Automated Paleontology Imaging Equipment for Climate Research Enhancement

This equipment is a central part of the automated Paleontology workflow to be implemented by the newly recruited Paleontology Data Scientist. This purchase aligns with the objectives of the Environment and Climate Theme, and GNS strategy to invest in data science research area.

GNS has recently expanded its Paleontology research team with a view to increasing its contribution to the Environment and Climate Theme, by delivering a step-change in the types and volume of paleontological information. The proposed purchase is an important component that will enable the Paleontology Data Science team deliver this research.

As well as increasing through-put, automated capture allows new data types not routinely collected during manual operation to be considered, such as size or texture. This allows improved insight into ecological response to environmental change. This hardware is expected to allow automated collection of images. Current manual workflow requires ~2-4 hours per slide.

We expect the novel insights and increased through-put from this acquisition will encourage its inclusion in research proposals, and will allow paleontological analysis to be more readily included in smaller commercial proposals where they are currently excluded due to cost.