This weeks PhDetails is with Richie Howard who studies at the University of Exeter in the UK. Richie did his undergraduate degree in geology at the University of Leicester, followed by a masters in palaeobiology at the University of Bristol, where he researched scorpion phylogeny. After starting his PhD in 2017, he spent his 1st year across the Natural History Museum in London, the University of Bath, and the University of Bristol working on including their preserved Cambrian fossils into molecular phylogenetic analyzes, in order to constrain the evolutionary history of the moulting animals (Ecdysozoa). Enjoy!
The 13th Floor Elevators. I love 60s rock n roll and psychedelia. Could probably write my thesis on that instead. I like a lot of music from that period really.
Favourite band/musical artist post 1980?
I think Thee Oh Sees are unquestionably the best band in currently in the world, and my friends are frustrated by my absolute truths on these matters. The Cure and Spacemen 3 have also been the best, but before my time.
Favourite movie?
The Matrix is my all-time favourite, and the best film I’ve seen recently is Mad Max 2. I am a bit of a sucker for a strong aesthetic regardless of any need for a plot, so Mad Max works very well for me. The Matrix is one of those rare films with both style and substance.
Where do you study and who is/are your supervisors?
I’m at the University of Exeter now, out in the wilderness at the Cornwall Campus working with Xiaoya Ma. Xiaoya is my main supervisor; her research on fossil arthropod nervous systems attracted me the project, and we’re now starting to focus on Cambrian fossils. However, I have a small army of co-supervisors across 3 other institutions as well. Phil Donoghue and Davide Pisani at the University of Bristol (where I spent most of my 1st year doing molecular work), Matt Wills at the University of Bath, and Greg Edgecombe at The Natural History Museum in London.
What year of your PhD are you in?
I just started my 2nd.
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
I’m on an NERC GW4+ (UK Natural Environment Research Council) studentship that is half funded by NERC themselves, and half funded by the Natural History Museum in London. The funding is for 3.5 years, it’s a good scheme, especially for my subject (palaeobiology).
Do you have any publications?
Not yet, though I got my first manuscript back from review recently and will be resubmitting with revisions this week, so fingers crossed! If it gets published it will be in the Springer Journal “Organisms Diversity & Evolution”, and the topic is scorpion evolution.
Did you do a masters – where was it and was it about?
Yes I did, at Bristol. The topic was scorpion evolution, specifically integrating phylogenomic and palaeo data. It’s research that I have carried over onto my PhD, and Davide Pisani was my supervisor for that too.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
I did my undergraduate degree in geology, so I have done plenty of fieldwork in the past, but I haven’t done any so far in my PhD (though we have plans in the works, including collecting in Yunnan Province, China). My favourite by far was the 6 weeks I spent on the Isle of Raasay for my undergrad geological mapping projects, which is a tiny island in the Inner Hebrides, western Scotland. It was a crazy time. There was just the 4 of us going mad in a cabin with no internet and little clue of how to approach our task. We met eccentric people, got into bizarre situations, and regularly endangered ourselves with our lack of awareness and preparation – but all against this stunningly beautiful backdrop of mountains and lochs. I didn’t think there really was anywhere in a country like the UK that could feel properly remote and wild like that.
What are the best and worst bits about your labwork?
I love working in the lab as a palaeontologist, it’s incredibly satisfying to look down a microscope at a fossil and see all the fine detail that your eyes alone can’t make out. The frustrating part is trying to keep rocks tidy and organised. Also bits of sediment gets everywhere.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
Tones really, at least 10 over 2 years. But the 2 that I successfully interviewed for were incredibly similar projects that I really badly wanted to do – and all the others I applied and was rejected for were random and all over the place. My case definitely goes to show it’s not worth applying on a whim to something you’re not passionate about, and you’ve got a better chance if the project is really really your thing.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
Literally never quite got the hang of compass clinos during my geology degree lol. Scanning electron microscopes are a piece of cake by comparison!
What one piece of advice would you give to a masters student applying to PhDs now?
I guess what I said above about not just going for something on a whim. It’s a serious commitment so you’re gonna be in a much better position if it’s something you are passionate about, for me it doesn’t even feel like work. I mean it is still hard work, but I’m cool with it. Also you’ve got to go and meet the supervisor. Your relationship with them is so important and crucial. I’m really lucky, I have an unusually large number of supervisors, but I like and get on with all of them.
What supervisor traits are important to you?
What I would describe as emotional intelligence I suppose. I’ve been really lucky with this. It’s great to have supervisors that are experienced scientific geniuses with heads bursting with knowledge (and fortunately I have that!), but it’s important to have supervisors that care about your wellbeing, who integrate you into a research group as a person, not just as a scientist.
What do you think are the worst supervisor traits?
There are abusive bullies in universities that have PhD students under their supervision and that upsets me greatly. I’m fantastically lucky to have 5 people that could not be more professional and capable supervising me.
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
Resolving the shape and chronology of the moulting animal* tree of life, and understanding how moulting animal evolution has influenced our living planet.
*Moulting animals (Ecdysozoa) include insects, spiders, tardigrades and nematode worms.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
I went to South Korea to access a fossil collection in January and that was bonkers, and the Palaeo Olympics in Paris in July (International Palaeontological Congress, which happens every 4 years in a different country). I also have a really fab time at the Natural History Museum in London where I go so often it has become mundane. We made a very cool discovery about a super weird fossil from half a billion years ago there.
Have you had an academic lowpoint of the last year – if so what happened?
I’ve been working on molecular clocks mainly this year, which is essentially the methodology where molecular evolution meets palaeontology. It’s fascinating, and cutting edge, but requires a knowledge of two disciplines that are very different. Both subjects deal with the study of evolution, but they are vastly different on a practical level. The problem is that most people with the relevant knowledge of palaeontology (i.e. people like me) are not people who know how to code or do bioinformatics. I basically know what animal that rock used to be, so working with genomic data through a computer terminal was well out of my comfort zone. So it was really frustrating and intimidating for me having to throw myself into the deep end like that, but I had the right people around to help me struggle my way through it. And now I can use the command line and know what robot words like “cd /..” and “ls” and “mv *” mean. Happy ending or what.
Which academic idol/scientist have you met?
Have bumped into Richard Fortey at NHM. He’s often on the telly and has written lots of books, and I’ve seen Attenborough give a talk but not met him personally. Xiaoya and Phil have both been involved with Attenborough doccos actually which is way cool.
Which academic idol/scientist would you most like to meet?
Steve Irwin RIP xoxo
Do you have a favourite paper?
No I’m not a dork. Okay Aguinaldo et al. (1997) Nature for those who know.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
I’ve been to Progressive Palaeontology twice (the UK student palaeo conference), and that’s always a laugh because it’s very social and about building confidence. The IPC in Paris was great too, I’ve never seen so many palaeontologists in one place. I’m going to a palaeontology conference organised by the Chinese Ministry of Education in Kunming next month, and I’m guessing that is going to be a new experience to say the least.
What hours do you typically work?
Roughly 9-5 Monday-Friday. Keepin it simple. However, I do travel a lot so it can vary.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
I’ve just moved to a new town, so I’m still at that exploring phase and haven’t got a social group yet. I’ve been going out with my camera a lot because the wildlife in Cornwall are way more conspicuous and abundant than I am used to. I use the pictures in posters and presentations etc so it just feels like part of my PhD really. I have lots of hobbies, but I don’t mind just leaving them for the weekend and focussing on work in the week. I only really go nuts if I’m not able to get away and see my friends for a few days every now and again.
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
Access to my research funding without having to spend the money first myself. Reimbursement is a ridiculous system for people who already do not earn a lot. Conference fees, flights, and accommodation do not come cheap. My DTP is one of the better ones and they pay us £14,563 per annum in stipend payments. The UK living wage is £7.83 per hour, which works out as £15,269 per year on a 37.5 hour week. Fair enough we don’t have to pay council tax, but our weeks work is typically more than 37.5 hours. I aim for that by working 9-5, but there are expectations for all sorts of other work that PhD students end up doing and not being paid for. I supervised an MSc student last year. I wanted to do that because I was interested in the research and wanted the supervisory experience, but I didn’t get paid for all that extra workload. I do outreach as often as I can, and that is always expected to be voluntary. Fair enough, I love my subject and it’s a pleasure sharing it, but it is more work I am not paid for – and it will continue at post doc and PI level should I progress further into academia. It’s not right, and combined with widespread casualization of the workforce in UK higher education it is a real problem.
What would be your dream job?
As lame as it sounds, all I’ve ever wanted to be is a palaeontologist. So my dream job is what I am doing now.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
With a lot of luck, doing a post doc in the north of England.
One word to sum up your future in academia:
Wormy
What do you want to achieve outside of academia in the coming year?
I would like to learn Mandarin because I’m going to spend quite a lot of time in China during my PhD and it would be cool to talk to Xiaoya in Mandarin, but I’m really dreadful at languages. More realistically, I’d like to get a wetsuit and go snorkelling when the weather gets nicer. My mate is sending me his old moth trap as well so that’s gonna be wild.
What essential tool hardware/software could you not do your PhD without?
Ubuntu, which is a freeware linux operating system. I have a PC not a Mac, so doing stuff in the command line using unix based stuff was a huge pain in windows because it’s a different system to the one used in Mac OSx and linux. Most of the software I use is written for the Mac/linux version, so it’s really boring and annoying trying to do it in windows. However, you can easily just install an Ubuntu partition really easily on your windows machine to get around it. You can even right click > open in terminal in Ubuntu it’s fabulous. I’ve probably explained that very poorly as I am a fossil fondler not a computer wizard.
Who has been your academic role model/inspiration and why?
My undergraduate tutor was a big inspiration because he was just incredibly warm and wise, and made me believe in myself. He was just very old school as well, a real field palaeontologist/geologist. She’ll be embarrassed if reading this, but I really look up to Xiaoya as well, she did her PhD at Leicester where I did my undergrad so I was always hearing about her research when I was doing my degree and it was influential when I came to do my masters at Bristol.
Where is somewhere you would like to work in the future?
Mars.
Do you have a favourite organism – what is it and why – is it different from your study organisms?
I study a huge diversity of organisms, and that is endlessly fascinating to me. I’m spoilt for choice but arthropods are definitely my favourite group. I had a pet orchid mantis for a while and that was really amazing.
How do you avoid procrastinating?
I listen to music constantly and I drink loads of water.
What motivates you in your day to day PhD life?
I just imagine the eventual outcome of whatever tedious task I might be performing. Like, I’m thinking “wow this is menial and boring, but in a few months it could be a paper and you’ll be dead pleased!” and that keeps me motivated.
How often do you meet with your supervisors?
Every day I guess. I pretty much spent all week with Xiaoya and Greg this week at the NHM. When I was at Bristol it was less often though, as I was one of many, many palaeo PhD students, whereas I’m a critically endangered species at Exeter so I guess they can’t forget about me!
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience e.g. social seminars/group meetings?
QPT – Quiet Pint Tuesday
Burger Wednesday
The famous and exclusive Bristol Palaeo Gin Night
If you could change one thing about your group/department structure what would it be (serious e.g. more student representation or silly e.g. meetings outside)?
I still don’t understand the structure of the department I belong to, and I’m not sure what its name is. So there’s a few issues there.
What major question in your subject area is yet to be addressed – why is it important and why isn’t anyone addressing it?
I think peoples interpretations of the Cambrian Explosion still aren’t anywhere near consensus. There’s lots of ideas floating around as to whether it was a biological event where many major animal lineages rapidly diverged, or a just geological event that meant these animals started becoming preserved as fossils – or even if it happened at all. It’s also hard to test because it was a hilariously long time ago, and an “explosion” isn’t an objective term. How many millions of years is too many millions of years to not be considered a rapid period of evolution? For example, people have been comparing morphological and ecological disparity in the Cambrian compared to the rest of the Phanerozoic (all the time since the Cambrian) and getting different answers for years. What we really want to know is if animal evolution in general was particularly accelerated during the Cambrian, but it’s hard to test that because we don’t understand a whole lot about Precambrian animal evolution, and quantifying evolution from fossils is kind of subjective. This is why we are moving towards integration of molecular sequence data with palaeo data. Fossils provide totally unique information about evolution, but it’s incomplete and subjective information; they’re really esoteric that way. By comparison sequence data provides objective information about evolution, and lots of it, but it’s not so complementary to try and relate changes in substitution rate or AC-GT content to biospheric scale phenomena. That’s where fossils come in, they ground truth interpretations of evolutionary processes from hypothesised from molecular sequence data.
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