We are good colleagues and mentors.
We support diversity of all kinds.
We are actively anti-racist.
We respect and help each other.
We are welcoming to new group members and visitors.
We maintain a healthy work-life balance.
We support Open research and Open Access publishing.
We engage with the wider research community and the public.
We have fun and try to make science a nicer place!

   

Natalie Cooper (PI) Natalie's CV page

PhD students

• Alex Cranston
  ACCE DTP. 2021-2025.
  Co-supervised with Dr Jakob Bro-Jorgenson and Dr Stephen Cornell at University of Liverpool.
  Ungulate species distributions and interactions. See publication here.
• Joel Heath
  London DTP. 2022-2025.
  Co-supervised with Dr Phil Mannion and Prof Paul Upchurch at UCL.
  Biogeography, tectonics and diversification in dinosaurs.
• Caleb Scutt
  Sheffield scholarship. 2024-2028.
  Main supervisors: Dr Thomas Guillerme and Dr Gavin Thomas at University of Sheffield.
  Disparity over mass extinction events.
• Sidney Leedham
  ACCE DTP. 2024-2028.
  Main supervisor: Dr Karl Bates at University of Liverpool.
  Evolution of the mammalian vertebral column.
• Jack Smith
  ACCE DTP. 2025-2028.
  Co-supervised with Dr Gavin Thomas and Dr Tori Herridge at University of Sheffield.
  Island syndromes.

Postdocs

• Dr Kat Assersohn based at University of Sheffield.
  NERC: EvoCon project. 2024-2027.
  

Research Assistants/Interns

• Chloe Griffiths
  Research Assistant: EvoCon project. 2024-2026.
• Hannah Teague
  Research Assistant: EvoCon project. 2024-2026.

Masters students

• xxx. MRes student (Imperial) 2025.
  xxx?
• xxx. MRes student (UCL) 2025.
  xxx?

Previous PhD students and postdocs

• Dr James Rule
  UKRI (MSCA) Fellow. 2022-2024. SEAL: Evolution of hearing in pinnipeds.
  
• Dr Ian Brennan
  MSCA Fellow. 2022-2024. EARtH: Exploring the Australian Reptile Hypervolume: Assembly and evolution of a continental fauna.
  
• Dr Gustavo Burin
  Leverhulme Trust: Back to the Water project. 2020-2023. See publications here and here
  
• Dr Louie Rombaut
  ACCE DTP. 2019-2023.
  Main supervisor Dr Gavin Thomas at University of Sheffield.
  Trait covariance in bird beaks. See publications here
• Dr Travis Park
  Leverhulme Trust: Back to the Water project. 2020-2023. See publications here and here
  MSCA Fellow. 2017-2019. ECHO: Ears and Echoes: Cochlear evolution in toothed whales. See publications here and here.
• Dr Sarah Alewijnse
  SPITFIRE DTP. 2017-2022.
  Co-supervised with Dr Clive Trueman at University of Southampton/NOCS, and Ollie Crimmen (NHM).
  Macroecological study of otolith-derived field metabolic rates of marine fishes. See publications here.
• Dr Ellen Coombs
  NERC London DTP. 2016-2021.
  Main supervisor Prof. Anjali Goswami.
  Cetacean responses to climate change: past, present and future. See publications here.
• Dr Marcello Mezzasalma
  MSCA Fellow. 2018-2020.
  CHROMREP: chromosomal evolution in Malagasy chameleons (with Dr Jeff Streicher and Dr Simon Loader). See publications here
• Dr Deepak Veerappan
  MSCA Fellow. 2017-2019.
  Evolution of natricine snakes (main supervisor Dr David Gower). See publications here and here and here.
• Dr Thomas Guillerme.
  PhD student (TCD) 2012-2015. NERC postdoc Macrocovar 2020-2023.
  Macroevolution with fossils and living species. See publications here and here.

Previous grants

• Back to the Water. 2020-2024. Leverhulme Trust.
• Macrocovar. 2020-2023. NERC.
  Led by Gavin Thomas at University of Sheffield

Previous Masters students

• Jack Smith. MSc student (Imperial) 2024.
  Sorting the wheat from the chaff-finches. Are subspecies real?
• Siobhan Pearson. MRes student (UCL) 2024.
  Main supervisor James Rule.
  Skull morphology of true seals.
• Anna Ustaran-Anderegg. MRes student (UCL) 2024.
  Main supervisor Alex Cranston.
  Stripes in antelope as a defense against biting flies.
• Joe Hammond. MRes student (Imperial) 2023.
  Main supervisor Paul Barrett.
  Dinosaur disparity at the Tr-Jr mass extinction.
• Sophie Ryan. MRes student (UCL) 2023.
  Main supervisor James Rule.
  Filter feeding teeth in seals.
• Alice Armstrong. MRes student (Imperial) 2022-23.
  Co-supervised with Patrick Campbell.
  Crocodile distributions and human interaction maps.
• Moganavalli Kattan. MRes student (Imperial) 2022-23.
  Main supervisor James Rule.
  Rings of acoustic power: understanding pinniped hearing.
• Joseph Rees. MRes student (Imperial) 2022-23.
  Main supervisor Gustavo Burin.
  Pinniped diversification through time.
See publication here.
• Clement Prieul. MRes student (Imperial) 2022-23.
  Main supervisor Travis Park.
  Basilosaurid description and phylogeny.
• Tom Trapman. MPhil (University of Bath) 2018-2022
  Co-supervised with Prof. Matthew Wills at University of Bath.
  Disparity changes across mass extinctions
• Melina Lenk. MSc student (Imperial) 2022.
  Main supervisors: Travis Park and Gustavo Burin.
  Pinniped proxies for global change
• Tara Wainwright. MSc student (Imperial) 2021.
  Sex biases in herpetology collections
See publication here.
• Noah Hearne. MSc student (Imperial) 2021.
  Geographical biases in mammal collections at NHM
• Christian Ching. BSc student (Royal Veterinary College) 2021.
  Using geometric morphometrics to detect cryptic species of Sunda colugo.
• Lucy Bird. MSci student (UCL) 2020-21.
  Locomotion in miniature frogs
• Justin Isip. MSc student (Imperial) 2020.
  Co-supervised with Marc EH Jones.
  Comparative analyses of bite force in lepidosaurs
See publication here.
• Morwenna Trevenna. MSc student (Imperial) 2020.
  Sex biases in herpetology collections
See publication here.
• Hermione Blomfield-Smith. MSc student (Imperial) 2020.
  Modeling extinction risk in chameleons
• Rebecca Bentley. MRes student (Imperial) 2020.
  Evolution of body size and dietary niches in Loricariidae catfishes.
• Shizhe Ma. MRes student (Imperial) 2019-2020.
  Extinction risk correlates in chameleons.
• Mengdi Li. MSci student (UCL) 2019-2020.
  Using amphibian type specimens in conservation.
• Jake Curry. MRes student (Imperial) 2019.
  Computational approaches for studying species distributions through time.
  See publication here.
• Emily Buckingham. MRes student (Imperial) 2019.
  Co-supervised with Louise Tomsett.
  Historical distributions and overexploitation of pangolins.
  See publication here.
• Maria Clara Iruzun Martins. MRes student (UCL) 2019.
  Main supervisor Travis Park.
  Intraspecific variation in the harbour porpoise inner ear.
See publication here.
• Steve Allain. MSci student (Imperial) 2018.
  Co-supervised with Jeff Streicher.
  Changes in Asian amphibian distributions through time.
• Tom Weeks. MSci student (UCL) 2017-2018.
  Co-supervised with Jeff Streicher.
  Mismatches in East African amphibian type localities and current distributions.
• Alice Pawlik. MRes student (Imperial) 2017-2018.
  Co-supervised with Jeff Streicher.
  Salamander type localities and current distributions.
• Joseph Bonsor. MSc student (Imperial) 2017.
  Co-supervised with Dr Paul Barrett.
  Were dinosaurs in decline before K-Pg?
See publication here.
• Jack Davies. MRes student (UCL) 2017.
  Co-supervised with Dr Jeff Streicher.
  Amphibian type distributions and IUCN Red List maps.
• Danielle Moraviec. MSc student (Imperial) 2017.
  Co-supervised with Dr Paul Barrett.
  Geometric morphometrics of ornithischian dinosaurs.
• Olivia Morris. MSc student (Imperial) 2017.
  Biogeographic origins of Galapagos reptiles.
• Charlotte Page. MSci student (UCL) 2016-2017.
  Convergence in "river dolphins". See publication here.
• Wui Shen Ng. MSc student (Imperial) 2017.
  Co-supervised with Louise Tomsett and Dr Nick Crumpton.
  Convergence in afrotherian and laurasiatherian "insectivores".
• Andrea Sartorius. MRes student (UCL) 2017.
  Co-supervised with Roberto Portela Miguez.
  Marsupial type distributions and IUCN Red List maps.
• Dan Bell. MRes student (Imperial) 2016.
  Predicting cetacean length from skull measurements.
• Guillermo Gilbert. MRes student (Imperial) 2016.
  Biogeography of Galapagos birds.
• Sive Finlay. MRes student (TCD) 2012-2015.
  Morphological diversity in tenrecs. See publication here.

For more information on working in the group see the documents provided here.