University of Birmingham

Senior Research Technician | Jan 2023 – Jul 2023

Image by Marc Jones.

Five months after my graduation ceremony, I was approached by two of my mentors, Richard Butler and Kirsty Edgar, to undertake a seven-month NERC contract with the university as a Senior Research Technician. During this time, I helped to design a metric to assess the scientific value of fossils, using ichthyosaurs from the Lower Jurassic of Southern England as a case study. To do this, we decided to assess each specimen in terms of metadata completeness, skeletal completeness, skeletal articulation, and phylogenetic character completeness. This work built upon a previous thesis undertaken by Francesca Franklin and endeavoured to capture a large dataset (over 460 specimens) across public and private collections.

The glass was so reflective, I couldn’t help but get a little artistic.
Analysing specimens on display at the British Museum. Image by Marc Jones.
Photographing specimens on display at the NHM. Image by Marc Jones.
Photographing specimens on display at the NHM. Image by Marc Jones.
The holotype of Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus held at the NHM.
Partial ichthyosaur jaws held at Bridport Museum.
An Ichthyosaurus communis held at Dorset Museum.

I travelled to London for four weeks, where with the expertise of Marc Jones and Mike Day, I recorded >300 ichthyosaur specimens held at the Natural History Museum and the British Museum. For a further two weeks, I visited Dorset to assess 83 ichthyosaur specimens held across Bridport Museum, Dorset Museum, Sidmouth Museum, and Lyme Regis Museum, with the help of Tegwyn Jones, Emma Luckraft, Jenny Cripps, Paul Tomlinson, Elizabeth Selby, Colin Boynton, and Paul Davis. Across museums, displayed specimens couldn’t be removed from their cabinets (except at Sidmouth Museum), and in the NHM galleries, Paul Kavanagh provided a lift to access the specimens high on the wall. These specimens were then verified and their information developed using the collections management systems or knowledge of the curators at each institution.

While in Dorset, I also met with Phil Davidson of Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre and Chris Reedman of the Jurassic Coast Trust, who arranged for me to interview several private collectors, where I assessed a further 81 ichthyosaurus.

Through this project, I have expanded my network significantly and met an eclectic range of colleagues and friends. My thanks to them all.

This project will feature in an upcoming publication.