Dr Sam Giles

Dr Sam Giles

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

Contact details

Telephone
+44(0) 121 41 49130
Email
s.giles.1@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@GilesPalaeoLab
View my research portal

Sam Giles is a vertebrate palaeontologist 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 – Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University of Birmingham and Academic Keeper (Research) of the Lapworth Museum of Geology

2017 – 2018 Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, University of Oxford

2015 – 2019 Junior Research Fellow, Christ Church, Oxford

 

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, 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.

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

Giles, S, Feilich, K, Warnock, RCM, Pierce, SE & Friedman, M 2023, 'A Late Devonian actinopterygian suggests high lineage survivorship across the end-Devonian mass extinction', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01919-4

Brazeau, MD, Yuan, H, Giles, S, Jerve, AL, Zorig, E, Ariunchimeg, Y, Sansom, RS & Atwood, RC 2023, 'A well-preserved ‘placoderm’ (stem-group Gnathostomata) upper jaw from the Early Devonian of Mongolia clarifies jaw evolution', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 10, no. 2, 221452. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221452

Figueroa, R, Goodvin, D, Kolmann, MA, Coates, MI, Caron, AM, Friedman, M & Giles, S 2023, 'Exceptional fossil preservation and evolution of the ray-finned fish brain', Nature, vol. 614, pp. 486–491. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05666-1

Dearden, R, Lanzetti, A, Giles, S, Johanson, Z, Jones, A, Lautenschlager, S, Randle, E & Sansom, I 2023, 'The oldest three-dimensionally preserved vertebrate neurocranium', Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06538-y

Cooper, S, Giles, S, Young, H & Maxwell, E 2022, 'A New Large †Pachycormiform (Teleosteomorpha: †Pachycormiformes) from the Lower Jurassic of Germany, with Affinities to the Suspension-Feeding Clade, and Comments on the Gastrointestinal Anatomy of Pachycormid Fishes', Diversity, vol. 14, no. 12, 1026. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14121026

Argyriou, T, Giles, S & Friedman, M 2022, 'A Permian fish reveals widespread distribution of neopterygian-like jaw suspension', eLife, vol. 2022, 58433. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58433

Henderson, S, Dunne, E & Giles, S 2022, 'Sampling biases obscure the early diversification of the largest living vertebrate group', Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, vol. 289, no. 1985, 20220916, pp. 20220916. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0916

Henderson, S, Dunne, EM, Fasey, SA & Giles, S 2022, 'The early diversification of ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii): hypotheses, challenges and future prospects', Biological Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12907

Dowey, N, Barclay, J, Fernando, B, Giles, S, Houghton, J, Jackson, C, Khatwa, A, Lawrence, A, Mills, K, Newton, A, Rogers, S & Williams, R 2021, 'A UK perspective on tackling the geoscience racial diversity crisis in the Global North', Nature Geoscience, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 256-259. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00737-w

Newman, M, Burrow, C, den Blaauwen, J & Giles, S 2021, 'A new actinopterygian Cheirolepis jonesi nov. sp. from the Givetian of Spitsbergen, Svalbard', Norwegian Journal of Geology, vol. 101, 202103. https://doi.org/10.17850/njg101-1-3

Dearden, R & Giles, S 2021, 'Diverse stem-chondrichthyan oral structures and evidence for an independently acquired acanthodid dentition', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 8, no. 11, 210822. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210822

Zhu, Y, Giles, S, Young, G, Hu, Y, Bazzi, M, Ahlberg, P, Zhu, M & Lu, J 2021, 'Endocast and bony labyrinth of a Devonian ‘placoderm’ challenges stem gnathostome phylogeny', Current Biology, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 1112-1118.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.046

Giles, S 2020, 'Barriers to fieldwork in undergraduate geoscience degrees', Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0022-5

Brazeau, MD, Giles, S, Dearden, RP, Jerve, A, Ariunchimeg, Y, Zorig, E, Sansom, R, Guillerme, T & Castiello, M 2020, 'Endochondral bone in an Early Devonian ‘placoderm’ from Mongolia', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 1477-1484. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01290-2

Preprint

Greene, S, Antell, G, Atterby, J, Bhatia, R, Dunne, E, Giles, S, Groh, S, Hanson, E, Hilton, J, Knight, H, Kraftl, P, Morgan, E, Rhodes, I, Rockey, F, Singh, S, Stevenson, C, Sun, S, Warren, B, Wheeley, J & Yamoah, K 2021 'Safety and belonging in the field: a checklist for educators' EarthArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31223/x53p6h

View all publications in research portal