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  • Research areas

The curatorial and research interests of the Museum staff are closely linked.

Our curators' research interests include systematics, ecology, evolution, and palaeontology. Molecular techniques and modern scanning methods are transforming the way we work.

Research areas

The University Museum of Zoology includes research programs that study major aspects of animal life. Current programs include:

 

Conservation Biology and Ecology

 

Deep Time Ecology

 

Vertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution

 

Director and Curators

Professor Rebecca Kilner, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Museum of Zoology

Dr Robert Asher, Curator of Vertebrates

Dr Jason Head, Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology

Dr Daniel Field, Strickland Curator of Birds

Dr Javier Luque, Senior Research Associate (Non-insect Arthropods)

Dr Emily Mitchell, Curator of Invertebrates incorporating the Watson Curator of Malacology

Dr Edgar Turner, Curator of Insects

 

Emeriti and Affiliated Researchers

Dr Michael Brooke, Strickland Curator of Birds (Emeritus)

Dr William Foster (Insects)

Dr Adrian Friday (Vertebrates)

Dr Stephen Gaunt (Evolutionary Developmental Biology)

Dr Richard Preece, Curator of Molluscs (Emeritus) 

Dr Timothy Smithson (Vertebrate Palaeontology)

 

 

​The collections are also used by other research workers in the Department of Zoology and other departments within the University including  Plant Sciences Genetics Physiology Biological Anthropology Archaeology Earth Sciences, the  Fitzwilliam Museum, the  Scott Polar Research Institute and the  Veterinary School.

Academic researchers from institutions worldwide are welcomed to the Museum each year.