PALAEONTOLOGY[online]

Tag: Sarah King

This year, Sarah completed a PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK, and the National Museum Wales, where she studied the biogeography of Palaeozoic wetland plant communities from the ancient European and Chinese landmasses. Her research covers ecological, evolutionary and migrational processes, as well as the quality of the fossil record. She also has an MSc in palaeobiology from the University of Bristol, UK, and an MSci in geoscience from Royal Holloway, University of London.

She is particularly interested in the accessibility and utility of geological and natural history museum collections, having used many around the world — from Chicago, Illinois, to Beijing — in the course of her research. Sarah has volunteered at museums for many years, including the Lapworth Museum of Geology in Birmingham and the Bristol City Museum, and is keen to promote the value of collections and palaeontology to all.

Contact Details:

Dr. Sarah King, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.

by Sarah King*1 Introduction: If you’re visiting this website, the chances are that you’re interested in palaeontology, perhaps even as a career. However, to someone who is not yet in academia, it may be difficult to imagine how to embark on such a career path, and the world of science can seem strange and inaccessible. Even though this perception is beginning to change, as science becomes more entrenched in the public consciousness — by means of popular television and radio programmes, among other things — and the public rightly demands to know where its money is being spent, the process of becoming a professional scientist and the day-to-day routine of a palaeontologist are still generally unknown to the majority of people. This article aims, in some small way, to rectify this. It w...