Dr Roger Smith’s research focuses on the combination of field-generated geological and palaeontological data into reconstructions of ancient ecosystems.
He obtained a BSc in geology and zoology from the University of Manchester in the UK, a MSc in Karoo sedimentology and palaeoecology from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a PhD in Karoo vertebrate taphonomy and fluvial sedimentology from the University of Cape Town. He worked as a geophysical technician for the British aerial survey company Hunting Surveys, before moving to South Africa where he took up the position of palaeontologist for the Geological Survey of South Africa. He then worked for the mining company Newmont as an exploration geologist, before taking up his current position as research scientist and curator at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town.
For the last decade, Smith has focused his research on the End-Permian mass extinction and its potential influence on the evolution of mammals. In the course of his work he has found, logged, excavated and accessioned more than 5 000 vertebrate fossils in the Karoo into South African national collections (Council for Geosciences and Iziko South African Museum). These fossils have provided students with numerous research projects and many are currently on display in museums throughout the country.
He has co-supervised 15 honours, three master’s and four PhD students, and has mentored five postdoctorates. In addition to his museum duties, Smith is an honorary research associate at UCT, lecturing geology students and supervising a number of educational projects, including the excavation of a five-million-year-old riverbed at the West Coast Fossil Park. He is a principal investigator for the NRF African Origins Platform, working on West Coast palaeoecology.
He has published 79 peer-reviewed research papers in journals such as SA Journal of Science, the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, and Geology as well as two book chapters, four field guides and 11 articles in popular magazines. Regular presentations at sedimentological and palaeontological conferences have raised international awareness of his research and generated invitations to visit, lecture and conduct research at various institutions. He is currently on the advisory panels of the South African Heritage Resources Agency, South African Committee for Stratigraphy, the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences at Wits, and the Council for the National Museum.
He was recently awarded a highly competitive Research and Exploration Grant by the National Geographic Society of America as the principal investigator of the “Earliest Tetrapods in Gondwana” project.