Dr Ashley Kruger is palaeontologist and palaeoanthropologist at the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (The Swedish Royal Museum of Natural History), Stockholm, Sweden and the Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm University.

He holds a BSc with Honors and an MSc in Palaeontology from the Barnard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He received his PhD in Palaeoanthropology from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand for his work on the Homo naledi site ‘Rising Star’.

Ashley’s PhD focused on understanding the site formation and spatial context of hominin sites in the Cradle of Humankind. This included high resolution 3D data in his methods, ranging from Micro CT to laser surface scanning. Ashley has been on the Rising Star team since the start of the projects in 2013, working in both the Dinaledi and Lesedi Chambers – the sites where the enigmatic Homo naledi was discovered. He was part of the same team receiving the prestigious NRF ‘Science Team Award’ in 2014 and is an author on a number of published papers on Homo naledi appearing in many international, peer-reviewed journals.

Ashley relocated to Stockholm, Sweden in 2018 and has furthered his expertise in digital palaeontology, and more recently ancient DNA analysis. His research interests are broad, aiming to answer important questions about human evolution, and the application of digital technologies to palaeontology.