Profile

I am Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life (ICAL) at the University of Manchester (UK). I have sustained a productive career, both as a scientist and as an active communicator of the science. My research is a natural extension of my curiosity and ability to ask new and challenging questions, often from disparate disciplines to my own field. The public engagement of science has never been a bolt-on activity for my research, but a central philosophy that has guided and complemented my work. I work hard to integrate the latest scientific discoveries within my public lectures, exhibits and outreach activities throughout the globe.

A pivotal theme of my research is the study the multiple contemporary problems of natural-resource conservation and environmental quality and how they relate to the history of life on Earth. My work explores both the past and present interactions of processes that integrate the four terrestrial spheres: lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. My team and I have developed a productive research programme that exploits the hindsight that the fossil record uniquely provides. Field exploration of the Earth’s prehistoric past has been central to my career. In the past 25 years I has excavated the fossil remains of dinosaurs and associated beasties from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana (USA). I have also led successful palaeontological expeditions to sites in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

In 2013 I was appointed as the Science and Technology Research Council (STFC) Science in Society Fellow, so as to further promote science and technology to as wide an audience as possible.

I regularly update my ‘Dinosaur CSI’ blog  on our work, research and exploration (http://dinosaursabbatical.blogspot.co.uk/).

I feel lucky that almost every day brings new fun and challenges. The research group in which I work is broad and offers so many different ways to approach the study of life on Earth.