James Irvine - Speaker Profile

Title of Presentation
GDPR, Privacy & Data Protection

Memberships 

• The Clan Irwin Association 
• The Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society 
• The Guild of One Name Studies 
• The International Society of Genetic Genealogy 
• The Orkney Family History Society 
• The Scottish Genealogy Society
• ISOGG GDPR Study Group

Background 

I was born and live in the south of England but was brought up in Co.Down. After retiring from a career in the shipping industry in 2000 I have been able to indulge in my twin passions of genealogy and Orcadian history. I have self-published several books (including The Orkney Poll Taxes of the 1690s, Trace Your Orkney Ancestors, and The Breckness Estate), edited others (including a transcript of Sir George Mackenzie’s 1672 manuscript Scottish Families for the Scottish Record Society, HMS Hampshire: a Century of Myths and Mysteries Unravelled, and four volumes of The New Orkney Antiquarian Journal), and am now finalising a trilogy of books on genealogy – a biography of Dr.Christopher Irvin, the genealogy of Washington Irving, and the Irwin Surname and its origins.

How did you get into genealogy? 

Picnicking on the Holywood Hills at the age of 17, I was inspired by a great aunt to explore my Ulster Scots maternal ancestry, and my discovery a few years later that my paternal ancestors came from the Orkney Islands led to an enduring interest in the origins of our surname.

What about your involvement with genetic genealogy? 

In 2005 I was persuaded to help found the Clan Irwin Surname DNA Study, and have administered this project from its inception. We now have over 460 participants and a vastly better understanding of the many unrelated branches of our surname and their origins than has been possible hitherto. The largest branch of our surname has over 300 members, most of whom are Ulster Americans and all of whom descended from some unknown Irwin who probably lived in Dumfriesshire in the 14th century. This is probably the largest single-ancestor surname-era cluster of any surname DNA project. Thanks to over 100 of these Border Irwins having taken BigY or SNP Panel tests we have been able to develop and extend our surname haplotree so that it now overlaps some of our conventional Scottish, Irish and American pedigrees – a milestone in genetic genealogy (see www.clanirwin-dna.org). This in turn led to my interest in some of the wider issues arising, lecturing on my project at WDYTYA Live and GGI, contributing to the ISSOG Wiki website, and launching the ISOGG Study Group on GDPR.

So what will you be talking about at GGI2018 Dublin? 

I first heard of GDPR a year ago, but quickly realised that it could have a major impact on FTDNA and their project admins. Drawing on my professional experience in international regulations and codes of practice, I founded the ISOGG Study Group on GDPR to lobby FTDNA and to draft the ISOGG Interim Guidance on GDPR for Project Admins. My talk will summarise these developments, summarise the rights of individual testees and obligations of project admins, and discuss the associated uncertainties and possible future developments.

What DNA tests will be discussed? 
All genetic genealogy tests.

Where can people get more information about you or your topic?

GDPR page on the ISOGG Wiki ... https://isogg.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation

The Clan Irwin Surname DNA Study at http://www.clanirwin-dna.org/

James's previous talks

GGI2018 Belfast: Y-DNA of a Scots-Irish Diaspora - I want to show local genealogists who may be unfamiliar with DNA testing how much their surname studies may benefit from this rapidly evolving aid. Surname DNA projects have moved on from the gimmicks of ethnicity and “fishing for cousins” to become a sophisticated tool for confirming and extending paternal ancestral lines and exploring the origins and development of surnames. With its large size and wide diaspora the Irwins show that many and varied lessons can be learnt from such projects. 

Many of these lessons can be adapted to other surnames using DNA data that is already posted on-line but has not been exploited. I explore the strengths and weaknesses of y-STR testing and issues arising in cost-effective selection of the many single y-SNP tests, SNP Pack/panel tests and NGS tests now available. With a combination of diligence, intuition, peer guidance, genealogical awareness and luck rather than a sophisticated knowledge of biology or mathematics I show that 37 STR markers are often quite sufficient to identify genetic families/surname branches, and one or two SNP Panel tests can be a very cost-effective follow-up to take many testees to near the forefront of this exciting application of citizen science.

GGI2017: At GGI 2015 I addressed techniques for interpreting y-STR and y-SNP test data, using our Clan Irwin surname project as a case study. Since then the avalanche of SNPs from BigY test data and low-level SNP Pack tests has lead to major breakthroughs that enable some haplotrees to be merged with conventional genealogy pedigrees. 

These developments have also shown that while STR tests are still excellent for identifying genetic groups (aka genetic families aka surname branches, that are not related to one another within the surname era), STR data is often unreliable and misleading for identifying sub-groups. 

While SNP Pack tests are still less popular than 67 and 111 marker STR tests, I believe they should be more popular and will in time become so: they are much more reliable (no convergence), they don’t need a prediction tool to place them on a tree, and they are cheaper. SNPs may not yet be “today’s news” for surname projects, but they are certainly “tomorrow’s news”, and I predict 67 and 111 marker STR tests will soon become “yesterday’s news”!

It has also become apparent that while for some lucky men we can already merge their paternal pedigrees with their SNP haplotrees, others will be less fortunate, even after whole genome sequencing has become a commercial reality. I will explain why this is so, and how very high resolution STRs, autosomal tests, and conventional genealogical data may help to bridge the remaining gaps between terminal SNPs and pedigrees. This in turn suggests the opportunities for a much more radical, holistic approach to surname projects.

List of Presentations

• Administering a large yDNA Surname Project to the Guild of One-Name Studies DNA seminar, Cheltenham, 9 Feb. 2013
• Administering a large Scottish Surname DNA Project to Who Do You Think You Are Live, Glasgow, 29 Aug. 2014
• A Scots-Irish Case Study - The Irwin Surname DNA Project to the "Back to Our Past" GGI2015 event, Dublin, 10 Oct. 2015 (video version at https://youtu.be/YMcBkz79wQM)
• Surname Projects - Some Fresh Ideas to FTDNA's 11th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy, Houston, 15 Nov. 2015
• Lessons from a large yDNA Project to Who Do You Think You Are Live, Birmingham, 8 April 2016 (video version at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glsxj5LBzo4)
• Advanced yDNA testing for Surname Projects to the Guild of One-Name Studies DNA seminar, Cheltenham, 13 Aug. 2016
• Surname DNA Projects - a holistic approach at the "Back to Our Past" GGI2017 event, Dublin, 22 Oct. 2017
• Y-DNA of a Scots-Irish Diaspora, at "Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2018" at the "Back to Our Past" event, Belfast, 16 Feb. 2018 (audio version at https://youtu.be/vvRBkYM1wQE).
• GDPR, Ethics and Privacy, with Julie Goucher, at the Guild of One Name Studies DNA Seminar, Leicester, 6 Oct. 2018.

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

Hannes Schroeder - Speaker Profile

Title of Presentation:

Back to the Roots: Searching for Origins and Ancestral Ties in the context of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Background

Hannes Schroeder is Assistant Professor in Ancient Genomics at the University of Copenhagen. He has a PhD from the University of Oxford (2009) and he now leads his own research group at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. His research interests center mainly around archaeology and ancient human DNA. He is also interested in how genomic data are currently being used to shape public understandings of the past. Alongside Prof Gisli Palsson, Prof Daniel Bradley and others he is one of the PIs of the CitiGen project (www.citigen.org), which looks at the societal uses of genomic data, and between 2011-2015 he led a large European-funded Marie Curie training network on the history and contemporary legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (www.eurotast.eu), which is what he will talk about at BTOP. 

So what exactly will he be talking about?

The transatlantic slave trade was one of the largest forced migrations of people in human history. Between roughly 1500 and 1850 more than 12 million Africans were enslaved and forcefully transported to the Americas. Historical sources reveal that the vast majority were shipped from West and West-Central Africa, but their precise origins remain largely unknown. Genome-wide analyses provide a powerful tool for tracing the genetic origins of individuals and in his talk Hannes will show us how modern and ancient DNA analyses can be used to shed light on the ancestral origins of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Americas. The title of his talk is "Back to the roots: Searching for origins and ancestral ties in the context of the Transatlantic Slave Trade".

This year, the four lectures on Friday afternoon (including Hannes' lecture) were made possible by the kind support of CITIGEN, a HERA Project. CITIGEN is an international collaborative research project that looks at the uses of modern and ancient genomic data in shaping public understandings of the past and our individual and collective identities. 

What DNA tests will be discussed?
Mainly genome-wide SNP data.

Involvement with genetic genealogy?
Hannes is on the scientific advisory board of LivingDNA (www.livingDNA.com) and he is one of the PIs of the CitiGen project (www.citigen.org), which also looks at the science and business of DNA ancestry testing.

Where can people get more information?
Research group website: http://snm.ku.dk/english/research/sections/evolutionary_genomics/molecular-anthropology-and-archaeology/
Personal website: https://hannesschroeder.org/
Twitter account: https://twitter.com/bitesizedna?lang=en
Research papers: https://scholar.google.dk/citations?user=n-aGTfIAAAAJ&hl=en
CitiGen Project website: http://www.citigen.org/
Eurotast project website: http://eurotast.eu/

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

Gianpiero Cavalleri - Speaker Profile

Presentation: Genomic insights into the history of the Irish Travellers

Affiliation:

Associate Professor of Human Genetics,

Molecular & Cellular Therapeutics,

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Background

Prof. Gianpiero Cavalleri leads the Human Genetic Variation Research Group at RCSI. With developments in DNA sequencing technology it is now possible to sequence complete genomes in a couple of days for relatively low cost. As the community of geneticists sequences more and more genomes, we appreciate the amount of genetic variation that exists in the human population. This variation plays a crucial role in shaping human health and performance. The HGVR group at RCSI is working to improve our understanding of the nature, extent and geographic distribution of human genetic variation. In this context, the group has ongoing projects characterising i) genetic sigatures influencing epilepsy predisposition and treatment in humans; ii) regions of the human genome under selection in high altitude/low oxygen environments and iii) exploring human population structure at the genetic level.

So what will you be talking about?

The Irish Travellers are a population with a history of nomadism; consanguineous unions are common and they are socially isolated from the surrounding, ‘settled’ Irish people. Previous work suggests a common Irish origin between the settled and the Traveller populations. What is not known, however, is the extent of population structure within the Irish Travellers and the time of divergence from the general Irish population. This talk will discuss how genetic data can shed light on these questions, with a presentation of results from recent analysis of large genetic datasets generated from Irish Travellers, European Roma, settled Irish, British and European or world-wide individuals.

Further Information about Gianpiero

RCSI page ... http://pi.rcsi.ie/pi/gcavalleri/pi.asp

Irish DNA Atlas project ... https://isogg.org/wiki/Irish_DNA_Atlas_Project

Irish Traveler study ... http://www.rcsi.ie/index.jsp?p=100&n=110&a=10364

Gianpiero's publications ... https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gianpiero_Cavalleri

Talk on the genetics of epilepsy (Brainwave National Conference 2010) ... https://vimeo.com/16250665

Epilepsy Ireland video ... http://www.epilepsy.ie/index.cfm/spKey/research.researchvideos/spId/A9DF0684-DEEF-4526-AAF7BB67B6404C7E.html

Talk on Health, Evolution & History with a focus on human adaptation to high altitude ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFRLP4bMJmU

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

Dave Vance - Speaker Profile

Title of Presentation: Family Trees with SAPP - Automated Trees from Y-STRs, Y-SNPs, and Genealogies

Background

This from Dave: Dave Vance still lives with his wife and three children on the same planet where most of his ancestors were born. In his childhood his family lived in Europe and the US which afforded him and his father the chance to do local genealogy research on his Irish ancestors, and so Dave has always equated genealogy with exploration which certainly continues into this new frontier of genetic genealogy. For much of his business career Dave was a programmer for IBM where he learned the value of using computers to tackle life's easy questions so we can all agonize more over the unsolvable ones.

I am treasurer of the Vance Family Association and I also run their online blog (vancehistoryonline.blogspot.com). I am also co-admin of the Vance Y-DNA surname project (FTDNA), and an active member of the R1b-L21 and R1b-L513 Y-DNA projects.

What do you do as a Day Job?

I am an IT services executive (client partner and associate VP for HCL America, previously 30+ years with IBM).

What do you do as a Night Job?

See biographical details above!

How did you get into genealogy?

When I was 6 years old my family moved from the US to Belgium following my father’s job transfer. I grew up seeing most of the U.K. and Europe from the back of our family car on vacations, and since my father was also his family’s genealogist, trips to Ireland became his opportunity to research his Irish roots. I probably have a different perspective of Ireland than most tourists; I know the National Library and visited near every graveyard in Donegal but I’ve never seen Cork or Blarney Castle!

Later as an adult I was able to add to my father’s research using the explosion of searchable reference material available on the Internet and connecting with the Vance Family Association. We were finally able to “cross the pond” and find marriage and birth records for our Irish Vance line on the Inishowen peninsula in the late 1700s. Since it is unlikely that Irish records will take us any further, I have turned to general research on the Vance surname and genetic genealogy as the most likely sources of more information about my ancestors. 

Tell us about your involvement with genetic genealogy

When I was working for IBM they were one of the partners for the first National Genographic Y-DNA test in 2005 and I was able to take that test at a reduced price. From there I transferred my results to FTDNA and followed it with an upgrade to 37 markers. At the same time Adam Bradford, one of the early enthusiasts and citizen-scientists in the genetic genealogy community, organized the available test results for the Vance surname and created the Vance surname project, aligning our results by haplogroup. Those results proved that at least one of the major Y-DNA lines of Vances matched our surname’s “origin story” of being descended from a line of minor Scottish nobility. There are however at least 3 other Y-DNA lines of Irish Vances, including my own, which appear to be old (1300-1400s at least) male lines in Ireland. 

As more detailed tests became available I eventually upgraded to 67, then 111 markers, and added a Big Y and targeted testing from YSEQ. Along with a few other Big Ys in my branch of R1b-L513 we were able to map our major phylogenetic block and a few private SNPs along our individual branches. We were also able to map out STR signatures for the major family lines where testing had not revealed identifying private SNPs. Now as co-admin for the Vance surname project, I am applying that experience to the other major haplogroups in the Vance project.

After playing with Fluxus for a few years mapping out our male-line connections into what Maurice Gleeson calls mutation history trees, I grew tired of staring at spider web diagrams trying to understand relationships between tested members in a genealogical timeframe. At the same time, the growing database of SNPs from more recent timeframes needed to be mapped next to the STR mutation history, and project members were clamouring to have their genealogy research recognized along their various branches. So I created the SAPP tool to help automate and visualize the likely trees that fit all the available data, including any known relationships through traditional genealogy research. Now I split most of my genealogy time between the Vance Family Association and the blog, helping other Vance DNA researchers, and tailoring the SAPP tool and helping other projects use it. 

What will you be talking about? 

I’ll be talking about how to combine available STR, SNP, and genealogy data to build a Y-DNA descendant tree, and how doing that through SAPP (http://www.jdvtools.com/sapp) can automate the process so users can focus more on the results. While the topic isn’t restricted to Irish genealogy, with the heavy amount of Y-DNA testing that has been done on the Irish diaspora it is particularly relevant to Y-haplogroups of Irish origin ... like my own! 

SAPP has proved very useful in helping me and admins on other projects automate the more manual tasks of charting Y-DNA relationships between groups of men based on STR, SNP and genealogy data. In my talk I will show how the tool can help speed up this analysis for any project or really any group of tested men, and turn what today for most of us is a very time-consuming and laborious process into an opportunity to quickly model various relationship scenarios to find the most likely descendant tree that fits all the available data. SAPP is perhaps the only available tool that combines all three sources of information (STR, SNP, and traditional genealogy), and it’s free and comparatively easy to use and understand. 

But rather than plugging a tool the session is more about how to build a Y-DNA descendant tree using available data - the tool just simplifies the process so we can focus on the results. So instead of just talking about how a tool works, I’ll cover why and under what conditions SAPP is most useful, and the pros and cons of using automated methods. I will discuss the current state of STR, SNP, and genealogy data and how they will likely change in future. I will compare examples of trees under varying degrees of uncertainty, and show how to use those uncertainties to prioritize further testing. I’ll talk about how SAPP produces TMRCAs for the tree’s branching points and whether they’re really useful. I’ll review what the tool DOESN’T do, and under what scenarios that’s important. And along the way I want to use the example of this tool to prompt some discussion about how to use the data we have available to us and the kinds of tools we need in the genetic genealogy community.

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

The DNA Lecture Schedule for GGI2017

The theme for this year's DNA Lecture schedule at Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2017 focuses on "Connecting with our Roots", whether they be in Ireland, in Europe, or beyond. There have been several seminal pieces of work in this regard that are particularly relevant to this year's theme, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland's research on the Irish Traveller's and the Irish DNA Atlas project. The latter promises to raise questions about our distant Irish roots that may up-end many the theories about who we are and where we came from.

Click to enlarge

Connecting with our roots extends beyond Ireland to include the DNA of Ancient Europeans (Eppie Jones, Trinity College Dublin) as well as an associated presentation from Prof. Dan Bradley. And of particular interest will be the incredible work that Iceland has done on genotyping virtually the entire population of the country (Prof Gisli Palsson), the power of mitochondrial DNA for Swedish research (Peter Sjölund) and the DNA of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade.

There will also be a host of presentations aimed at the absolute beginner and those who have already taken a DNA test and want to learn more about interpreting their results and maximising their usefulness to their own particular family tree research. Many of the most eminent names in genetic genealogy internationally will be in attendance as well as those with a specific Irish focus.

So there will be something for everyone. And there will be a special Ask the Experts session where you can pitch any question you like to our panel of genetic genealogy experts.

These lectures are free and are open to everyone so be sure to come early to reserve your seat. Most of them will be recorded for the GGI YouTube Channel which currently boasts 71 videos with a total viewing audience of over 135,000.

Looking forward to seeing you for the 3 days of the conference at the RDS, 20-22 October 2017.

Let's connect with our roots!

Maurice Gleeson

Oct 2017

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).

This year, the four lectures on Friday afternoon were made possible by the kind support of CITIGEN, a HERA Project. CITIGEN is an international collaborative research project that looks at the uses of modern and ancient genomic data in shaping public understandings of the past and our individual and collective identities. 

ISOGG Day Out 2017

Once again, Gerard Corcoran (ISOGG Ireland Representative) has organised a fantastic agenda for our traditional ISOGG Day Out on the Monday after the conference (i.e. Monday Oct 23rd). This year we are visiting the two major universities in Dublin - Trinity College & University College. The agenda includes tours of their respective DNA Laboratories as well as the Irish Folklore Commission and some Ancient Irish Manuscripts.

Places are limited to only 20 people and the GGI2017 speakers and volunteers on the FTDNA stand get first pick. Any places left available after that will be available on a first-come first served basis to ISOGG members. If you would like to be considered for a place among the Lucky 20, please leave your details in the comments section below. There may be some future changes to the agenda (due to unforeseen circumstances) but such changes are not currently anticipated.

Trinity College Dublin - Campus Visit

9:00 Assemble at the Front Gates (position 2, on the left in the map below)

Guided Tour of Campus by Trinity Tours. The tour will cover the following points of interest:

1. Front gates
2. Parliament Square
3. Library Square
4. Campanile
5. Fellows Square
6. Old Library
7. Book of Kells
8. Botany Bay
9. New Square
10. College Park
11. Science Gallery
12. Beyond 2022, The Virtual Records Memory
13. Smurfit Institute of Genetics

See this link for more information ... https://www.pinterest.ie/gerardcorcoran/trinity-college-dublin/

12.00 Quick lunch in the University restaurant or a nearby cafe


12:30 Transfer to University College Dublin Belfield Campus (either by taxi or 46A bus)


14:00 Assemble at Ardmore House (4, in section 8C below, beside the Car Park)

(click to enlarge)

The guided tour will include the following points of interest:

1. Ardmore House
2. Newman Building
3. Irish Folklore Collection
4. UCD Special Collections
5. UCD Archives
6. UCD Science Center
7. Insight Center for Data Analytics
8. UCD Conway Institute
9. Ancient DNA Lab
10. Genomics Medicine Ireland

Detailed Agenda

14:00 ... Greeted on arrival at Ardmore House Carpark by John Barry, Director of Major Strategic Partnerships

14:00 ... Walk to UCD Newman Building, F001 - F005

14:05 ... Irish Folklore Collection, with Críostoír Mac Cárthaigh (F001 - F005 Newman Building)

14:25 ... Walk to UCD James Joyce Library

14:30 ... Ancient Irish Manuscripts from the UCD Library Special Collections, with Evelyn Flanagan & Kate Manning (UCD Archives)

14:50 ... Refreshments at UCD Library

15:20 ... Walk to UCD O’Brien Centre for Science

15:30 ... Ron Pinhasi Ancient DNA Lab (3rd Floor, Science Centre)

15:50 ... Insight Centre for Data Analytics, with Peter Fitzpatrick (3rd Floor, Science Centre)

16:10 ... Walk to UCD Conway Building

16:15 ... Genomics Medicine Ireland, with Dr. Sean Ennis

See this link for more information ... https://www.pinterest.ie/gerardcorcoran/university-college-dublin/


18:00 Transfer to City Center

19:00 Dinner KaShing, 12a Wicklow Street (yellow star in the bottom left below)




And a very sincere thank you to our sponsors for the ISOGG Day Out 2017 ...

LivingDNA offer a single test that covers Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA & autosomal DNA. Their "population admixture" tool incorporates data from the People of the British Isles Project. You can read Debbie Kennett's blog post about the company here.

Toolbox Genomics is a company that analyses your DNA results and makes diet & lifestyle recommendations that may help reduce your risk of chronic conditions

Eppie Jones - Speaker Profile

Title of Presentation: Ancient DNA and the Genetic History of Europeans

Biography

I have a B.A. and Ph.D. and I am a Herchel Smith Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin

I perform research using ancient DNA with the aim of trying to get a better understanding of the genetic history of Europeans. This often involves bringing genetic data together with information from archaeology, anthropology and earth sciences.

What will you be talking about? 

The ability to recover DNA from ancient human remains is transforming our understanding of the past. In this presentation we will look at how information from millenia-old bones is harnessed and what we can learn from studies using ancient DNA. In particular, we will explore how events which happened thousands of years ago have shaped the genes and traits of people living in Europe today.

This year, the four lectures on Friday afternoon (including Eppie's lecture) were made possible by the kind support of CITIGEN, a HERA Project. CITIGEN is an international collaborative research project that looks at the uses of modern and ancient genomic data in shaping public understandings of the past and our individual and collective identities. 

Further Information about Eppie

Journal articles ... https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xMcRKnEAAAAJ&hl=en

Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin ... http://www.gen.tcd.ie/molpopgen/eppie.php

These lectures are sponsored by FamilyTreeDNA and organised by volunteers from ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy).