If you are interested in Ediacaran research and would like to discuss potential avenues for a future PhD in this area, please get in touch. Opportunities for PhD projects for October 2024 entry at the University of Cambridge can be found here: https://nercdtp.esc.cam.ac.uk/programme/biology-and-conservation
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Postdoctoral Researchers Dr Brennan O'Connell (2022-Present) Brennan is a PDRA on our Leverhulme Research Project Grant exploring the environmental context for an end-Ediacaran mass extinction. She is a sedimentary geologist and stratigrapher who joined us following her PhD at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her role on the Leverhulme project involves reconstructing the depositional environments in which Ediacaran organisms lived, specifically in the Nama Group of Namibia. She also has expertise in Neoproterozoic carbonate environments, and tidal sedimentation. Doctoral Students Katie Delahooke (2020 - Present) Katie joined the group following a combined Geology/Biology degree at the University of St. Andrews, and is investigating various aspects of the palaeoecology of the smallest Ediacaran macrofossils (sub-3cm) from fossil assemblages in Newfoundland, Canada. She is co-supervised by Dr Emily Mitchell (Cambridge), and funded by a NERC C-CLEAR DTP studentship. Philip Vixseboxse (2021 - Present) Phil joined the group following completion of his Geology undergraduate and Palaeobiology Masters degrees at the University of Bristol. His work investigates the mechanisms by which Ediacaran organisms were fossilized, and he uses experimental and petrological approaches to tackle this question. Phil is co-supervised by Dr Sean McMahon (Edinburgh), and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Catherine Boddy (2021 - Present) Cat completed her Earth Sciences (Natural Sciences Tripos) undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge, and is currently undertaking a research project to reconstruct the depositional environments of Avalonian shallow marine settings in the late Ediacaran Period. Her research involves facies analysis and documentation of palaeobiological data, to determine the environmental controls on the spatial and temporal distribution of Ediacaran taxa. She is co-supervised by Dr Brennan O'Connell and Dr William McMahon (both Cambridge), and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Masters Students Iris Powell (2023 - Present) Iris' project is exploring the palaeolatitudinal distribution of earliest Cambrian macrofossils, to determine the extent to which latitude influences the observed pattern of fossil occurrence across the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary. Buck Blake (2023 - Present) Buck is investigating the taxonomy and morphology of a new assemblage of tubular body fossils from the late Ediacaran of Namibia. Elkan Utoni (2023 - Present) Elkan is a MSc student at the University of Namibia (UNAM), and is completing a two-year MSc degree in Geology. His research project, co-supervised with Dr Collen-Issia Uahengo of UNAM, is investigating the palaeoecology of matground fossil assemblages from the Nama Group of southern Namibia. |
Former students
Dr Ben Tindal (2018 - 2022, PhD student) Ben's project investigated the geological record of ice through time, with a specific focus on Neoproterozoic sedimentary successions in Newfoundland and the UK, and a synthesis of global data concerning the timing of past glaciations. His project was co-supervised by Dr Neil Davies (Cambridge), and funded by a NERC C-CLEAR DTP / CASE+ studentship. Ben passed his PhD viva in October 2022, and now works for Natural England. Dr Frankie Dunn (2015 - 2019, PhD student) Frankie explored the development and morphogenesis of Ediacaran frondose macro-organisms, enabling improved constraint of their phylogenetic affinities within the Metazoa. Papers published during her PhD include a review of Ediacaran developmental biology, and detailed studies of the fossils Charnia and Arborea. She completed her degree in May 2019, and has moved to Oxford Museum of Natural History to take up both an 1851 Fellowship, and a Junior Research Fellowship from Merton College. Frankie was co-supervised by Prof. Phil Donoghue (University of Bristol), and Dr Phil Wilby (British Geological Survey), and funded by a NERC GW4 DTP / CASE+ studentship. Catherine Boddy (2019 - 2020, MESc student) Cat investigated the palaeogeographic distribution of the Ediacaran macrobiota, exploring the possibility of whether a latitudinal biodiversity gradient existed during the late Ediacaran Period. Her results were published in the Journal of the Geological Society. Anna McGairy (2019 - 2020, MESc student) Anna's project characterised two new species of rangeomorph from the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, using multivariate morphometric analyses and study of ontogeny to distinguish these taxa from previously known species. She was co-supervised by Dr Charlotte Kenchington, and is now a PhD student at the University of Leicester. Erin Leahy (2019 - 2020, MESc student) Erin applied Spatial Point Process Analyses to explore the dominant morphological traits ('super-traits') that control the composition and dynamics of Ediacaran benthic communities. Her project was co-supervised by Dr Emily Mitchell. Alavya Dhungana (2018 - 2019, MESc student) Alavya studied the spatial distributions and taphonomy of the Ediacaran discoidal fossil Aspidella from Newfoundland, Canada, to test the hypothesis that they represent the holdfast discs of frondose organisms, in a project co-supervised by Dr Emily Mitchell (University of Cambridge). He has since moved to Durham University to undertake a MRes, and more recently a PhD, in Palaeobiology. Christos Psarras (2015, MSc student) Christos investigated the 3-dimensional nature of material from Siberia claimed to be the oldest evidence for bioturbation on Earth (Rogov et al., 2012). He compared this material to tubular body fossils from latest Ediacaran strata in Spain, to resolve previous suggestions that the Siberian material may alternatively record body fossil assemblages (cf. Brasier et al., 2013). Christos was co-supervised by Prof. Phil Donoghue (University of Bristol) and Dr Dima Grazhdankin (IPGG, Novosibirsk). He has recently completed a PhD project on Cenozoic molluscs at the University of Athens. |