Michael Rivera

Biography

Dr. Michael B. C. Rivera is a Filipino-Chinese researcher, writer, blogger, podcaster, public speaker and biological anthropologist based in Hong Kong. Obtaining his PhD in 2019 from the University of Cambridge, his main research focuses on how humans have evolved and adapted biologically and culturally over the last six million years. His main research methods include osteobiographical reconstructions of diet, disease, physical activity and body shape/size. Through human skeletal analysis, he is most interested in how active and healthy the lifestyles and diets were of ancient peoples living in coastal environments - particularly in East and Southeast Asia, and in the Baltic region of northeastern Europe.

Other interests include heritage and museums, culture and food, ethnographic documentary-making and visual anthropology, decolonial theory and praxis, the history of race and racism, social media and digital technologies, public engagement and science communication, and the decolonization of archaeology/anthropology.