Claire Browning is a Research Scientist and Curator of the Karoo Palaeontology collections at Iziko South African Museum. After completing her MSc in Sedimentology and Palaeontology she began her career as a geologist at the Council for Geoscience, where she worked for eight years on various mapping and research-related projects in South Africa and Madagascar. Ms Browning has always been fascinated by palaeobiology and education and decided to shift her career into the heritage sector at Iziko Museums of South Africa, where she has been working for just over a year (Sept 2018).
Currently her research interests include an ongoing international collaboration aiming to understand the palaeoenvironment as recorded in South Africa during end-Ordovician (~440 million years ago). This is especially important because it records a dynamic set of climate shifts that have been related to the second largest mass extinction event known on our planet. She is also engaging with colleagues to begin collaborative research projects in the ~300 to 180-million-year-old Karoo Basin. She has spent time exploring new potential areas for fossil discovery as well as describing some new specimens being prepared from the collection. In addition to research, Ms Browning works proactively with education, outreach and public engagement initiatives at the museum. She is constantly looking for ways to make science relatable to a wider audience, especially through new media.
