Associate Professor Victoria Gibbon joined the Division of Clinical Anatomy and Biological Anthropology in 2016. In addition to her research and teaching portfolios she is curator of the UCT Human Skeletal Repository. A role that has led her to initiate restitution processes at UCT to return unethically obtained human remains and led to establishment of updated procedures of access and stewardship of human remains at UCT. Her research has shown an interest in ethical practice in relation to ancient DNA and sampling. Intraspecies variation is important as it demonstrates micro-evolutionary processes (mutations, migration and selection) that become advantageous in a given environment. A better understanding of human variability, past and present, is important to understand our adaptive potential as a species in an ever-changing environment. She uses a three-prong approach in her biological anthropological research theoretical, technological and biological. Theoretically she has an integrative perspective and use a biocultural approach. With this approach she tried to explain and explore the genetic and environmental factors responsible for biological variation that allows people to be understood in their own cultural and environmental context. She uses this biological understanding to scrutinise, and challenge biased historical accounts to provide an objective view into past people’s lives from a cultural relativist perspective. To investigate variation, along with traditional methods of analyses, she uses technologically innovative ways of understanding and reconstructing the biology of past peoples. Her research and teaching interests are primarily in biological anthropology, human variation, forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology. Her diverse background and training in anatomical, genetic, medical and anthropological sciences allows her to conduct research on a variety of topics, which provides a multitude of research opportunities for students.