I am an interdisciplinary scientist, with a first class undergraduate masters degree in Geoscience, a postgraduate masters degree in Biological Science and a PhD in Palaeontology.

• UKRI Future Leaders Fellow 2022-present ‘The past, present and future of unique coldwater benthic (sea floor) ecosystems in the Southern Ocean’
• Palaeobiologist British Antarctic Survey, 2009 to present
• Molluscan Palaeontologist, British Antarctic Survey, 2007 to 2009
• Research Associate of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, 2017 – present
• Honorary Secretary The Malacological Society of London 2016-present
• Membership Secretary The Malacological Society of London 2014-2016
• NERC funded PhD ‘Systematics, taphonomy and palaeoecology of selected invertebrates from the Late Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte, South Africa’ University of Leicester, 2003-2007
• NERC funded MSc ‘Advanced methods in taxonomy and biodiversity’ Natural History Museum, London and Imperial College, 2002-2003
• MSci Hons. Geoscience, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1998-2002.

Research interests

As a palaeobiologist at the British Antarctic Survey, my recent research has focussed on the evolution of polar ecosystems on several different levels, from tracing the history of individual taxa through time to looking at the interaction of taxa and the community structure as a whole. These studies have also examined the interaction and evolution of biota through changing climatic and tectonic regimes.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

• Trotter, C., Griffiths, H., Khan, T., Purser, A., & Whittle, R. (2025). The Weddell Sea Benthic Dataset: A computer vision-ready object detection dataset for in situ benthic biodiversity monitoring model development (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/1ba97e4b-efb7-460b-9f2d-90437e33ce09

• Khan, T., Griffiths, H., Whittle, R., Stephenson, N., Delahooke, K., Purser, A., Manica, A., & Mitchell, E. (2025). Organisms identified from OFOBS images from PS118 Profiles 6_9 (Weddell Sea) and 69 (Powell Basin), April – May 2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/7fb2f0c1-413c-4cd6-84ab-a504bf431290

• Khan, T., Whittle, R., Witts, J., Griffiths, H., Manica, A., & Mitchell, E. (2025). Invertebrate fossil occurrences from the Cretaceous Lopez de Bertodano Formation (Maastrichtian), Seymour Island, housed in the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), Ithaca, NY (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/c1252fb5-8075-431c-a78b-1c1d8da37c5e

• Trotter, C., Griffiths, H., Khan, T., & Whittle, R. (2025). Automated detection of Antarctic benthic organisms in high-resolution in situ imagery to aid biodiversity monitoring: optimal model weights (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b2874f3f-285d-4ae6-9bb4-6bfe3eacbfff

• Linse, K., Grant, S., Whittle, R., Reid, W., McKenzie, M., Federwisch, L., Polfrey, S., & Apeland, B. (2020). Benthic seafloor images from Prince Gustav Channel and Duse Bay, Eastern Antarctic Peninsula, March 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/48dcef16-6719-45e5-a335-3a97f099e451

1. The evolution and ecology of Antarctic sea floor communities

   Antarctic seafloor ecosystems are both unique and fragile. Studying their past and present gives us valuable insights into how climate change may reshape them.

   Read more of: The evolution and ecology of Antarctic sea floor communities

   

2. Larsen-C Benthos

   The Larsen-C Benthos project studied benthic biodiversity on the seabed exposed by the 2017 calving of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf.

   Read more of: Larsen-C Benthos

   

3. Managing South Orkney’s seafloor communities

   SO-AntEco was a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) led expedition undertaken in conjunction with an international team of scientists from the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) AntEco research programme.

   Read more of: Managing South Orkney’s seafloor communities

   

4. Impact of global disturbances on evolution of polar life

   Why does global biodiversity show such a steep increase just as climates were deteriorating?

   Read more of: Impact of global disturbances on evolution of polar life

   

1. SCIENCE IN THE SEA: The adventure begins

   British Antarctic Survey (BAS) palaeobiologist Dr Rowan Whittle is a member of the Larsen C Benthos research cruise onboard the RRS James Clark Ross. Rowan’s primary role is to assist […]

   Read more of: SCIENCE IN THE SEA: The adventure begins

   

1. Learning about the first animals from life at the poles

   The amazing survival strategies of polar marine creatures might help to explain how the first animals on Earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils suggest according to new […]

   Read more of: Learning about the first animals from life at the poles

   

2. Marine life recovery following the dinosaurs’ extinction

   A new study shows how marine life around Antarctica returned after the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. A team led by British Antarctic Survey studied just under 3000 […]

   Read more of: Marine life recovery following the dinosaurs’ extinction

   

3. Major shift in marine life occurred 33 million years later

   A new study of marine fossils from Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and South America reveals that one of the greatest changes to the evolution of life in our oceans occurred […]

   Read more of: Major shift in marine life occurred 33 million years later

   

4. Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid

   A study of more than 6,000 marine fossils from the Antarctic shows that the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs was sudden and just as deadly to life in the polar regions.

   Read more of: Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid

   

• Council Member, The Malacological Society of London