02 / Foundations
A few different ways
of thinking.
My route here took me through oceanography, palaeontology, engineering research, and law. They still shape how I approach a new problem.
Learning to look closely.
My Ph.D. at Southampton investigated the mechanical properties of bird feathers: how a lightweight biological structure stands up to the demands of flight. The work combined high-resolution X-ray imaging, spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and computer vision.
Research took me to synchrotron facilities in Britain and Switzerland, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania. It taught me to work across disciplines, be precise about evidence, and stay curious when the answer isn’t obvious.
A different set of questions.
During the pandemic, I took a postgraduate diploma in law at BPP. It was a change of subject, but also another way to examine an argument: what does the wording mean, what follows from it, and which assumptions are doing the work?
Technical writing and knowledge management brought those habits into organisations. The subject changes; the value of careful thinking carries through.
Education Reference
- Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering
- University of Southampton · passed without corrections
- PG.Dip. Law
- BPP Law School
- M.Res. Vertebrate Palaeontology
- University of Southampton · distinction
- B.Sc. Oceanography with Marine Biology
- University of Southampton · upper second
Publications 7 papers & reviews
- Laurent, C.M., Wang, X. & Li, Z. (2021) Exceptional preservation of feather microstructures in amber from the Middle-Cretaceous of Myanmar. Biological Systems 2 (4) 423-439.
- Laurent, C.M., Dyke,G.J., Cook, R.B., Dyke, J.M. & De Kat. R. (2020) Spectroscopy on the Wing: Investigating possible differences in protein secondary structures in feather shafts of birds using Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Structural Biology. 211.1.107529.
- Laurent, C.M., Ahmed, S.I., Boardman, R.P., Cook, R.B., Dyke, G., Palmer, C., Schneider, P., & DeKat, R. (2019) Imaging techniques for observing laminar geometry in the feather shaft cortex. Journal of Microscopy. 277 (3).
- Zitouni, S., Laurent, C.M., Dyke, G. & Jalil, N.(2019) An Abelisaurid Ilium from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco. PloS One 14(4): e0214055.
- Fernandez, M.S, Wang, X., Vremir, M. Laurent, C.M., Naish, D. Kaiser, G & Dyke, G. (2019) A mixed vertebrate nesting assemblage from the Transylvanian Late Cretaceous. Nature Scientific Reports 9 (1944).
- Laurent, C. M. (2016). Review: Evolutionary Biomechanics: Selection, Phylogeny and Constraint. Quarterly Review of Biology , 90 (2).
- Laurent, C.M., Palmer, C., Boardman, R.P., Dyke, G.J and Cook, R,B. (2014) Nanomechanical properties of bird feather rachises: exploring naturally occurring fibre reinforced laminar composites. J. R. Soc. Interface 20140961.
