Sam Giles

Professor Sam Giles

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Palaeobiology
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone: +44(0) 121 41 49130
Email: s.giles.1@bham.ac.uk
Twitter

Sam Giles is a Professor of Palaeobiology with an interest in the anatomy, relationships, and macroevolution of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossil fishes. Her research uses x-ray imaging (CT scanning) to unlock the external and internal anatomy of living and fossil vertebrates. She is interested in the origins and evolutionary success of different bony vertebrate groups and the evolution of key features in the vertebrate body plan. Her work has led to major revisions in our understanding of origins of gnathostomes, osteichthyans, and teleosts, some of the most species-rich vertebrate clades.

Qualifications

2015 – PhD, University of Oxford
2011 – MSci Geology, University of Bristol

Biography

2018 鈥撎齊oyal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University 麻豆精选 and Academic Keeper (Research) of the Lapworth Museum of Geology

2017 鈥�听2018 Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University of Oxford

2015 鈥�听2019 Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, Oxford

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Teaching

Sam contributes to the Y3 Field and Museum Skills module and the Y4 Advanced Project module. She also teaches on the Y3 Basins Analysis and Neotectonics field course and supervises undergraduate dissertations.

Research

Sam Giles is a vertebrate palaeontologist with an interest in the anatomy,听relationships, and macroevolution of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossil fishes. Her research uses x-ray imaging (CT scanning) to unlock the external and internal anatomy of living and fossil vertebrates. She is interested in the origins and evolutionary success of different bony vertebrate groups and听the evolution of key features in the vertebrate body plan. Her work has led听to major revisions in our understanding of origins of gnathostomes, osteichthyans, and teleosts, some of the most species-rich vertebrate clades.

Other activities

Academic Keeper (Research) of the Lapworth Museum of Geology (2018–present)
Scientific Associate, Natural History Museum, London (2019–present)
Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award committee member (2020– 2022)
NERC Community Diversity Group (2021)
Fellow of the Geological Society of London (2019–present)
Palaeontological Association council member (2019–2022)
Palaeontographical Society council member (2019–2022)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Schnetz, L, Lanzetti, A, Jones, A, Dearden, R, Lautenschlager, S, Giles, S, Johanson, Z & Sansom, I 2025, '', Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Friedman, M, Mond茅jar-Fern谩ndez, J, Henderson, S, Challands, T & Giles, S 2024, '', Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Yu, D, Ren, Y, Uesaka, M, Beavan, AJS, Muffato, M, Shen, J, Li, Y, Sato, I, Wan, W, Clark, JW, Keating, JN, Carlisle, EM, Dearden, RP, Giles, S, Randle, E, Sansom, RS, Feuda, R, Fleming, JF, Sugahara, F, Cummins, C, Patricio, M, Akanni, W, D鈥橝niello, S, Bertolucci, C, Irie, N, Alev, C, Sheng, G, de Mendoza, A, Maeso, I, Irimia, M, Fromm, B, Peterson, KJ, Das, S, Hirano, M, Rast, JP, Cooper, MD, Paps, J, Pisani, D, Kuratani, S, Martin, FJ, Wang, W, Donoghue, PCJ, Zhang, YE & Pascual-Anaya, J 2024, '', Nature ecology & evolution, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 519-535.

Figueroa, RT, Weinsch眉tz, LC, Giles, S & Friedman, M 2024, '', Current Biology.

Dowey, N, Lawrence, A, Raji, M, Jackson, C, Williams, R, Fernando, B, Giles, S, Barclay, J, Brotherson, L, Childs, E, Houghton, J, Khatwa, A, Mills, K, Jameson, G, Rockey, F, Rogers, S & Souch, C 2024, '', Earth Science, Systems and Society, vol. 4, 10123.

Dearden, RP, Jones, AS, Giles, S, Lanzetti, A, Grohganz, M, Johanson, Z, Lautenschlager, S, Randle, E, Donoghue, PCJ & Sansom, I 2024, '', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 291, no. 2019, 20232258.

Davesne, D, Andrews, JV, Beckett, HT, Giles, S & Friedman, M 2024, '', Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 43, no. 3, e2284998.

Rogers, SL, Giles, S, Dowey, N, Greene, SE, Bhatia, R, Van Landeghem, K & King, C 2024, '', Earth Science, Systems and Society, vol. 4, 10078.

Giles, S, Feilich, K, Warnock, RCM, Pierce, SE & Friedman, M 2023, '', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 10鈥�19.

Brazeau, MD, Yuan, H, Giles, S, Jerve, AL, Zorig, E, Ariunchimeg, Y, Sansom, RS & Atwood, RC 2023, '', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 10, no. 2, 221452.

Figueroa, R, Goodvin, D, Kolmann, MA, Coates, MI, Caron, AM, Friedman, M & Giles, S 2023, '', Nature, vol. 614, pp. 486鈥�491.

Knapp, A, Rangel-de L谩zaro, G, Friedman, M, Johanson, Z, Evans, KM, Giles, S, Beckett, HT & Goswami, A 2023, '', Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, vol. 77, no. 6, pp. 1277-1288.

Dearden, R, Lanzetti, A, Giles, S, Johanson, Z, Jones, A, Lautenschlager, S, Randle, E & Sansom, I 2023, '', Nature.

Comment/debate

Fernando, B, Giles, S, Jackson, C, Lawrence, A, Raji, M, Williams, R, Barclay, J, Brotherson, L, Childs, E, Houghton, J, Khatwa, A, Newton, A, Mills, K, Rockey, F, Rogers, S, Souch, C & Dowey, N 2023, '', Nature Geoscience, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 658鈥�660.

Preprint

Rogers, S, Giles, S, Dowey, N, Greene, S, Bhatia, R, Landeghem, KV & King, C 2023 '' EarthArXiv.