Jenny McElwain's research on fossil plants has shaped understanding of atmospheric evolution and plant-atmosphere interaction on geological timescales. Her work on atmospheric change associated with biotic extinction events in Earth’s deep past, particularly the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction (~200 million years ago) reframed understanding on the contribution of climate change to plant extinction. Jenny is a botanist by training. Her research integrates experimental palaeobotany, palaeoecology, isotope geochemistry, evolutionary biology and plant physiology. Her research has developed novel methods of using fossil plants as both sensors of their paleo-environment and as vehicles with which to understand how extinct species functioned in and influenced paleo-ecosystems.
Jenny McElwain was awarded the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in Environmental Sciences and Geoscience (2022), the President's Medal of the Palaeontological Association (2017) and was elected to Fellow of the US Paleontological Society in 2021. She is an elected fellow of Trinity College Dublin (2019) and an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy (since 2017). She holds the 1711 Professorial Chair of Botany at Trinity College Dublin and is Director of Trinity College Botanic Garden.
Professional position
- 1711 Chair of Botany, Botany Department, Trinity College Dublin
