Mark Sutton

Dr. Mark Sutton is a Professor in Palaeontology at the Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, within the Faculty of Engineering. His research focuses on palaeobiology, evolutionary processes, and computational techniques in Earth Sciences, including three-dimensional fossil reconstruction and applications of artificial intelligence. He holds affiliations with the Grantham Institute and the Life past and present initiative.

Education: BA from Churchill College, Cambridge (1992), PhD from University of Wales, Cardiff (1996). Professional roles include Senior Lecturer (2009–present) and Lecturer (2005–2009) at Imperial College. His work integrates virtual palaeontology tools such as SPIERS, advancing methodologies for fossil analysis. He has supervised PhD student Dominic Bennett (2013) and contributed to notable studies on Silurian Lagerstätten, including discoveries of fossilized soft tissues and parasitic relationships.

Research interests span evolutionary biology, computational modelling, and the application of advanced imaging to understand ancient life. His contributions to understanding arthropod evolution, mollusc anatomy, and fossil preservation have been widely recognized. Sutton’s lab and collaborations emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to paleontology and geoscience.