Philip Donoghue
Philip Conrad James Donoghue FRS is a British palaeontologist and Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol.Education
Donoghue was educated at the University of Leicester where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in 1992 and PhD in Paleontology in 1997 for research supervised by Richard Aldridge and Mark Purnell. He also holds a Master of Science degree in palynology from the University of Sheffield.Research
Donoghue's research focuses on major transitions in evolutionary history, including the origin and early evolution of vertebrates, animals, and plants. He has been influential in developing a 'molecular palaeobiology' in which evidence from living and fossil species, anatomy and molecular biology, phylogenetics and developmental biology, can be integrated to achieve a more holistic understanding of evolutionary history. He introduced synchrotron tomography to palaeontology, and has played a leading role in establishing the role of palaeontology in establishing evolutionary timescales.Awards and honours
Donoghue was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2015. His certificate of election reads:
Donoghue has been on the Councils of the Palaeontological Society, Systematics Association, the Micropalaeontological Society and the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology. His research has been recognised by the award of the Philip Leverhulme Prize of the Leverhulme Trust in 2004, the Bigsby Medal of the Geological Society in 2007, and the President's Medal of the Palaeontological Association in 2014.
