Angela Gurr
Adelaide Dental School
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.
My main research focus applies advances in bioarcheological techniques to examine the dentitions and skeletal remains of a group of 19th-century migrant settlers to South Australia. A multidisciplinary, multi-methodological approach that includes the investigation of historical records associated with emigrant ships, and the economic/ social issues in the new colony. This Complexity approach allows a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of their oral and systemic health challenges, as well as their life histories and an insight into the health challenges that they faced.
I value the use of interdisciplinary methods and collaborations to provide a broader methodological application which can yield fresh insight into the life histories of previously unknown individuals and enrich our understanding of the early decades of the South Australian colony.
I am particularly interested in dental developmental defects that can represent the occurrence and survival of one or more health insults during infancy to early adulthood.
Areas of interest: Paleo imaging, Dental Anthropology, Dental Development, Paleopathology, Bioarchaeology and Social History.
My main research focus applies advances in bioarcheological techniques to examine the dentitions and skeletal remains of a group of 19th-century migrant settlers to South Australia. A multidisciplinary, multi-methodological approach that includes the investigation of historical records associated with emigrant ships, and the economic/ social issues in the new colony. This Complexity approach allows a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of their oral and systemic health challenges, as well as their life histories and an insight into the health challenges that they faced.
I value the use of interdisciplinary methods and collaborations to provide a broader methodological application which can yield fresh insight into the life histories of previously unknown individuals and enrich our understanding of the early decades of the South Australian colony.
I am particularly interested in dental developmental defects that can represent the occurrence and survival of one or more health insults during infancy to early adulthood.
Areas of interest: Paleoimaging, Bioarchaeology, Dental Anthropology, Paleopathology, and Social History.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2024 - ongoing Postdoctoral Researcher Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide 2023 - 2024 Research Assistant Adelaide Dental School, The University of Adelaide -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2024 Award History Council of South Australia – Highly Recommended Fellowship Prize The History Council of South Australia Australia AU$1000 -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2019 - 2023 University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Medical Sciences 2018 - 2018 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Health & Medical Sciences (First class Honours) 2013 - 2017 Flinders University Australia Bachelor of Archaeology -
Postgraduate Training
Date Title Institution Country 2025 - 2025 Excel for Researchers University of Adelaide Australia 2024 - 2024 Australian Research Landscape Webinar University of Adelaide Australia 2024 - 2024 Getting to know your neuro-diverse HDR student - strategies for supervisors. University of Adelaide Australia 2024 - 2024 Small Volume Micro-CT scanning - Bruker SkyScan 1276 – Refresher training. University of Adelaide Australia 2023 - 2023 Digitisation (3D scanning) & cataloguing of a large collection of human dental casts using 3Shape OrthoData computer software. University of Adelaide Australia 2023 - 2023 Photogrammetric study of facial profile - Inter-operator digitization/ land marking of 2D Images using tpsDig2 computer software. University of Adelaide Australia -
Research Interests
Anatomy & Morphology Anthropology Anthropology of Development Archaeological Science Archaeology Archaeology of Australia Australian History Oral Medicine and Pathology Pathology Social and Cultural Anthropology Child and Adolescent Health Musculoskeletal Health Nutrition and Metabolic Health Oral Health Dental health
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Journals
Year Citation 2025 Saqib, M. R., Chiam, T., Gurr, A., Davis, K., Brook, A., & Hughes, T. (2025). Exploring early life influences on craniofacial growth using genetically informative data. Twin Research and Human Genetics. 2025 Giri, J., Bockmann, M., Brook, A., Gurr, A., Palmer, L., & Hughes, T. (2025). Genetic and environmental contributions to the development of dental arch traits: a longitudinal twin study. European Journal of Orthodontics, 47(2), 10 pages.
2024 Giri, J., Bockmann, M., Brook, A., Gurr, A., & Hughes, T. (2024). Genetic and environmental contributions to the development of soft tissue facial profile: a twin study. European Journal of Orthodontics, 46(5), cjae045-1-cjae045-10.
2024 Giri, J., Gurr, A., Bockmann, M., Brook O'Donnell, M., Brook, A., & Hughes, T. (2024). Relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to palatal morphology: a longitudinal twin study. European Journal of Orthodontics, 47(1), cjae076-1-cjae076-10.
2023 Gurr, A., Higgins, D., Henneberg, M., Kumaratilake, J., O'Donnell, M., McKinnon, M., . . . Brook, A. (2023). Investigating the dentoalveolar complex in archaeological human skull specimens: Additional Findings with large volume micro-CT compared to standard methods. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 33(2), 235-250.
Scopus2 WoS12023 Gurr, A., Henneberg, M., Kumaratilake, J., Lerche, D., Richards, L., & Brook, A. (2023). The Oral Health of a Group of 19th Century South Australian Settlers in Relation to Their General Health and Compared with That of Contemporaneous Samples. Dentistry Journal, 11(4), 1-99-99-28.
Scopus12022 Gurr, A., Kumaratilake, J., Brook, A. H., Ioannou, S., Pate, F. D., & Henneberg, M. (2022). Health effects of European colonization: An investigation of skeletal remains from 19th to early 20th century migrant settlers in South Australia. PLOS ONE, 17(4), 1-28.
Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC12022 Gurr, A., Brook, A. H., Kumaratilake, J., Anson, T., Pate, F. D., & Henneberg, M. (2022). Was it worth migrating to the new British industrial colony of South Australia? Evidence from skeletal pathologies and historic records of a sample of 19th-century settlers. International Journal of Paleopathology, 37, 41-52.
Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC12022 Gurr, A., Higgins, D., Henneberg, M., Kumaratilake, J., Brook O'Donnell, M., McKinnon, M., & Brook, A. H. (2022). Large Volume Micro-CT scanning of the dentoalveolar complex as a tool to evaluate dental health in an archaeological sample compared with traditional methods.
2022 Galassi, F. M., Pate, F. D., You, W., Gurr, A., Lucas, T., Antunes-Ferreira, N., . . . Habicht, M. E. (2022). Pandemic realism as the indispensable political precondition for global disease eradication. Public Health, 212, 55-57.
Scopus6 Europe PMC12021 Gurr, A., Kumaratilake, J., Brook, A. H., Ioannou, S., Pate, F. D., & Henneberg, M. (2021). Health effects of European colonization: An investigation of skeletal remains from 19th to early 20th-century migrant settlers in South Australia.
2020 Pate, F. D., Henneberg, M., Anson, T. J., Owen, T. D., Newchurch, J., Draper, N., . . . Walsh, J. (2020). A stable, inexpensive and widely available burial environment or keeping place for archaeological or historical human skeletal remains. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 38, 68-71.
Scopus1 -
Conference Items
Year Citation 2024 Giri, J., Bockmann, M., Brook, A., Gurr, A., & Hughes, T. (2024). Genetic and environmental contributions to the development of soft tissue facial profile. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the 29th Australian Orthodontic Congress 2024. Adelaide, South Australia: Australian Society of Orthodontists. 2024 Giri, J., Bockmann, M., Brook, A., Gurr, A., & Hughes, T. (2024). Primary dentition palate: genetic and environmental influences explored. Poster session presented at the meeting of International Dental Journal. Elsevier BV.
DOI2023 Hughes, T., Gurr, A., Brook O'Donnell, M., Davis, K., Meade, M., & Brook, A. (2023). Customised 3D software: Intra-operator reliability of dental arch measurements. Poster session presented at the meeting of 2023 Conference, International Association for Dental Research ANZ Division. Sydney, Australia. -
Preprint
Year Citation 2025 Gurr, A., Brook O’Donnell, M., & Brook, A. H. (2025). Complex Traces: Using a Complex Adaptive Systems approach to examine morbidity and mortality among 19th Century migrants to South Australia.
DOI2023 Gurr, A., Henneberg, M., Kumaratilake, J., Lerche, D., Richards, L., & Brook, A. H. (2023). The Oral Health of a Group of 19th Century South Australian Settlers in Relation to Their General Health and Compared With That of Contemporaneous Samples.
DOI
2024- Award - History Council of South Australia ' Highly Recommended' Prize.
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2024 Co-Supervisor Investigating the influence of hypodontia on the teeth and dental arches to increase understanding of interactions in oral development. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Dilan Patel
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