Sam Giles is a palaeobiologist at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. Her research combines modern imaging with fossils to understand the evolution of life, in particular that of early

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

, and in 2015 "rewrote" the vertebrate family tree. She was a 2017 L'Oréal-UNESCO Rising Star and won the 2019

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

Lyell Fund.

Early life and education

Giles studied

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, graduating in 2011. Giles completed her doctor of philosophy at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in 2015, where she was a member of St Hugh's College. She worked with Matt Friedman on early ray-finned fishes.

Career and research

In 2015, Giles was appointed a junior

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at Christ Church, Oxford. Giles was awarded a L'Oréal-UNESCO fellowship in 2016, which would allow her to study the anatomy of vertebrate's brains. In 2017, Giles was awarded a

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship to study the evolution of the

Actinopterygii Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or ...

, otherwise known as ray-finned fishes, which comprise more than half of all living vertebrates. In 2018, she joined the School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham as a member of academic staff. Giles uses

x-ray tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

to study the bone structure of

and is one of the leading experts on the evolutionary relationships and adaptations of early fish. In particular, she has been involved in research related to the origin of gnathostomes, or jawed vertebrates, and the relationships of early fishes, including various extinct groups such as placoderms and the divergence of chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fish) and osteichthyans (bony fish). She has also published on the early evolution of the dermal skeleton. A foundational component of her work is the use of

computed tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

(CT) scanning in order to study the internal anatomy of fossils and to reconstruct the soft tissue structures that are not directly preserved. Giles is also a major contributor to research relating to equitable practices in academia and paleontology. Giles' research has been published in leading scientific journals, including

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

eLife ''eLife'' is a not-for-profit, peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal for the biomedical and life sciences. It was established at the end of 2012 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Max Planck Society, and Wellcome Trust, following a ...

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research articles, va ...

, and

Proceedings of the Royal Society B ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

and has been covered by numerous media outlets. She has contributed to naming numerous new species of extinct fish, outlined below: She has written for the

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

and given several popular science lectures. In 2019 Giles was awarded the

Lyell Fund, which is awarded to researchers on the basis of outstanding published research. She serves on the council of the Palaeontological Association and the Palaeontographical Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Sam Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Paleobiologists British geologists Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford