Dean Lomax

Dr Dean Lomax is a palaeontologist, author, and TV host. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the UOM and an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. His research primarily focuses on ichthyosaurs, or ‘sea dragons’, but his interests are broad and focus on a variety of topics.

Dr Dean Lomax has had an unusual career in academia, which is far from traditional. In school, he was not very good academically and failed GCSE science, as well as his A-levels. As a result, he did not have the grades or finances to go to university and never did an undergraduate degree. Instead, he decided to gain first-hand experience in the field and in 2008, aged 18, began writing his first academic paper, thus starting his journey into academia. Despite being unable to attend university, which meant that he was not taken seriously in some circles, he worked his way up the ladder by writing many academic papers, books, and popular articles, before becoming affiliated with The University of Manchester in 2013.

Today, Dr Lomax is an internationally recognised multi-award-winning palaeontologist, author, and presenter. He travels across the world excavating and researching dinosaurs and other ancient animals, discovering and naming new species, and regularly appears on TV as an expert and presenter, notably co-hosting the primetime TV series Dinosaur Britain. He is the author of multiple books and many academic papers, is a leading authority on ichthyosaurs, and won a gold medal for science communication at the Houses of Parliament. Dean earned his PhD at The University of Manchester where he is also an Honorary Visiting Scientist and is also an 1851 Research Fellow at The University of Bristol. — In 2021, he led the excavation of the 'Rutland Sea Dragon', the most complete skeleton of a large prehistoric reptile ever found in the UK. He presented a TED talk about this sensational discovery.

Dr Lomax has published extensively on ichthyosaurs, but also on dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites, trace fossils, plants, eurypterids, horseshoe crabs, Mary Anning, among other things.

You can learn more about Dr Lomax's work at his website, here: https://www.deanrlomax.co.uk/.