UCL Museums

Having carefully worked out which degrees offered the greatest amount of palaeontology at the time, Emma-Louise started university life at the University of Birmingham studying geology. Not one to be outdone, she stayed on for the master’s year and left with an M.Sci rather than a B.Sc. The master’s project comprised an ecological study in which fossil sharks were the primary focus. A fortuitous car accident helped to fund a second, more specialised master’s degree at the University of Bristol, in palaeobiology. The subject matter of her dissertation was a comparison of supertrees vs. supermatrices, using crocodilians as a case study.

During her university career, Emma-Louise volunteered at nine different museums and three zoological institutions in a variety of roles such as archivist, remedial conservator, and in many kinds of curatorial duties. Emma-Louise went on to study a Ph.D in fossil sharks entitled ‘The palaeoecology of Cretaceous chondrichthyan faunas’, before arriving at the Grant Museum in the role of Museum Assistant.

At the Grant Museum Emma-Louise divides her time between curatorial and public engagement roles. She has designed and installed exhibitions, designed and facilitated educational family activity sessions, been heavily involved in social media, and dedicated a lot of time to the care and documenting of museum specimens.

Education:

• Ph.D. Palaeobiology ― University College London, Research: Patterns in the Palaeoecology of Cretaceous Chondrichthyan Faunas, Ongoing
• M.Sc. Palaeobiology ― University of Bristol, Dissertation: Supertrees vs. Supermatrices. Case Study: The Crocodylia, 2005 to 2006
• M.Sci. Geology (Hons.) ― University of Birmingham, M.Sci. dissertation: Bathonian palaeoecology of Central England. B.Sc. dissertation: Tectonic topiary- The shaping of evolutionary trees by plate tectonics and the origin of African mammals, 2001 to 2005
• Certificate in Animal Ecology and Conservation ― Zoological Society of London, 2007
• GNVQ Herpetology Level 2, Proteus Reptile Trust, UK, 2005

Positions:

• Museum Assistant ― Grant Museum of Zoology, 2011 to Present
• Species profiler ― www.ARKive.org, 2011 to Present
• Forum Moderator ― The Shark Trust, 2008 to Present
• Moderator (for Fish) ― www.askabiologist.org.uk, 2007 to Present
• Primate Ethologist  ― Zoological Society of London, 2010 to 2011
• Primate Geneticist  ― PrIME Genetics Research Lab, University of Cambridge, 2010 to 2011
• Joint lecturer and teaching assistant for Earth Sciences BSc modules ― Birkbeck College and University College London, 2006 to 2009
• Field Biologist ― Shark Conservation Society, 2008
• Guest shark expert ― Florida Museum of Natural History, 2007 to 2008
• Volunteer ― Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, 2007 to 2008
• Volunteer ― Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL, 2007 to 2008
• Volunteer ― Seal Rescue, 2006
• Volunteer ― Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, 2005 to 2006
• Museum assistant ― Lapworth Museum of Geology, University of Birmingham, 2002 to 2005
• Web Publishing assistant ― Palaeontological Association, 2002 to 2005
• Remedial conservator ― Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, 2003

• Vertebrate evolution and taxonomy
• Jaw biomechanics in predators
• Conservation issues and the balance of human need vs. human intervention
• The use of threatened species in human medicines and delicacies, specifically sharks and rhinos
• Communication of science to both academic and public audiences

• Nicholls, E-L. 2010. Patterns in the palaeoecology of Cretaceous chondrichthyan faunas. 58th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy Conference. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. Fossil Sharks and Their ‘Mid’ Cretaceous Ecosystems. 20th International Congress of Zoology. Poster Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. Ptychodontidae- From whence they came. Evolution and Diversity of Chondrichthyans. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. Rocking the Boat Over Raising Awareness: UK Aquaria in Shark Conservation. 12th European Elasmobranch Association Conference. Poster Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. Shared Ocean: Shared Motion: the Global Responsibility of Shark Conservation. 12th European Elasmobranch Association Conference. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. Sharks as Indicators of Trophic Structure within ‘Mid’ Cretaceous Watermasses. Evolution and Diversity of Chondrichthyans Conference. Poster Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. The Role of UK Aquaria in Global Shark Conservation. Shark Biology and Conservation Conference, Zoological Society of London. Poster presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. and Smith, M. P. 2008. Sharks Indicate a Lagoonal Environment for Dinosaur Remains. 56th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy Conference. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. and Underwood, C. J. 2008. Blood, Sweat and Scars for Life- The Complications of Comparative Shark Material. 17th Symposium of Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation Conference. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. and Ward, D. J. 2008. Elucidating the Systematic Affinities of Palaeocarcharias. 56th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy Conference. Poster Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. and Ward, D. J. 2008. The Case of the Lamnid-Orectolobe. Where does Palaeocarcharias belong? 20th International Congress of Zoology. Oral Presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Emergency remedial conservation of homeless mammoth material. 16th Symposium of Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. How the ‘mid’ Cretaceous transgressive episode affected elasmobranch palaeobiogeography. First International Palaeobiogeography Symposium. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Modeling ‘pacing’ in captive Sand Tiger sharks. 11th Annual European Elasmobranch Conference. Poster presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Sharks as indicators of ‘mid’ Cretaceous ecology. 11th Annual European Elasmobranch Conference. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Sharks as indicators of trophic structure within ‘mid’ Cretaceous watermasses. 55th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Systematic affinities and morphology of a poorly known chondrichthyan from the Upper Cretaceous. 8th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2007. Using Cretaceous shark ecology as a model for the effects of climate change. Set for BRITAIN National Science and Engineering Award. Poster presentation
• Nicholls, E-L., Pisani, D. and Benton, M. J. 2006. Testing the phylogeny of extant and fossil Crocodylia. Progressive Palaeontology Conference. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L., Pisani, D. and Benton, M. J. 2006. Testing the phylogeny of extant and fossil Crocodylia. 54thSymposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology & Comparative Anatomy. Poster presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. and Smith, M. P. 2006. The palaeoecology of Hornsleasow, based on microfauna and flora. Progressive Palaeontology Conference. Poster presentation
• Orcutt, J. and Nicholls E-L. 2006. Collecting biases and the completeness of the dinosaur fossil record. Progressive Palaeontology Conference. Oral presentation
• Nicholls, E-L. 2006. Using the Palaeobiogeography of early placentals to test the hypothesis of ‘Afrotheria’. Palaeogeography and Palaeobiogeography: Biodiversity in Space and Time Conference. Poster presentation

• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. The Ancestry Tale of Sharks. Shark Focus, Magazine of the Shark Trust.
• Nicholls, E-L. 2008. When is a Shark a Ray? Shark Focus, Magazine of the Shark Trust.

• Nominated for the House of Commons Westminster Medal ― Part of ‘SET for BRITAIN’ held at the Houses of Parliament, 2007
• Palaeontological Association Prize ―Palaeontological Association, 2004
• Lapworth Museum of Geology Scholarship (Funded a month long archival project) ― The Lapworth Museum of Geology, 2003
• Lapworth Museum of Geology Scholarship (Funded a month long archival project) ― The Lapworth Museum of Geology, 2002

• Captive Animal Protection Society
• Gorilla Organisation
• International Rhino Foundation
• Natural History Museum, London
• Palaeontological Association
• Save the Rhino
• Shark Trust, The
• Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology
• Zoological Society of London