Prof. Alan Cooper has played a central role in the development of the field of ancient DNA, starting with PhD research in Allan Wilson’s UC Berkeley laboratory with Svante Paabo. David Penny was a PhD supervisor. He established the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre at the University of Oxford, and was Professor of Ancient Biomolecules from 2001-2005. He established the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) at the University of Adelaide as an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow in 2005, and is now an ARC Laureate Fellow. Prof. Cooper’s research interests include the use of ancient genetic data and analytical approaches to study key evolutionary processes – including past climate and environmental changes, extinction events, human evolution and migration, microbiomes and disease – across a broad range of timescales and biogeography. His multi-disciplinary focus integrates data from genomics, bioinformatics, zoology, archaeology, microbiology, forensics, palaeontology, physical dating methods, and climate records.