Nix Cobb
- Email: gjvk3966@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Green planet: the timeline of photosynthetic evolution and the habitability of the Earth
- Supervisors: Professor Benjamin J. W. Mills, Dr Khushboo Gurung, Prof. Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo (UoBristol, UK), Prof. Phil Donoghue (UoBristol, UK), Prof. Andy Ridgwell (UC Riverside, USA)
Profile
I am a PhD sudent in the Earth Surface System Science Institute (ESSI) in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Within ESSI I am part of the Cohen Geochemistry, specifically the Earth Evolution Modelling Group, run by my supervisor, Prof. Benjamin Mills.
I graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BSc in Natural Sciences (Biological Sciences and Palaeontology) in 2023, where I did a range of different science, social science and humanities subjects. My undergraduate thesis project focused on the depiction of Late Pleistocene megafauna and environments within cave art. Following that in 2024 I completed an MSc Palaeobiology, with a masters thesis project focusing on biogeochemical modelling of wildfires through the Cenozoic using machine learning and adapting the COPSE model.
Aside from academics, I am intersted in DEI, specifically around neurodiversity, people of colour and LGBTQ+ people in STEM.
Research interests
My PhD project investigates the evolution of oxygenic photosythesis in Cyanobacteria and its influence on biogeochemical cycling during the early Earth, and how this impacted habitability.
Qualifications
- BSc Natural Sciences (Biological Sciences and Palaeontology), University of Birmingham, 2018-2023
- MSc Palaeobiology, University of Bristol, 2023-2024
Research groups and institutes
- Earth Surface Science Institute
- Cohen Geochemistry