Here are all of our guest contributors that have helped with various aspects of Darwin’s Door. We hope to continue working with them and to welcome more contributors in future.
Dino Chu
Dino is a final year MSci Palaeontology and Geology student at the University of Birmingham, originally from Hong Kong. He has loved natural history and palaeontology from a young age, but his fascination focuses on the Mesozoic – the “age of reptiles”. He enjoys spending his spare time visiting museums, going on nature walks, and birdwatching. Occasionally, he shares pictures to his social media from his various museum visits from around the world. He has been involved in researching feeding biomechanics of theropod dinosaurs for his undergraduate studies and is now using dental microwear texture analysis to unveil faunal dietary relationships of the Morrison Formation for his Master’s project.
You can find Dino on Twitter and Instagram.
Josh Gunn
Josh is a master’s student of Palaeontology and Geology at the University of Birmingham. Born in Surrey, Josh has been fascinated by prehistory, especially dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, for as long as he can remember, and has aspired to study palaeontology for most of his life. After he graduates, he hopes that he will be able to continue studying palaeontology in an academic setting, be it in a lab or out in the field. In summer 2022, Josh undertook an internship with the Jurassic Coast Trust in Dorset, where he was tasked with assessing their fossil finder database and helped prepare a micropalaeontology display for an upcoming event. Josh also has a keen interest in art and enjoys illustrating extinct animals and hopes that, by combining his love for palaeontology with his skills as an artist, he can help provide an insight into the ancient Earth.
You can find Josh on both Instagram and Twitter.
Lauren Malin
Lauren is a Welsh geologist studying Geology and Physical Geography at the University of Birmingham. She enjoys volcanology, analysing petrological thin sections, and examining climate change. She adores going into the field and getting hands-on with all of the activities, with a special love for mapping and interpreting palaeoenvironments. Lauren’s current thesis is working on Scottish volcanism and its ties to Arthur’s Seat. She is studying the petrographic side of things, trying to determine the volcano’s evolution and chemistry.
You can contact Lauren directly via LinkedIn.
Mia Wroe
Mia is a Geology student at the University of Birmingham. Mia serves as the current chair of the SATNAV committee. Mia and her friend Lucy run their own blog all about their lives in geology, OmisTerraScientia.
Nicole Barnes
Nicole is an undergraduate student at Imperial College London, studying Geology. She loves all aspects of palaeontology, but is particularly interested in the Lower Palaeozoic, with a focus on invertebrates as well as Lagerstätten deposits. She enjoys SciComm and actively combines this with her love of photography by creating social media content. She has been fortunate enough to participate in two active research projects alongside her degree, one focusing on macroevolutionary simulations and the other focusing on the Herefordshire Lagerstätten. She hopes to continue her palaeontological studies by completing a masters and PhD.
You can find Nicole on Instagram: @london_geologist and on Twitter: @nicolel_b.