Opening Lecture: Georges Cuvier and the Establishment of Paleontology as Science
Born in 1964, in the city of Santos, Dr. Frederico F. A. Faria was graduated in Biology in 2003 by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), where also he obtained his master's degree in Plant Biology in 2005 and Ph.D in Humanities in 2010. Between 2010 and 2014 conducted a postdoctoral internship in Philosophy (Epistemology). Since 2015 he is associate professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Dr. Faria Is member of the research program Paleoinvertebrates and Ichnofossils of Brazil, from the National Museum (UFRJ), conducting a programmatic line of research titled History of Brazilian Paleontology and Geopaleontological Collections, as well as leader of the group Fritz Müller-Desterro of Studies in Philosophy and History of Biology (from UFSC). Your main invastigations concerns the History and Philosophy of Science, emphasing Philosophy and History of Biology, Paleontology and Geology, and has published specialized articles on the philosophy and history of paleontology and geology, discussing topics involved in the formation and development of these subjects and its impact on biological thought.
Lecture: Rapid diversification of birds following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction .
Daniel Field is researcher and professor at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Cambridge (UK), where investigates the origins of modern vertebrate diversity, as well as the origins of morphological, behavioral and physiological specializations of birds from a paleobiological approach, integrating anatomical, fossil and molecular data.
Lecture: Diversification events and the effects of mass extinctions on the evolutionary history of Crocodyliformes
Felipe Montefeltro is professor at the Department of Biology and Animal Science of São Paulo State University, Ilha Solteira campus, since 2015. Has a master's and doctorate degree in Comparative Biology from the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo University), with traineeship and studies at McGill University (Canada). Dr. Montefeltro is dedicated to the phylogenetic systematics and the evolution of the ears of Crocodyliformes, and is also dedicated to study of Rhynchosauria.
Lecture: Reconstructing the South Atlantic Geological History from IODP/CAPES Surveys
Gerson Fauth, PhD in Geology by Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Germany), teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in geology in the University of the Rio dos Sinos Valley (UNISINOS), where he also coordinates the Technological Institute of Micropaleontology - itt FOSSIL. Has experience in Geosciences, with emphasis on biostratigraphy, and also works on topics on microfossils, Cretaceous and Cenozoic, evolution of Brazilian marginal basins and mass extinctions. Since 2006 he has coordinated teams of micropaleontologists performing research projects in different sedimentary basins in Brazil and abroad, as well as projects with Integrated Ocean Drilling Program in Brazil (IODP/CAPES) and the Brazilian Antarctic Program. Recently Dr. Fauth served as co-chief of Expedition IODP 388: Equatorial Atlantic Gateway.
Lecture: Dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Triassic of Greenland
Octavio Mateus is professor at NOVA (New) University of Lisbon and paleontologist and curator of the Lourinhã Museum (Portugal). PhD in Paleontology by NOVA (New) University of Lisbon (2005) and Biologist by the University of Évora, Dr. Mateus is dedicated to search and study of fossils around world, mainly in Angola and, more recently, Greenland. He has accumulated more than 100 publications since 1997, having described and named 34 species of dinosaurs and other taxa: Lourinhanosaurus antunesi (1998), Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis (1999), Tangvayosaurus hoffeti (1999), Draconyx loureiroi (2001), Lusotitan atalaiensis (2003), Europasaurus holgeri (2006), Allosaurus europaeus (2006), Prognathodon kianda (2008), Miragaia longicollum (2009), Angolachelys mbaxi (2010), Angolatitanadamastor (2011), Lusonectes sauvagei (2012), Kaatedocus siberi (2012), Torvosaurus gurneyi (2014), Zby atlanticus (2014), Metoposaurus algarvensis (2015), among others. In 2015, he and colleagues "resurrected" by making valid again the name Brontosaurus excelsus Marsh, 1879, an iconic North American sauropod dinosaur. Octávio also acts in the scientific diffusion on several fronts, among them through the blog LusoDinos.
Lecture: Clocks, fossils, and an Reverend: integrative approaches to understand the evolution of lizards, snakes and other reptiles
Tiago Simões, PhD in Biological Sciences by the Evolution and Systematics program from the University of Alberta (Canada), is currently Alexander Agassiz Postdoctoral Fellow at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (United States). Dr. T. Simões conducts research on Paleozoology, focusing the fossil record of Squamata and macroevolution.
Lecture: Paleo-geographical patterns v/s climate change in South America and the Antarctic Peninsula: a possible explanation from the origin of the southern biota
Director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) and Chilean representative at the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), Doctor Marcelo Leppe began his research investigating the Triassic floras of southwestern Gondwana, and since several years has been studying the connections between Antarctica and South America during the Mesozoic, mainly throughout the Cretaceous, and also and the origin of southern South American biotas.