Emily Swaby

I am a 2nd year PhD research student at The Open University, funded by NERC through the CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), and an active member in the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Group within the School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences (EEES). My PhD project "The effect of the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) extreme environmental change on insects" is supervised by Prof. Angela Coe (OU), Dr Luke Mander (OU), Dr Bryony Caswell (University of Hull) and Dr Scott Hayward (University of Birmingham).

I received a First Class BSc (Hons) degree in Palaeontology from the University of Portsmouth (2015 - 2018) and was awarded the Palaeontological Association Project Prize for the best BSc (Hons) Palaeontology dissertation; my undergraduate thesis investigated the taphonomy of ammonites from the Toarcian Whitby Mudstone Formation, North Yorkshire. I was also awarded the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists/The Palynology Society (AASP/TPS) Student Award, and the Palaeontological Association Prize for excellence in the associated undergraduate modules. I then undertook a stand-alone one year Masters degree at the University of Manchester (2018 - 2020) and received an MPhil in Palaeontology for a thesis that focused on a revision of Temnodontosaurus crassimanus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) of Whitby, Yorkshire, UK. This research formed the basis of my first lead-author scientific paper, published in the journal Historical Biology.