Biography
2003-2007: MESc undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences, St. Peter's College, University of Oxford
2007-2011: DPhil in Ediacaran Palaeobiology, Exeter College, University of Oxford
2011-2014: Henslow Junior Research Fellow, Girton College, University of Cambridge
2014-2016: NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of Bristol
2016-2021: University Lecturer, University of Cambridge
2021-2025: Associate Professor, University of Cambridge
2025 - : Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Cambridge
Research
I am a palaeobiologist whose research focuses on the fossil record of the earliest animals. The research conducted by my group currently includes investigation of: the late Ediacaran fossil record (spanning the geological interval ~580 to 539 million years ago when the earliest recognisable animals diversified throughout the global oceans); the sedimentary record of glacial conditions through time; Ediacaran-Cambrian palaeogeography; and the preservation of soft tissues in the rock record. We combine biological, ecological, sedimentological and analytical approaches to resolve the early evolutionary history of animals, and the interplay between biological evolution and major environmental change.
Publications
Selected recent publications. A full publication list can be found in the publications database here.
Dunn, F.S., Donoghue, P.C.J. and Liu, A.G. (2025)
Morphogenesis of Fractofusus andersoni and the nature of early animal development.
Nature Communications, 16, 3439. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58605-9
McMahon, W.J., Liu, A.G., Veenma, Y.P., Vixseboxse, P.B. and Boddy, C.E. (2025)
Remarkable fossils on unremarkable bedding planes? The role of true substrates in the fossil record of the Ediacaran macrobiota.
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 556, “Bedding Surfaces: True Substrates and Earth's Historical Archive”. Eds Davies, N.S. and Shillito, A.P. doi: 10.1144/SP556-2024-108
O’Connell, B., McMahon, W.J., Nduutepo, A., Pokolo, P., Mocke, H., McMahon, S., Boddy, C.E. and Liu, A.G. (2025)
Transport of ‘Nama’-type biota in sediment gravity and combined flows: Implications for terminal Ediacaran palaeoecology.
Sedimentology, 72(2), 365-407. doi: 10.1111/sed.13239
Wang, Z., Davies, N.S., Liu, A.G., Minter, N.J., and Rahman, I.A. (2024)
Identifying the signatures of the earliest benthic bulldozers in emergent subaerial conditions during the colonization of land by animals.
Proceedings of the Royal Society, B, 291(2034), 20241629. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1629
Wang, X., Liu, A.G., Chen, Z., Wu, C., Liu, Y., Wan, B., Pang, K., Zhou, C., Yuan, X. and Xiao, S. (2024)
A late Ediacaran crown-group sponge animal.
Nature, 630(8018), 905–911. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07520-y
Delahooke, K.M., Liu, A.G., Stephenson, N.P. and Mitchell, E.G. (2024)
‘Conga lines’ of Ediacaran fronds: insights into the reproductive biology of early metazoans.
Royal Society Open Science, 11, 231601. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231601
Instagram: palaeo_ninja
Teaching and Supervisions
Part 1B ESA Carbonate and chemical sediments.
Part II, Ancient Life and Environments
Part III, Records of Major Environmental Change
Dorset field trip co-ordinator.
Supervisions in sedimentology, palaeobiology and climate.
PhD students
Philip Vixseboxse (2021 - Present): Experimental approaches to the preservation of Ediacaran macrofossils.
Catherine Boddy (2021 - Present): Sedimentology and depositional environments of late Ediacaran shallow marine successions.
Lara Uttinger (2024 - Present): Palaeogeographic controls on the Cambrian Explosion.
Masters students
Novo Ukiri (2024 - present): The Ediacaran evolution of bilaterians.
Previous students:
Dr Katie Delahooke (2020 - 2025, University of Cambridge): Eco-evolutionary dynamics of early animal ecosystems.
Dr Ben Tindal (2018 - 2022, University of Cambridge): Geological constraints on glaciation through Earth history. Now works for Natural England.
Dr Frankie Dunn (2015 - 2019, University of Bristol): Growth and morphogenesis in the Ediacaran macrobiota. Now a Senior Researcher at the University of Oxford Museum of Natural History.
Elkan Utoni (2023 - 2025, University of Namibia): Palaeoecology of Ediacaran matground assemblages.
Iris Powell (2023 - 2024): The palaeogeographic distribution of the Cambrian explosion.
Buck Blake (2023 - 2024): Taxonomy of Ediacaran tubular fossils from Namibia.
Erin Leahy (2019 - 2020): Super-traits in Ediacaran palaeocommunities (co-supervised with Dr Emily Mitchell)
Anna McGairy (2019 - 2020): A new Ediacaran frond from the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland (co-supervised with Dr Charlotte Kenchington)
Catherine Boddy (2019 - 2020): The palaeogeographic distribution of the Ediacaran macrobiota
Alavya Dhungana (2018-2019): Taphonomy and palaeoecology of discoidal Ediacaran fossils from Ferryland, Newfoundland
I am happy to discuss Masters or PhD projects with potential future applicants, please get in touch by email.
Other Professional Activities
Voting member of the Ediacaran Subcommission on Stratigraphy
Council Member, Cambridge Philosophical Society
Member of the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee
Christine McKie Official Fellow in Natural Sciences, Girton College
