MSc Palaeobiology

Programme overview
This interdisciplinary programme is for students who are passionate about early life, mass extinctions, macroevolution and fossil preservation. It bridges the biology-geology divide and will provide you with a strong foundation for independent research to PhD level or for a career in museum curation or science education.
You will join one of the world’s leading palaeobiology research groups and engage in current debates in evolutionary biology, systematics and palaeobiology. You will learn how to analyse problems quantitatively and design experimental approaches to resolving questions in macroevolution and the study of ancient organisms.
A key aspect of the programme is preparing your research project for publication, and many of our previous students’ projects have been published in leading international journals. Recent research project topics include the origin of cellular life, the preservation of colours in dinosaurs and the evolution of culture in humans.
This programme gives you the opportunity to develop a wide range of professional skills, including research planning, problem-solving and communication. You will learn to present palaeontological data through talks, visual displays and formal written reports. You also develop computing skills in data handling, phylogenetics, macroevolution, function, and 3D digital modelling.