for the emergence and spread of Yersinia pestis in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia. Her research thus transcends the conventional limits of ‘History,’ encompassing a broad temporal range, from the Middle Neolithic to Late Bronze Age. She is developing and applying an interdisciplinary methodology, ‘historical science,’ which is being used to identify patterns in the outbreaks and transmission of plague interconnected with biological, environmental, social, cultural, economic, technological, and demographic changes during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.
Her research interests are in all-things ancient, delving into evolutionary genetics as well as prehistoric culture, disease, demography, diet, migration, and environmental change.
Award
Postgraduate Funding Award - Stirlingshire Educational Trust (2021)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from Stirlingshire Educational Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - Stirlingshire Educational Trust (2022)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from Stirlingshire Educational Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - Stirlingshire Educational Trust (2023)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from Stirlingshire Educational Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - The McGlashan Charitable Trust (2022)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from The McGlashan Charitable Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - The McGlashan Charitable Trust (2023)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from The McGlashan Charitable Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - The Scottish International Education Trust (2023)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from The Scottish International Education Trust
Postgraduate Funding Award - The Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust (2023)
Grant secured for Postgraduate study from The Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust
Research Based Learning Prize (2020)
University of Stirling
Recipient of the Research Based Learning Prize for the best Masters dissertation in History. Awarded by University of Stirling, History, Heritage and Politics Division. Dissertation received 90%
Event / Presentation
Biological and Environmental Sciences Divisional Research Seminar (2023)
University of Stirling
Paper presented at the Biological and Environmental Sciences divisional research seminar series (Natural Sciences Faculty). Title: 'When History Meets Palaeo-Science: Studying the Emergence and Spread of Yersinia pestis in Neolithic and Bronze Age Human Populations across Eurasia (c. 3300-1000 BCE)'
Faculty of Arts & Humanities PG Conference: 'Community and Cooperation' (2023)
University of Stirling
Lightening Talk: 'Studying Community-Level Dynamics in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age: A Case Study from Southern Germany'
Graduate Women Scotland, Dundee Women’s Festival (2022)
Paper presented at the panel ‘Plague’s, Climate Change and Vaccines: A look through history to understand our future.’
Paper Title: ‘Historicising Plague: A Contextualisation of the Early Rise and Spread of Plague Pandemics in Prehistoric Eurasia’
History, Heritage, and Politics Divisional Research Seminar (2023)
University of Stirling
Invited to give a paper at the History, Heritage, and Politics Divisional Research Seminar.
Paper Title: ‘On the Move: Fine-Tuning Plague Dispersal during Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Human Migrations in Eurasia’
History, Heritage, and Politics Postgraduate Symposium (2020)
University of Stirling
Paper Title: 'Prehistoric Plague Pandemics: The Early Origins, Evolution and Dissemination of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia' (MRes project)
History, Heritage, and Politics Postgraduate Symposium (2022)
University of Stirling
Paper Title: ‘Historicising the Emergence and Spread of Plague Pandemics in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia: Why we need an historian’
PANSOC Fall Webinar Series (2023)
Paper presented at the Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (Oslo Metropolitan University). Paper Title: 'On the Move: Fine-Tuning Plague Dispersal in the North Caucasus and Altai-Sayan during Early Bronze Age Human Migrations (3300-2500 BCE)'
University of St Andrews: Inaugural Conference on Interdisciplinary Studies (2022)
University of St Andrews
Paper Title: ‘Historicising the Emergence and Spread of Plague in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia’
Other Academic Activities
Access To: Forensic and Analytical Science (2014)
Robert Gordon University
Access To: Forensic and Analytical Science course undertaken at Robert Gordon University, certificate awarded
Postgraduate Plus+ Professional Skills Programme (2020)
University of Stirling
Professional development and workplace preparation academy, the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) certificate achieved
Professional Career
Research Assistant
University of Stirling
2021 - 2025 Research Assistant on the Environments of Change project for the University of Waterloo
Teaching
Teaching
PGT Programme Tutor
University of Stirling
2022 - Present Programme Tutor in the History, Heritage and Politics Division. Providing academic-related support to PGT students on the MSc International Conflict and Cooperation programme as well as assisting the Programme Director and module coordinators