The Teaching Team held the inaugural Winter Lecture on 5 December. The event was an opportunity to come together at the end of Michaelmas term to hear from one of our Emeritus faculty members, Professor Dave Norman, who delivered a lecture titled ‘Dinosaurs: are their evolutionary origins and relationships problematic? … and … should we care?’
Dave Norman has had an illustrious scientific career, beginning as an undergraduate at the University of Leeds and joining the Department of Earth Sciences in 1991 as Director of the Sedgwick Museum—a position he held for 20 years. Dave introduced vertebrate palaeontology to the Department’s teaching programme, lecturing Part 1A and 1B students for many years, leading the Dorset and Sedbergh field trips, and, of course, serving as Director of Teaching for a number of years. Alongside his successful research career, he has been an advocate for science communication, installing new exhibits in the Museum such as Darwin the Geologist and authoring several popular science books on palaeontology.
For alumni who remember Dave’s lectures fondly, as well as current students who may be less familiar with his work, this Winter Lecture was a fantastic opportunity to hear about his research.