Our PhD students are key to the success of the Bristol Palaeobiology Research Group. They address a broad range of topics, and we are delighted that so many produce theses of the very highest quality.

In the past two years, the Faculty of Science has singled out the best PhD submissions across the Faculty for commendation, and so far four have come from the School of Earth Sciences: all four are palaeontologists - Dr Gai Zhikun, Dr James Rae, and Dr Jennie Bright in 2012, and of these Jennie won the Faculty of Science Prize for the best PhD thesis in 2012. In 2013 so far, Dr Alex Dunhill has been selected for commendation.

CLASS OF 2012

• Joe Keating: Origin of the vertebrate skeleton (NERC).
• Qingyu Ma: Constraints and efficiency in the evolution of birds (University of Bristol Scholarship).
• Mark Puttick: Phylogenetic approaches to determining selectivity during mass extinctions and recoveries (NERC).
• Chris Rogers: Taphonomy and sedimentology of the Jehol sites of exceptional preservation in China (NERC PGRA).

• Naomi Apostolaki: Dinosaurian body size (Self)
• Massimo Bernardi: Vertebrate palaeontology and palaeoichnology of the Permian-Triassic of the Dolomites, Italian Alps (Promotion of Educational Policies, University and Research Department of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, South Tyrol)
• David Button: Engineering analysis of the skull of sauropodomorph dinosaurs (NERC)
• Martin Chávez Hoffmeister: The evolution and fossil record of penguins (CONICYT doctoral fellowship)
• Tony Hancy: Life and death in the first complex ecosystems: the ecology and evolution of the Ediacara Biota (NERC)
• Sasidhorn Khansubha: Terrestrial vertebrates across the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary (The Royal Thai Government Scholarship)
• Benjamin Moon: Ichthyosaurs of the Late Jurassic (Self)
• Bruno Pereira: Portuguese Mesozoic echinoderms: systematics, stratigraphy, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography (FCT Fellowship)
• Tom Stubbs: Diversity and disparity of Mesozoic marine reptiles (NERC)
• Maricel Williams: The pelagic record of ocean acidification (private donor).

• Andrew Cuff: Skull form and function in sauropodomorph dinosaurs (Self)
• Suzanne Jennions: Consequences of ocean acidification for biodiversity and food resources in the future (Mario and Paula Frering University of Bristol Centenary donation).
• Stephan Lautenschlager: Skull form and function in therizinosaur dinosaurs, and the convergent evolution of herbivory in theropods (Volkswagen Foundation)

• Aude Caromel: The link between form and function in planktic foraminifers (NERC)
• Elena Couce Molina: Modelling environmental thresholds of coral reef ecosystems (UoB Scholarship)
• Fleur Noailles: Interrelationships of stylophorans (Self)
• Colin Palmer: Biomechanics of pterosaur flight (Self)
• Peter Tomiak: Skeletal biomarkers of past coral bleaching (NERC)
• Rachel Warnock: Integrating molecular and palaeontological approaches of telling evolutionary time (NERC)