University of Coimbra Professor honoured by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences
The T. Dale Stewart Award is the most prestigious distinction bestowed by the Forensic Anthropology Section, recognising outstanding professional achievement and contributions to the field.
Eugénia Cunha, a Professor at the Department of Life Sciences (DCV) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), has received the T. Dale Stewart Award from the Anthropology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences during its 76th Annual Conference – ‘Justice For All’, recently held in Denver, USA.
The laureate says: "This award is very gratifying; it means that I have successfully delivered the 'message' and that the science I am doing is effectively being shared. I believe that the message is much more important than the messenger".
Eugénia Cunha reveals, “I've always worked abroad, but the University of Coimbra is my base. Here, I've created courses and established the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, where I conduct research, and, above all, where I have taught. Students are the essence of a university, and I believe I've inspired some of them. I hope this award will also serve that purpose and demonstrate that what we are doing in forensic anthropology at FCTUC is of world-class quality,” she concludes.
The 'Physical Anthropology Section Award' was renamed 'the T. Dale Stewart Award' in 1987 and stands as the highest honour bestowed by the Forensic Anthropology Section for professional achievements and careers in this scientific field.
Eugénia Cunha is the Director of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Southern Delegation, Lisbon, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2018. She is a Full Professor (since 2003) and a Visiting Professor (since 2018) at FCTUC. Additionally, she served as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University (2020), USP, Ribeirão Preto (2017), and Paul Sabatier (2016).
As a researcher at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), she co-leads the Forensic Anthropology and Palaeobiology group and serves as the co-coordinator of the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory. Eugénia Cunha has published more than 200 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and is in the top 2% of the world's most cited authors in the field of forensic science.
