Staff profile

I am an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Anthropology Department specialising in the human skeleton. My area of interest is osteoethnography, which seeks to illuminate relationships between the human skeleton and the living. My current project is Intersectional Forensic Anthropology: Shifting our Methodological Paradigm. This is an ESRC NINE PDF funded project that examines forensic anthropology conducted after political violence (Humaniatarian Forensic Action, Transitional/Transformative Justice)--with particular emphasis on the desaparecidos of 'post-conflict' Guatemala and the unidentified victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. 

I also conduct lectures on hominin evolution for the Human Evolution and Diversity module and provide guest lectures for the Forensic Anthropology module on HFA at Durham University, and for the Continuing Education programme at Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

I received my BA in Anthropology from State University of New York at Geneseo in 2013, with a concentration in biological anthropology and bioarchaeology. I then received my MSc in Palaeopathology from Durham University in 2016, with a dissertation entitled The Problematic Epidemiology of Venereal Syphilis: A Comprehensive Appraisal of the New World Evidence for Treponemal Infection. This research focused on published bioarchaeological evidence of syphilis in the New World, and critically examined the subjective, colonial lens through which much of human osteological research has been undertaken. My PhD research, also conducted at Durham University, proposed a heuristic to improve ethical practice in forensic anthropology and shift our understanding of HFA to a transformative justice model.

In 2012, I completed my bioarchaeological field training with the Ecomuseu Cap de Cavalleria in Menorca, Spain, and was inducted into Lambda Alpha (the International Anthropology Honors Society) and Sigma Tau Delta (the International English Honors Society). Then in 2013-2014, I completed two consecutive internships at the American Museum of Natural History (New York City) in the North American Archaeological Lab under Dr. David Hurst Thomas, and the Human Osteology Lab under Dr. Ian Tattersall, respectively. I also participated in the British Survey of Archaeology course at Corpus Christi, Cambridge University run through the Association for Cultural Exchange (ACE Foundation).

I am also the substantive Assistant Principal of Ustinov College.

• Forensic Anthropology
• Human Osteology
• Bioarchaeology
• Human Rights Violations
• Children in Violent Conflict
• Transitional Justice
• Photogrammetry

• 2012: Lambda Alpha: Inducted into International Anthropology Honours Society
• 2012: Sigma Tau Delta: Inducted into the International English Honours Society
• 2010: Daedalus Foundation Award in Art History, Art History Research Fellows Project, Guggenheim Museum:

Book review

• Rosen, S. M. (2019). Mark Maguire, Ursula Rao, Nils Zurawski (EDs.). Bodies as Evidence: Security, Knowledge, and Power. Duke University Press, 2018. Journal of international & global studies,

Chapter in book

• Rosen, S. Cementerio XXX: Political and Humanitarian Constructions of Victimhood for the Desaparecidos of 'Post-Conflict' Guatemala. In M. Medeiros, & J. Guzmán (Eds.), Ethnographic Insights on Latin America and the Caribbean. University of Toronto Press
• Rosen, S., & Rosen, D. (2013). Dumbledore's Army: The Transgressive Narrative of the Child Soldier in Harry Potter. In C. Bell (Ed.), Legilimens!: Perspectives in Harry Potter Studies (113-129). Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Journal Article

• Rosen, S., & Rosen, D. (2012). Representing Child Soldiers in Fiction and Film. Peace Review, 24(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2012.704260