Paul Barrett

It’s an honor to be nominated for SVP Vice-President. This is an exciting but challenging time for vertebrate paleontology, with new discoveries appearing daily, but against a background of serious ethical challenges. Moreover, despite difficult financial and political circumstances, our members continually provide essential baseline data on past environmental change, combat the spread of misinformation about our evolutionary past, and produce vital new research, outreach, and training.

I’m a fossil reptile specialist at the Natural History Museum, London, and have spent nearly 30 years working on dinosaur paleobiology, taxonomy, and evolution from different perspectives, using varied tools and methods in collaboration with dozens of friends and colleagues from around the world. In addition to publishing >200 scientific papers and training more than 30 graduate students and postdocs, I’ve worked to bring new specimens on permanent public display, develop collections, have written books and delivered numerous lectures and media interviews for popular audiences, and have conducted fieldwork in South Africa, Zimbabwe, China, the USA, and UK.

Previous SVP roles have included substantial involvement with publications, as an Editor (2002–06) and Co-Senior Editor of JVP and Publications Co-Chair (2010–14): during this period we began the transition to online publication. I’ve served as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee (2013–16), liaising between Archives, Publications, and Communications. Another major role was Program Co-Chair (2017–20), whose term included organising the first online Annual Meeting in the wake of the pandemic. Other roles have included membership of the Ethics (2019), Romer Prize (2005–08), Annual Meeting (Bristol, 2009), and Morris Skinner Award (2007–08) committees, and Chair of the Richard Estes Award Committee (2007–10). These roles have provided me with many insights into the everyday running of the Society.

Elsewhere, I’ve served as President of The Palaeontographical Society (2013-18), Vice-President of the Palaeontological Association (2021-23), on Council of the Linnean Society of London (2022–), and as Co-Senior Editor of Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (2018–23). I’ve sat on the editorial boards of Biology Letters, Biological Reviews, and Palaeontology, giving me valuable experience across a range of other societies and journals.

If elected, my primary goals will be to: increase SVP’s international standing, extending its reach; improve communication, making the Society’s affairs as transparent as possible; increase SVP’s role as an expert international voice in policy and educational advocacy, particularly regarding paleontological resource management, local laws, and ethics; and to support not only the science of paleontology, but all the associated activities that make it possible. I would prioritize making SVP an even more welcoming home, bringing my international viewpoint, continuing work on ethics, involvement with local communities, and experience as a member of an underrepresented minority to bear. SVP should be a safe place that values the diverse voices of its membership and recognises the varied contributions needed for our field to endure, grow, and progress. I hope to bring energy, ambition, and experience to the Society, helping the membership achieve its goals and build on its many past achievements.