Emilia Jarochowska

Dr. Emilia Jarochowska is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences, specializing in Stratigraphy & paleontology. She holds a habilitation in Palaeontology from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (2021) and a PhD in the same field from the same institution (2015).

Her expertise spans multiple disciplines within Earth sciences:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Paleoecology
• Geological Time Scales
• Biomineralisation
• Paleo-Environmental Reconstruction
• Stratigraphy

Dr. Jarochowska's research focuses on "stratigraphic palaeobiology," investigating how the geological record preserves information about environmental and biological processes across timescales beyond human observation. Her work demonstrates that several extinction events were artifacts best explained by the physical structure of the geological record. She specializes in studying conodonts (extinct microorganisms that were the first vertebrates to evolve skeletons) to understand evolutionary processes. Her ERC Starting Grant project "MindTheGap" aims to quantify the completeness of the stratigraphic record and its role in reconstructing evolutionary patterns.

Dr. Jarochowska has received significant recognition for her work, including:

• ERC Starting Grant (2022)
• Hodson Award (December 2024)

She actively serves the scientific community as Titular Member and Secretary of the International Subcommission of Silurian Stratigraphy (2024-2028), former Newsletter Editor and Council Member of the Palaeontological Association (2020-2023), and Associate Editor at PALAIOS since 2019. Her public engagement includes developing science communication initiatives such as the "Geology of the Tour de France" and creating educational content for events like "Science is Wonderful 2025" in Brussels.