Profile
![Photo:](https://imaproject.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Liam_jubbly-150x150.jpg)
Liam Herringshaw
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About Me:
I am a palaeontologist – fossil-scientist – who knows very little about dinosaurs. I live in York, and organize the Yorkshire Fossil Festival, as well as running rocks and fossils classes for schools and groups. I am also a writer, a cricketer, and a Dad, although not necessarily in that order.
The photograph below is me explaining how the rocks were formed at Filey Brigg, on the North Yorkshire coast:
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I am a palaeontologist who knows very little about dinosaurs. My other half is an archaeologist who knows very little about Vikings or Ancient Egypt. Our daughter is increasingly confused. I am from Leicester, although I have also lived in Liverpool, Birmingham, Aberdeen and St John’s (Canada). I live in York and have done for more than ten years.
This is me in the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough, chatting about fossils with Bek Homer of BBC Radio York.
When I’m not bothering rocks and fossils, I do quite a lot of writing about nature and sport, and play cricket for Ovington CC. I love listening to pop music and reading books, and spend too much time on Twitter.
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My pronouns are:
He/him
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My Work:
I study fossils. I am especially interested in fossils made by creatures that burrowed in the sea bed, and how they have changed over time.
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I am a palaeontologist. I study fossils. However, as I have spent much of the last fifteen years focussing on trace fossils (fossilized burrows, tracks and trails), I sometimes call myself an ichnologist. I work mainly on fossils from marine environments, and study how life on and in the sea floor has changed over time. I am particularly interested in how animals first started burrowing into the sea floor, between 600 and 500 million years ago, and how this began creating the diverse and complex marine ecosystems we see today.
This is me with my hands on a Jurassic dinosaur footprint in the cliffs of South Bay, Scarborough.
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My Typical Day:
8am – breakfast with my daughter
8.30am – cycle with my daughter to school
9am to 3pm – work at home, or in York, or on the Yorkshire Coast.
3.15pm – cycle to collect my daughter from school
8pm – send emails and plan events once my daughter has gone to bed!
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I normally have breakfast with my daughter before cycling with her to school. I might then lead a fossil hunt on the Yorkshire Coast, or take people on a guided tour of York, or run a fossils class at a school, or sit in my kitchen sending out emails, until it is time to cycle back to my daughter’s school and pick her up. I often spend the evening sending out more emails, or planning events, such as the Yorkshire Fossil Festival.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would spend my ยฃ500 prize money on buying amazing replica fossils from The Fossil Shop in Scarborough, to give to schools in the most disadvantaged parts of Yorkshire.
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Education:
Braunstone Frith Infant & Junior School, Leicester
Alderman Newton’s School (now New College), Leicester
Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester
University of Liverpool
University of Birmingham -
Qualifications:
9 GCSEs (5 As, 2 Bs, 1 D, 1 E)
4 A-Levels (2 Bs, 1 C, 1 D)
Degree (B.Sc. in Geology with Physical Geography)
Ph.D. (Palaeontology) -
Work History:
Office junior, Associated Sports Photography, Leicester
Bar staff, Post Office pub, Liverpool
Researcher, Sporting Heroes (www.sporting-heroes.net)
Graduate research assistant, Geology, University of Liverpool,
Finance administration assistant, Leicester
Departmental assistant, Geology, University of Birmingham
Teaching and research assistant, Geology, University of Aberdeen
Researcher in palaeontology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Scientific editor/tutor, York
Research Assistant, Geology, Durham University
Lecturer, Geology, University of Hull
Director, Yorkshire Fossil Festival -
Current Job:
I am freelance, so I work for myself. A big part of my work is organizing the Yorkshire Fossil Festival.
A view of the 2022 Yorkshire Fossil Festival at Scarborough Spa. -
Employer:
Myself!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Talkative fossil botherer
What did you want to be after you left school?
A writer
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
A presenter of natural history TV programmes
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Madness
What's your favourite food?
Indian or Mexican food
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
For my daughter to be happy and healthy; for my children's book "My Dad Hates Dinosaurs" to become a best-seller; to present a radio show on fossils with David Attenborough.
Tell us a joke.
How do you cut up a fossil? With a dino-saw.
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