clair024

Once again, Gerard Corcoran (ISOGG Ireland Representative) has organised a fantastic agenda for our traditional ISOGG Day Out on the Monday after the conference (i.e. Monday Oct 23rd). This year we are visiting the two major universities in Dublin - Trinity College & University College. The agenda includes tours of their respective DNA Laboratories as well as the Irish Folklore Commission and some Ancient Irish Manuscripts. Places are limited to only 20 people and the GGI2017 speakers and volunteers on the FTDNA stand get first pick. Any places left available after that will be available on a first-come first served basis to ISOGG members. If you would like to be considered for a place among the Lucky 20, please leave your details in the comments section below. There may be some future changes to the agenda (due to unforeseen circumstances) but such changes are not currently anticipated. Trinity College Dublin - Campus Visit 9:00 Assemble at the Front Gates (position 2, on the le...

Title of Presentation: Ancient DNA and the Genetic History of Europeans Biography I have a B.A. and Ph.D. and I am a Herchel Smith Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin I perform research using ancient DNA with the aim of trying to get a better understanding of the genetic history of Europeans. This often involves bringing genetic data together with information from archaeology, anthropology and earth sciences. What will you be talking about?  The ability to recover DNA from ancient human remains is transforming our understanding of the past. In this presentation we will look at how information from millenia-old bones is harnessed and what we can learn from studies using ancient DNA. In particular, we will explore how events which happened thousands of years ago have shaped the genes and traits of people living in Europe today. This year, the four lectures on Friday afternoon (including Eppie's lecture) were mad...

Once again, our sponsor for this year's Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference is FamilyTreeDNA. Max & Bennett at FTDNA have sponsored our conference since its inception and have been keen supporters of citizen science since they first launched the company back in 2000. FTDNA are the only company that has created an infrastructure for the running of DNA Projects by ordinary "citizen scientists" like you and me. Without this crowd-sourcing initiative, citizen science would never have taken off in the way that it has over these past 15 years or so. Bennett Greenspan & Max Blankfeld, founders of FTDNA FamilyTreeDNA is based in Houston, where Hurricane Harvey devastated the city and surrounding areas. The clean-up after Harvey is going to take months and years. Luckily, FTDNA themselves were not too badly affected but several of their employees did suffer from the after-effects of the hurricane. Our hearts go out to them and we wish them continuing support. Max and Ben...

The logo for GGI2017 is today revealed to the universe. It is based on a map of the world by Gerard van Schagen , a Dutch engraver who lived from 1642 to 1724. His world atlas of 1689 was produced using copper engraving and consists of four views of the globe, including views of the north and south poles. Map is in public domain and sourced from WikiMedia Commons Ireland is located close to the centre of the map. Five arrows emanate from the island and travel to Iceland, North America, South America, Africa, and Australia. These locations will feature prominently in some of the talks at this year's conference:  Gisli Palsson  will discuss the Book of Icelanders; Hannes Schroeder will discuss the TransAtlantic Slave Trade; several presenters will be bringing an American perspective to proceedings ( Roberta Estes , Dave Vance), whilst others hail from Scandinavia ( Peter Sjöland , Hannes Schroeder) and Australasia ( Donna Rutherford ). The range of topics and presenters serves t...

Title of Presentations Session 1 – Nine Autosomal Tools at Family Tree DNA & How to Use Them Session 2 – Autosomal DNA Through the Generations Biographical Details Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Computer Science Masters in Business Administration Graduate work in GIS systems Runs own business (at www.dnaexplain.com ) Author of one of the most popular blogs in genetic genealogy ...  https://dna-explained.com What do you do as a Day Job? I prepare Y and mtDNA Personalized DNA Reports for clients, as well as general genetic genealogy consulting. What do you do as a Night Job? Whatever I didn’t get done in the day 😊 Hopefully some of my own genealogy or quilting. How did you get into genealogy? I was pregnant with my daughter, waiting on her arrival, and decided I wanted to know something more about my father’s side of the family. I had NO IDEA I was “doing” genealogy nor that it would ever become an obsession. Tell us about your involvement with genetic genealogy I first test...

Title of presentation -  Icelandic roots and identities: Genealogies, DNA, and personal names. Biographical details: Title - Professor of Anthropology Affiliation - University of Iceland Professional qualifications – B.A., M.A, Ph.D. Membership Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Day Job - Professor of Anthropology, University of Iceland Night Job – Photography, sport & grandchildren How did you get into genealogy? Icelanders usually grow up with genealogies and family reunions. Family relations are strong and my parents kept records into the past. Long after I left my hometown, the Westman Islands, Iceland, I got passionately involved with genealogy when the Book of Icelanders – a pioneering online tool for tracking connections and family trees – was constructed. I was fortunate, as an anthropologist and a citizen, to follow the construction of the database and its use in genetics and by the public. This experience satisfied m...

Title of Talk  - DNA testing for Genealogy – The Basics Background - I'm a New Zealander with English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. Many of my family were New Zealand pioneers. Member - ISOGG, GOONS, NZSoG Day Job - I work in the Technology Industry as a Global Business Operations Manager, currently working mostly in the Cloud Technology space. I'm professionally an Accountant, but worked mostly in IT Management during my career. Night Job - Running our DNA facebook group, writing blogs, and chasing down those DNA matches. I co-admin the Rutherford Project and have a Rutherford one-name study. I manage DNA kits for several friends and family. How did you get into genealogy? As a teenager I loved the stories from my great aunt about her early life in New Zealand and why our family had left England. Many family members passed down handwritten genealogies and family bibles that were invaluable in starting my own research. In the 90s I wrote my own family tree database an...