EMPLOYMENT HISTORY AND ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

Museum Assistant (Volunteer)
Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery - February 2003 to Present
  Since February of this year I have spent up to five afternoons per week working on the Natural History collections of Maidstone Museum with Prof. Ed Jarzembowski. A new gallery ‘Kent’s Earth Heritage’ opened in April and I have been involved in the curation, cataloguing and taxonomic verification of the displayed specimens, ranging from Pleistocene eoliths to Carboniferous plants from the Kent Coalfield.
  Following the opening of the gallery I have been working on various tasks. These include updating the collection database, remedial work on damaged specimens, vibrotool preparation and conservation of a large turtle fossil from Cliff End, Sussex and most recently the preparation, conservation and identification of many specimens and samples as part of the museums’ funded project ‘Ice Age Kent’ (analysing a wide range of Pleistocene, historical and underlying Cretaceous material from Aylesford, East Peckham and the Fremlin’s Walk Development, Maidstone).
  My work in Maidstone has undoubtedly given me valuable hands-on experience in collections management, preparation and conservation of specimens and of working within the museums environment. The chance of seeing and being involved in the development of the new gallery has been a most informative insight into the workings of the museum.

MSc Palynology
University of Sheffield - Autumn 2000 to Summer 2001
  Course Content: Study of morphology and systematics of all palynological taxa, light microscopy, core logging, handling and use of slide specimen collections, basic palynological preparation techniques.
  Fieldwork: Yorkshire Coast (Jurassic flora) and Western Peak District (Coal Measures facies).
  Although completing and passing the taught component of this course, I withdrew before completion as I felt that a career in palynology was not my most suitable course of action.

BSc (Hons) Palaeobiology and Evolution
University of Portsmouth (Upper Second Class Honours) - Autumn 1997 to Summer 2000
  Course Content: Core Geology, Biology and Ecology Modules, Palaeontology, Palaeobotany, Micropalaeontology, Palaeoecology and Palaeoenvironmental Analysis, Evolutionary studies, Professional and Computer Skills, hands-on experience of regularly working with and collecting data from the department’s palaeontological collections.
  Fieldwork: Classic geological localities in England including the Isle of Wight, Dorset Coast, Barton-on-Sea, Lake District (mapping project), Pembrokeshire, mid-Wales, Shropshire and I focused extensively on the Wealden of Sussex, Surrey and Kent during dissertation fieldwork at more than a dozen working and disused clay pits in the Weald Clay. I also spent two weeks in Germany and Austria (Fossil lagerstätten such as Solnhofen, Messel, the Posidonienschiefer and Alpine geology) for third year palaeobioogy fieldwork.
  All of the above instances often involved mapping, logging, specimen collection to a greater or lesser degree and also, mainly in the case of my dissertation fieldwork, follow-up preparation and curation.
  Dissertation: "Weald Clay Group (Lower Cretaceous, Southern England): Stratigraphy, Palaeoenvironments and Palaeoecology." Primarily an analysis of modes of taphonomy, event stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, reconstruction of environments and salinity fluctuations during Wealden times. The work is also accompanied by stratigraphic logs for each locale, a catalogue of collected specimens and details of preparation and curation.
  An appendix is also added with an in-depth analysis of a dinosaur-bearing bone-bed discovered at Warnham, the material from which is now housed as part of the Palaeobiology Department’s teaching collection.
  This work has been published on the Internet ( www.geocities.com/grim_styles/ugdiss/wealdclay.htm ), archived at the Booth Museum of Natural History (Brighton) and has received much academic and industrial interest.

BSc (Hons) Ecology and Conservation
University of Sussex - Autumn 1995 to Spring 1996
  Course Content: A firm grounding in Biological and Environmental Science with courses in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Mathematics, Ecology, Environmental Chemistry and Evolutionary Theory.
  I withdrew from the course, however, due to the death of my partner, also a student at the University. The Evolutionary Theory studies and lectures at Sussex greatly fuelled my interest and enthusiasm and led to continuation of my studies in this area, my pastime of collecting numerous fossils from the local Chalk and Sussex Weald and ultimately led to my choice of degree at Portsmouth.

Access to Environmental and Life Sciences
Hastings College of Art and Technology, E. Sussex - Autumn 1994 to Summer 1995
  Course Content: Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Ecology, Mathematics and Computer Skills. Qualification for university entry. Completed projects and assignments including an ecological survey of a wetland area.

Assistant Geophysicist
Digital Exploration Ltd, East Grinstead, W. Sussex - October 1990 to December 1992
  A data processing company producing seismic sections on contract from various major clients in the petroleum industry. My position entailed processing data from seismic surveys, applying numerous software treatments and producing finished sections. Whilst working at the company I gained more and more responsibility and eventually personally managed the processing of a survey project contracted from Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. I also learnt computer programming from the company network and taught myself to build databases for each project and to write programs producing batch files, improving the efficiency of the various processing techniques.

Secondary School Education
Oxted County School, Surrey - Autumn 1984 to Summer 1990
  Two ‘A’ Levels (Geology and Physics) and eight GCSEs (Maths, Physics, Geology, Geography, History, Art, Biology and English).

Gardening Business
S.E. Surrey and Sheffield - Intermittently to February 2003
  Having established a client base in my local area, I have often run my own gardening business in addition to my studies. This has been an occupation that I whole-heartedly enjoy and see as an insight into Natural History.

APPLIED SKILLS

Organisational and Curatorial skills: I am systematic and competent in work which I undertake, having managed processing projects as a geophysicist and mapping groups during university fieldwork. Whilst at Portsmouth I had frequent experience of working with the department’s collections. I have also prepared and curated my own palaeontological collection (of about 1000 specimens) along with material collected for my dissertation.
  Since working at Maidstone Museum I have had further and more extensive experience in collections management and databasing, specimen preparation and conservation techniques.

Research skills: As a result of my degree, notably my dissertation, other studies and employment, I am an experienced and competent researcher, both in the field and using specimen analysis, academic literature and media resources such as the Internet.

Communication skills: I am confident in verbal communication skills, having given numerous presentations to seminar groups both at Sheffield and Portsmouth University. I work well within groups and developed good interpersonal skills leading mapping teams in fieldwork and contributing to class seminars. Whilst employed as a geophysicist I often trained new employees in data processing and analysis.
  I have also developed excellent written and visual communication skills having submitted many essays and reports during my education and employment. I have also presented work in a variety of media including web-based and poster formats.

Computer Skills: I have had much experience with general applications such as Microsoft Office and have frequently used Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access for the presentation of work, collections management and the manipulation of data. I am also more than familiar with email software such as Outlook and Pegasus, desktop publishing with Paint Shop Pro and Publisher and over the past few years have taught myself web design and programming to a competent level using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. At times I have used more specialised graphic design software such as POV-Raytracing and geological software including Stratabugs.

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP & INTERESTS

  I am a member of both the Palaeontological Association and the Museums Association and as such regularly receive Palaeontology and the Museums Journal with recruitment supplement.
  I try to keep up to date with palaeontological news mainly through online journals, internet discussion groups, mailing lists and news servers and also often purchase New Scientist and Nature.
  Also, I have started compiling data for a website to showcase my web design skills and to act as a hub for links to palaeontological resources, journals, research departments and personal pages. This can be accessed at www.geocities.com/palaeoweb/index.html .

REFERENCES

Prof. Edmund Jarzembowski
Keeper of Natural History
Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery,
St. Faith’s Street,
Maidstone,
Kent.
ME14 1LH
Tel: 01622 754497
E-mail: edjarzembowski@maidstone.gov.uk

Dr. Michael J. Barker
(Dissertation supervisor/Lecturer)
School of Earth, Environmental and Physical Sciences,
University of Portsmouth,
Burnaby Building,
Burnaby Road,
Portsmouth,
Hants.
PO1 3QL
Tel: 023 92 842245
E-mail: mike.barker@port.ac.uk

Dr. David M. Martill
(Tutor/Lecturer)
School of Earth, Environmental and Physical Sciences,
University of Portsmouth,
Burnaby Building,
Burnaby Road,
Portsmouth,
Hants.
PO1 3QL
Tel: 023 92 842256
Email: david.martill@port.ac.uk