Job Description and Person Specification (HR5)
Post Number: /
Job Description
School/Department: / Ocean and Earth Science
Post Title: / Research assistant
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Posts Responsible to (and Level): / J E A Marshall
Posts Responsible for (and Level):
Job Purpose: to provide technical support and scientific work on the NERC Romer’s Gap Tetrapod project
Key Accountabilities/Primary Responsibilities (6-10 bullet points maximum)
  • Laboratory processing of Palynology and other geological samples
  • Microscopy and identification of palynomorphs
  • Fieldwork related to Romer’s Gap project
  • Collection and preparation of core samples from Romer’s Gap project
  • Compilation of data and writing up of scientific results
  • Attendance at conferences in the UK and overseas to present data
  • Attendance at Romer’s Gap scientific consortium meetings
  • To oversee budget of work area
/ % Time
Internal & External Relationships: (nature & purpose of relationships)
  • Other members of the School
  • Other members of the Romer’s Gap Consortium

Special Requirements:
Person Specification
Criteria / Essential / Desirable / How to be assessed
Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience: / Relevant NVQ3/HNC/A level/City and Guilds or equivalent qualification or experience
Able to demonstrate a good understanding of technical processes relating to the work / BSc in Geology or related discipline / Application and interview
Planning and Organising: / Ability to organise own workload to ensure work is completed to a high standard and to deadline.
Problem Solving and Initiative: / Experience of contributing innovative ideas in order to solve technical problems.
Experience of using judgement to find solutions to problems for which no standard procedure exist.
Ability to accurately analysis and interpret specialist data, presenting summary information in a clear and concise format.
Management and Teamwork: / Proven experience of working pro-actively and in partnership with colleagues in other work areas to achieve outcomes.
Communicating and Influencing: / Ability to elicit information to identify specific needs.
Able to offer appropriate proactive advice and guidance on technical processes and procedures.
Able to communicate and liaise effectively
Experience of demonstration skills / Ability to use influencing and negotiating skills to develop understanding and gain co-operation
Other Skills and Behaviours:
Special Requirements:

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Psychosocial Issues
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Research Assistant

Early Carboniferous palynology and tetrapod evolution

Rationale: We are tetrapods, animals with 4 limbs. Tetrapods evolved from fish some 400 million years ago during the Devonian Period. But for all of this time they remained fish with fingers. In the Devonian-Carboniferous mass extinction many groups of fish became extinct and the tetrapods themselves disappeared from the geological record for some 20 million years. When they reappeared they were terrestrialised with feet. Clearly it is essential to understand what happened in this gap (Romer’s Gap) both in terms of tetrapod evolution and environmental perturbations. The breakthrough is the discovery of a number of sites rich in fossils (tetrapods, fish, arthropods, plants) from within the gap that will enable us to track both tetrapod evolution and its associated ecosystem. These are all in the Scottish Borders. NERC has awarded a major Consortium Grant to a multidisciplinary group that is going to study these new sites. The consortium will undertake a major excavation on the Whiteadder Water and related localities in Scotland. To tie these sites together and understand the relationships between environment, evolution and time within the Gap a 500m borehole will be drilled through the entire succession. The work of the PGRA will primarily be on the fossils spores from the borehole and a number of tetrapod sites and other field localities across the Midland Valley of Scotland.

Methodology: The postholder will assist in developing a new quantitative palynostratigraphy for the earliest Carboniferous in the Scottish Borders and MidlandValley. They will be fully involved in logging field sections, excavating tetrapod sites and borehole sampling. They will be expected to work closely in the field with sedimentologists and help develop an integrated environmental models and a refined spore/ostracod zonation scheme. It is a unique opportunity to work with a consortium of specialists from the universities of Southampton, Leicester and Cambridge, the BGS and the NMS on a project that promises to rewrite our concept of tetrapod evolution.

Training: This will primarily be in palynology and gives the postholder enhanced employment prospects in the energy industry.There will be fieldwork in Scotland and the opportunity to attend major conferences in both the UK and overseas.

It is expected that applicants will have a good degree in the Earth Sciences but this is not essential. Further information including application eligibility is available by email from Professor John Marshall (). The post carries a starting salary of £22k and there will be an opportunity to register for a higher degree.

The project website is at

Smithson, T.R., Wood, S., Marshall, J. & Clack, J. (2012). Populating Romer’s Gap. PNAS, 109, 4532-4537.

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