Find Academic Supervisors

Matthew Wills is Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Bath. He is affiliated with the Milner Centre for Evolution and the Centre for Mathematical Biology, where he leads research into macroevolutionary processes using fossil and molecular data. His work integrates phylogenetics, morphological disparity, and stratigraphic congruence to understand large-scale evolutionary patterns. His research interests focus on the role of fossils in building phylogenies, the evolution of morphological complexity, and the testing of macroevolutionary trends such as early high disparity and increasing complexity. He investigates how developmental shifts underpin major evolutionary transitions and how fossilization biases affect our understanding of the Tree of Life. His lab conducts projects on arthropod supertrees, molluscan ontogeny, and the phylogeny of Eumalacostraca using molecules, morphology, and fossils. His recent publications reveal a strong focus on quantifying morphological complexity, vertebral evolution in mammals, species richness in birds, and the impact of boundaries on trait evolution. These works frequently appear in high-impact journals like Nature Communications and Nature Ecology & Evolution , indicating a trend toward integrative, data-rich evolutionary analyses combining paleontological, morphological, and phylogenomic approaches. Principal Investigator, Biodiversity and The Sixth Mass Extinction (Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851) Principal Investigator, Susceptibility to Mass Extinctions: Ammonites as a Case Study (NERC) Principal Investigator, PLUTO Project (BBSRC) Principal Investigator, Arthropod Supertree of Life (BBSRC) He has supervised 17 research students and contributes to public discourse through platforms like The Conversation . His work supports UN Sustainable Development Goals related to life on land and climate action through deep-time biodiversity research.

• Evolutionary Palaeobiology
• Macroevolution
• Phylogenetics
• +12 more

Alex Liu is a Researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences within the University of Cambridge. He specializes in palaeobiology , focusing on the origin and early evolution of animals, particularly the Ediacaran biota (~579–539 million years ago), and their co-evolution with Earth's environment. Research Focus: Refines understanding of animal body plan evolution, taphonomy, sedimentology, and macroevolutionary trends. Methodologies: Combines fieldwork, experimental studies, petrology, phylogenetics, and big-data analyses. Collaborations: Works with international museums and research teams on fossil sites in Namibia, Canada, and Brazil. Additional Interests: Explores meiofaunal evolution, paleogeography, paleoclimate, and conservation paleobiology. He supervises Cambridge NERC Doctoral Landscape Awards (DLA) projects and welcomes student contributions to taxonomic, paleoecological, and analytical studies.

• Paleobiology
• Early Animal Evolution
• Ediacaran Biota
• +8 more

Roger Benson is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford specializing in paleontology and evolutionary biology. His research integrates fossil discovery, 3D morphometric analysis, and quantitative macroevolutionary studies to investigate vertebrate evolution across deep time, with particular expertise in dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and early synapsids. His primary research domains include: Phylogenetic Paleobiology : Resolving evolutionary relationships in key vertebrate clades using cladistic methods and fossil data Macroevolutionary Dynamics : Analyzing large-scale patterns of morphological diversity and species richness over 100+ million years Earth-Life Interactions : Quantifying links between environmental change, rock record biases, and biodiversity patterns using multivariate statistics Extant-Fossil Integration : Applying anatomical datasets from living species to test ecological hypotheses about extinct organisms Recent publications reveal consistent methodological innovation through synchrotron imaging, computational morphometrics, and big-data approaches to evolutionary questions. His work demonstrates how quantitative analysis of anatomical variation can resolve long-standing debates in vertebrate phylogeny while revealing fundamental principles of adaptive radiation. Though no specific awards are documented in the source material, Benson's research impact is evidenced by publications in premier journals including Nature, Science, and PNAS, reflecting significant contributions to evolutionary science. Benson actively mentors graduate students and leads international collaborations, as demonstrated by multi-institutional projects on Permian-Triassic extinction dynamics and dinosaur sensory evolution. His research group bridges field paleontology with computational biology to address fundamental questions in vertebrate evolution. Based within Oxford's Earth Sciences framework, his work leverages advanced imaging facilities and computational resources for fossil analysis and evolutionary modeling, contributing to the university's leadership in paleobiological research.

• Palaeontology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Phylogenetics
• +4 more

Prof Paul Upchurch is a Professor of Palaeobiology at University College London's Department of Earth Sciences. His research focuses on vertebrate systematics and evolution, particularly dinosaurs (including sauropods, pterosaurs, and theropods), Mesozoic ecosystems, and biogeographic patterns. He teaches courses such as GEOL009 Vertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution and GEOL0021 Biodiversity and Macroevolutionary Patterns. His work integrates phylogenetic methods with analyses of fossil record quality to address macroevolutionary questions, including dinosaur origins, Cretaceous-Paleogene biotic turnovers, and latitudinal biodiversity gradients. Key contributions involve revising sauropod diversity in the Hateg Island, exploring Osedax interactions with marine reptiles, and evaluating sampling biases in ceratopsid phylogenies. Prof Upchurch collaborates extensively on global sauropod studies, with recent projects in Romania, China, and Australia. He leads the Vertebrate Palaeontology research group at UCL and actively publishes in high-impact journals like Nature and Palaeontology . His research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, combining morphological analysis with computational biogeography models to reconstruct ancient ecosystems. Ongoing projects address sauropod feeding adaptations and the impact of environmental changes on Mesozoic vertebrate diversity.

• Paleontology
• Dinosaur Systematics
• Phylogenetics
• +4 more

Daniel Field is a vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist affiliated with both the Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He oversees the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology’s extensive ornithology collections and the Cambridge Biotomography Centre , a high-resolution microCT scanning facility. His research focuses on macroevolutionary transitions in birds and other vertebrates, particularly their survival and diversification after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction. Key Research Areas: Avian biodiversity origins Evolutionary morphology Phylogenetic and divergence time analysis Developmental mechanisms of flightlessness Mass extinction impacts on vertebrates His lab employs digital morphology, geometric morphometrics, phylogenetics, and embryology. He collaborates with institutions like Yale University and the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. Field’s work bridges fossil data with molecular and anatomical studies to resolve evolutionary mysteries.

• Paleontology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Macroevolutionary Transitions
• +6 more

Dr. Jeff Thompson is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at the University of Southampton. He holds a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and a Newton International Fellowship. His research integrates molecular biology, developmental biology, and paleontology to study animal evolution, focusing on echinoderms as a model system. Education: PhD in Geology from the University of Southern California (201?), postdoctoral positions at Baylor University and University College London, and a short tenure at The Natural History Museum in London. Research interests include: evolution of body plans, macroevolutionary processes, molecular palaeobiology, biomineralisation, and taphonomic biases in the fossil record. Current projects involve 3D morphometrics of sea urchins, gene expression studies in skeletogenesis, and climate change impacts on marine organisms. Scientific awards include the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and Newton International Fellowship. Supervises 7 PhD students across Biological Sciences and INSPIRE programs. Labs/Teams: Affiliated with the Institute for Life Sciences, Ecology & Evolution, and Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.

• Evolution of animal body plans
• Macroevolution
• Molecular Palaeobiology
• +2 more

Dr. Katrina Jones is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Presidential Fellow at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on the anatomy and evolution of the mammal skeleton, particularly the axial skeleton's functional and evolutionary adaptations. She holds a PhD in Functional Anatomy and Evolution from Johns Hopkins University and conducted NSF-funded postdoctoral research at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. Her expertise spans mammalian evolution, comparative anatomy, palaeontology, and zoology. Key projects include examining vertebral function in early mammals and the evolutionary origins of locomotor patterns. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams, including the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (ICAL) and the 'Evolutionary mechanisms and dynamics' project. Awards include the American Association of Anatomy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018), Romer Prize (2014), and Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2020). Her work integrates biomechanical experiments, digital modeling (e.g., AutoBend software), and fossil analysis to explore how vertebral structure influences evolutionary trajectories. She serves as an editor for Zoology and has published extensively on axial regionalization, functional morphology, and evolutionary constraints in mammals and extinct species.

• Mammalian Evolution
• Comparative Anatomy
• Palaeontology
• +4 more

Alison Eyres is a Researcher at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, and a College Research Associate at Emmanuel College. Her work focuses on understanding biodiversity dynamics through macroecology and evolutionary ecology. PhD in Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Frankfurt) Alison’s research spans macroecology , evolutionary ecology , and conservation biology , with an emphasis on how climatic niches and human disturbances affect avian and mammalian species. She integrates climate data with evolutionary patterns to assess long-term biodiversity responses. Her recent publications highlight trends in agricultural impacts on biodiversity , trait-based vulnerability assessments , and policy frameworks like biodiversity credits and planetary computing . These works address urgent conservation challenges, such as land-use change and species extinction drivers . Alison collaborates with the Conservation Research Institute to advance data-driven environmental policy and sustainable land-use strategies.

• Macroecology
• Evolutionary Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• +3 more

Dr Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill is a Lecturer at the School of Life Sciences, University of Essex , with a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. She holds a PhD in Palaeobiology from the University of Cambridge (2011), an MSc in Palaeobiology (University of Bristol, 2007), and a BSc in Zoology (University of Bristol, 2005). Her research focuses on: Biological machine learning : Applying computational methods to life sciences Computational palaeobiology : Quantifying evolutionary history Evolutionary convergence : Measuring repeated evolutionary patterns Ediacaran palaeoecology : Studying Earth's earliest macro-organisms Her current projects include machine learning on butterfly phenotypes and computational analysis of the fossil record . She has received the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and presented at conferences including the Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting and Open University Geological Society AGM . She supervises PhD student Benjamin James Calvert and collaborates with institutions like the Earth Life Science Institute at Tokyo Institute of Technology .

• Biological machine learning
• Computational palaeobiology
• Evolutionary convergence
• +1 more

Gavin Thomas is a Professor of Macroevolution at the School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield , where he has held Royal Society Research Fellowships since 2015 and NERC Postdoctoral Fellowships earlier. His research explores how phylogenetic relationships among species inform patterns of biodiversity through time. Current affiliations : Royal Society Research Fellow, University of Sheffield Historical affiliations : NERC Postdoctoral Fellow (Sheffield, Bristol), Postdoctoral Associate (Imperial College London) Thomas’s research combines macroevolutionary modeling with extensive empirical datasets, including a citizen science project analyzing bird bill shapes and a plumage evolution study . His work integrates phylogenetic trees, trait data, and biogeographic patterns to address: How species and traits diversify over evolutionary timescales The role of tempo and mode in diversification Impacts of climate, ecology, and social behavior on avian evolution His recent publications focus on avian coloration, bill morphology, and functional trait divergence , with methodological contributions to phylogenetic software like PASTIS and MOTMOT . Key collaborations include the Natural History Museum and Royal Society -funded projects. Notable scientific awards include: Royal Society University Research Fellowship Royal Society Research Fellowship NERC Postdoctoral Fellowships Thomas has mentored over a dozen PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, including current students Yichen He and Emma Hughes . His lab alumni include Jen Bright (now Assistant Professor at University of South Florida) and Mark Puttick (Royal Commission 1851 Fellow).

• Macroevolution
• Phylogenetics
• Biodiversity
• +3 more

Thomas J. Smith is a Stipendiary Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and a Postdoctoral Research Assistant affiliated with Exeter College. His research focuses on computational palaeobiology, integrating traditional methods with simulation tools to address gaps in the fossil record. Current research priorities include the Bivalve-Brachiopod transition, the Cambrian explosion, and eukaryotic morphological disparity. He holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Bristol (2018-2022), supervised by Professors Philip C. J. Donoghue and Davide Pisani, alongside an MSci in Marine Biology (First Class) from the University of Southampton (2012-2016). His teaching spans palaeobiology, marine biology, and R programming. Smith develops novel analytical techniques such as TREvoSim v3, an individual-based evolutionary simulation tool. His work highlights how fossilization biases affect disparity analyses and explores ecosystem engineering impacts via eco-evolutionary simulations. Recent studies reveal functional convergence in crocodile-line archosaurs and demonstrate how phylogenetic sampling influences morphological disparity interpretations. His research bridges computational modeling with empirical paleontological data, addressing foundational questions in macroevolutionary patterns and processes.

• Computational Palaeobiology
• Biodiversity Patterns
• Morphological Disparity Analysis
• +3 more

Dr. Michael Kaminski serves as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. His academic career spans several decades with significant contributions to micropaleontology, particularly in the study of foraminifera. His research bridges geological time scales with modern environmental analysis, focusing on both fossil and living specimens across diverse marine environments worldwide. His educational background includes: B.A. in Geology from Rutgers University (1979) M.Sc. in Slavic Studies from Rutgers University (1979) M.Sc. in Geology from Jagiellonian University (1981) Ph.D. in Oceanography from the WHOI/MIT Joint Program (1987) Dr. Kaminski's research centers on the taxonomy, evolution, and paleoenvironmental applications of benthic foraminifera. His work encompasses biostratigraphy, paleoceanography, and paleoclimatology with particular emphasis on high-latitude regions and the Tethyan realm. Recent research demonstrates growing focus on the Arabian Gulf's extreme environments and how foraminifera respond to climate stressors. His studies integrate morphological analysis with geochemical and ecological approaches to understand both ancient and modern marine systems. Analysis of his recent publications reveals strong thematic continuity in foraminiferal research with increasing attention to climate change impacts on marine microfossil communities. His work spans taxonomic descriptions of new species, biostratigraphic applications, and environmental studies in challenging settings like hypersaline and high-temperature environments. The geographic scope covers the Arabian Gulf, Indonesian seas, Antarctic regions, and deep-sea environments globally. Dr. Kaminski has made significant contributions to the field through his extensive publication record spanning multiple decades, with recent work showing continued productivity and relevance to contemporary environmental challenges. His research bridges fundamental taxonomy with applied paleoenvironmental analysis. His teaching interests include Geosciences Report, Biodiversity and Macroevolutionary Patterns, Earth and Planetary System Science, Palaeoceanography, and palaeoclimatology, though specific teaching responsibilities are not detailed in the available materials.

• Paleontology
• Micropaleontology
• Foraminiferal Taxonomy
• +5 more

Dr. Katie E. Davis is a Lecturer in Palaeobiology at the University of York’s Department of Biology. Her research focuses on evolutionary patterns and processes in biodiversity over deep time, integrating macroevolution and macroecology. She investigates how organisms respond to environmental changes, with particular interests in vertebrates, coral reefs, and insects. Key collaborations include projects on parrot conservation, dinosaur evolution, and disparity methods in palaeobiology. Her work emphasizes the role of the geological record as a natural laboratory for understanding climate-driven biodiversity shifts. Notable projects include studies on hermit crab diversification linked to global cooling and mosquito speciation tied to elevated CO2 levels. Methodologically, Davis develops phylogenetic supertrees and time-scaling techniques to reconstruct evolutionary histories. Teaching focuses on palaeobiology, ecology, and computational biology, emphasizing critical thinking and real-world problem-solving. Students explore topics like mass extinctions, climate change impacts, and vertebrate diversification through student-led activities and data-driven projects. Publications span over 20 peer-reviewed articles, including high-impact works in Nature Communications and Communications Biology . Her research bridges past and present, offering insights into contemporary biodiversity challenges such as climate change and conservation prioritization.

• Palaeobiology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Biodiversity
• +3 more

Professor Nicholas J. Butterfield is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the early diversification of eukaryotic life, particularly the Proterozoic record of protistan clades and the Ediacaran-Cambrian explosion of animals. He investigates the macroecological and macroevolutionary shift between Earth's microbial-dominated early history and the Phanerozoic macroscopic world. Research interests include Proterozoic microfossil assemblages from Arctic Canada, Montana, and Svalbard; Cambrian Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs); and taphonomic processes affecting exceptional fossil preservation. Collaborations include work with Peter Adamson (Doushantuo-type microfossils in Norway) and Emily Mitchell (Ediacaran/Avalonian macrofossils). His studies explore biogeochemical feedbacks and the top-down ecological impacts of early animals, challenging traditional oxygen-driven evolutionary models. Techniques involve advanced scanning and analytical methods for fossil analysis. Affiliated with the Department's Geobiology and Earth History research group. Based at Downing Street, Cambridge, he contributes to the Bullard Laboratories and teaches within the Earth Sciences undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

• Palaeobiology
• Proterozoic eukaryote evolution
• Cambrian Explosion
• +3 more

Prof Philip Mannion is a Professor and Royal Society Research Fellow at University College London's Department of Earth Sciences. His research focuses on the macroevolutionary history of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly sauropod dinosaurs and crocodiles, over the last 250 million years. He combines anatomical studies of fossils with quantitative dataset analysis to explore biodiversity patterns and their relationships with climatic changes. Key research themes include understanding how paleoclimates influenced ancient biodiversity distributions, resolving fossil record biases, and applying conservation paleobiology principles. He teaches courses such as Advanced Biodiversity and Macroevolutionary Studies and Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. His work has been featured in media like BBC Radio 4's Meet Dr Phil Mannion | The Evolution of Crocodiles . Research Group: Vertebrate Paleontology Awards: Royal Society Research Fellowship Recent studies emphasize sauropod diversity in Cretaceous ecosystems, crocodyliform adaptations, and the impact of mass extinctions. His publications highlight innovations in fossil analysis techniques, such as using gut contents to infer dinosaur diets and integrating taphonomy with phylogenetics.

• Paleobiology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Biodiversity Studies
• +3 more