Current Lab Members
Post-docs and Research Fellows
Oliver Demuth (Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Biomechanics). Oliver holds a PhD on fossil birds from the University of Cambridge. Oliver has worked with CT scans of Mesozoic archosaurs and Cenozoic birds, and on 3D simulations within Maya. My main research focuses on functional morphology, biomechanics and locomotion of archosaurs, as well as 3D modelling techniques. Google Scholar Profile.
Ben Griffin (Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Biomechanics).
Ben comes from New Zealand and completed BSc and MSc at the University of Canterbury. Ben then did a PhD at Bristol, quantitatively comparing pterosaur take-off hypotheses using range of motion and musculoskeletal modelling. Ben followed PhD with a post-doc at Bristol investigating the changes in shark jaw morphology through time. Google Scholar Profile
Technical Staff
Natasha Prescott (Research Support Assistant – Palaeontology).
BSc Zoology, Manchester Metropolitan University, First Class. Dissertation in exploring traits linked with extinction risk in Dasyurid marsupials. Developed a keen interest in biomechanics, anatomy and evolution. Worked on projects looking at baculum morphology variation and using MRI to visualise architecture of fish body muscles.
Post-graduates (PhD + MPhil)
Andrew Burgess: (PhD): Computational and physical modelling of the physics of powder flow during additive manufacturing (Start Jan 2021)
Andrew has an MEng in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (first class) from LJMU. He is bringing his experience of additive manufacturing, and computational methods to exploring particle dynamics in powder-based AM.
Rab Smyth (PhD, University of Leciester, co-supervised): ‘Pteraichnites’ and their implications for pterosaur terrestrial palaeoecology and evolution. (Start Sept. 2021)
Rab has a BSc and MRes in Palaeontology. His PhD research focuses on pterosaur track record. He is particularly interested in what tracks can tell us about the locomotory abilities of pterosaurs, as well as the roles that they played within Mesozoic ecosystems. Google Scholar.
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Former Lab Members
Post-docs and Research Fellows
Dr Jens Lallensack (German DFG fellowship) 2020 – 2022: Jens work on fossil tracks involves 3D analysis of trackways parameters to infer gaits of dinosaurs.Google scholar.
Dr Ikuko Tanaka (2016-2017): Bird footprints and locomotion (Japanese Research fellowship)
Post-grads
Dr Barbara Grant PhD (University of Liverpool, co-supervised): Understanding fossil footprint formation and the evolution of human locomotion on compliant substrates (2018-2023)
Barbara’s PhD examined metabolic cost and kinematics of humans walking over sand and other compliant substrates.
Nathan Jackson MPhil: Quantifying 3D range of motion using off-the-shelf, low cost cameras (2019-2023)
Nathan used GoPros in combination with the XROMM wokflow to explore the viability of relatively low cost motion tracking systems. Thesis available here.
Dr Catherine Strickson PhD: Underfoot pressures and centre of mass evolution (2016-2021) Cat’s PhD explores why quadrupedal animals sometimes have differently sized fore- and hind-limbs, and what this means for their biomechanics. Google scholar
Dr Ryan Marek PhD (University of Liverpool, co-supervised): The Surrogate Arm: Functional Morphology of the Avian Cervical Column (2015-2020)
Ryan’s PhD examined regionalization and morphology of bird necks, using 3D geometric morphometrics. Google scholar.
Dr Pernille Troelsen PhD: Hydrodynamics of Plesiosaur necks (2016 – 2019) Pernille’s PhD project was on exploring Plesiosaur biomechanics through digitization and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Google Scholar.
Jordan Peters MRes (Royal Veterinary College, Co-supervised): Computational reconstruction of the giant rhinoceros Paraceratherium (2016-2017)
Previous Lab Visitors
Emanuele Peri: Erasmus student from Pisa, Italy, working on fossil whales
Previous undergraduate presentations and publications
- Clara Fraschini (2023) [Presented her work at SEB 2022]
- Shaleen Glasgow (2018) [Presented her work at SICB 2019]
- Lewis Finch (2017) [Presented his work at SEB 2017]
Prof. Peter L. Falkingham 