About the Authors

All three authors of Fossil Treasures of the Geology Museum followed their undergraduate studies in geology with PhD research in paleontology at the internationally-acclaimed Department of Geology at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka – University of Otago. They are excited to share with readers the remarkable and highly diverse collections of fossils housed in the Geology Museum within the Department of Geology, collected by staff, students and members of the public over the past 150 years.

	Daniel Thomas is a vertebrate paleontologist with a particular interest in the functional morphology of living and fossil penguins and other birds. He has been Convenor of the Geoscience Society of New Zealand Paleontology Special Interest Group, and, with Jeffrey Robinson and Carolina Loch, co-authored a Special Issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2024 which celebrates the fossil record of Aotearoa New Zealand and the continuing contributions of Zealandia to global knowledge of vertebrate diversity and evolution.
	Jeffrey Robinson has focused his research on invertebrates including living and fossil brachiopods from New Zealand. He is currently working on a database which will eventually include all 60,000 identified fossil specimens housed in the Geology Department collections. This includes photography, reorganisation of the collections and coordinating volunteers.
	Daphne Lee has been co-ordinator of research at Foulden Maar since 2003 and has a particular interest in lagerstatten deposits. Her research interests are many and varied, ranging from fossil plants to freshwater diatoms and fish to living and fossil marine invertebrates. In 2017, she received the McKay Hammer from the Geoscience Society of New Zealand, the premier award for geological research in New Zealand, based in part on publications on aspects of Foulden Maar.