Frankie Dunn Appointed Associate Professor
The Museum of Natural History and the Department of Earth Sciences are delighted to announce that Dr Frankie Dunn has been appointed Associate Professor of Natural History, recognising her outstanding contributions to research, teaching and academic leadership.
Frankie Dunn is an internationally recognised palaeobiologist whose research investigates the origins and early evolution of animal life. Her work aims to understand how the earliest animals evolved and diversified, with a particular focus on enigmatic Ediacaran macrobiota. Through innovative approaches to fossil analysis and evolutionary theory, her research has transformed our understanding of some of the earliest complex life on Earth.
Frankie joined the University of Oxford in 2019 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Merton College. In 2022, she was awarded a prestigious NERC Independent Research Fellowship and became Senior Researcher at the Museum of Natural History. Since 2024 she has also been Stipendiary Lecturer at University College.
Her research has been recognised through publications in leading journals including Science, Nature Communications, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Current Biology and Science Advances. Alongside her research, Frankie has secured significant external funding, including a NERC-NSF grant, and has built an international reputation in early animal evolution and palaeobiology.
Frankie has made substantial contributions to teaching across both the Department of Earth Sciences and the wider University. She leads undergraduate courses in Palaeobiology and Evolution, is a Stipendiary Lecturer at University College, and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate researchers, many of whom have been recognised for their outstanding dissertations.
She is also an active contributor to the academic community through editorial and leadership roles, serving as an editor for the Journal of the Geological Society, a voting member of the International Commission on Stratigraphy's Ediacaran Subcommission, and through numerous departmental and museum committees.
Many congratulations, Frankie!
