palaeontologist/references/skills.md

Competences — palaeontologist

Source: ESCO v1.2.1 occupation-skill relations (http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/82e37849-30ec-4461-a40e-263d4c984f88).

Essential

• apply for research funding (skill/competence)
• apply research ethics and scientific integrity principles in research activities (skill/competence)
• apply scientific methods (skill/competence)
• communicate with a non-scientific audience (skill/competence)
• conduct research across disciplines (skill/competence)
• demonstrate disciplinary expertise (skill/competence)
• develop professional network with researchers and scientists (skill/competence)
• disseminate results to the scientific community (skill/competence)
• draft scientific or academic papers and technical documentation (skill/competence)
• evaluate research activities (skill/competence)
• geographic information systems (knowledge)
• geological time scale (knowledge)
• geology (knowledge)
• increase the impact of science on policy and society (skill/competence)
• integrate gender dimension in research (skill/competence)
• interact professionally in research and professional environments (skill/competence)
• manage findable accessible interoperable and reusable data (skill/competence)
• manage intellectual property rights (skill/competence)
• manage open publications (skill/competence)
• manage personal professional development (skill/competence)
• manage research data (skill/competence)
• mentor individuals (skill/competence)
• operate open source software (skill/competence)
• paleontology (knowledge)
• perform project management (skill/competence)
• perform scientific research (skill/competence)
• promote open innovation in research (skill/competence)
• promote the participation of citizens in scientific and research activities (skill/competence)
• promote the transfer of knowledge (skill/competence)
• publish academic research (skill/competence)
• scientific literature (knowledge)
• scientific modelling (knowledge)
• scientific research methodology (knowledge)
• speak different languages (skill/competence)
• synthesise information (skill/competence)
• think abstractly (skill/competence)
• use geographic information systems (skill/competence)
• write scientific publications (skill/competence)

Optional

• analyse experimental laboratory data (skill/competence)
• apply blended learning (skill/competence)
• apply statistical analysis techniques (skill/competence)
• assemble fossils (skill/competence)
• biology (knowledge)
• botany (knowledge)
• chemistry (knowledge)
• collect samples for analysis (skill/competence)
• conduct field work (skill/competence)
• conduct geochemical research (skill/competence)
• develop scientific theories (skill/competence)
• examine geochemical samples (skill/competence)
• excavate fossils (skill/competence)
• gather experimental data (skill/competence)
• geography (knowledge)
• geophysics (knowledge)
• habitat restoration (knowledge)
• identify fossils (skill/competence)
• interpret geophysical data (skill/competence)
• locate fossils (skill/competence)
• operate scientific measuring equipment (skill/competence)
• oversee excavation (skill/competence)
• paleography (knowledge)
• perform laboratory tests (skill/competence)
• record test data (skill/competence)
• teach in academic or vocational contexts (skill/competence)
• work ergonomically (skill/competence)
• write research proposals (skill/competence)

Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 7 ads, as of 2026-07-18)

Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs.

Hard skills

• data analysis — 57 %
• budget management — 29 %
• collections management — 29 %
• comparative anatomy — 29 %
• paleontology — 29 %
• project management — 29 %
• regulatory compliance — 29 %
• systematics — 29 %
• taxonomy — 14 %
• technical report preparation — 14 %
• research project leadership — 14 %
• specimen curation — 14 %
• specimen preparation — 14 %
• technical writing — 14 %
• vertebrate anatomy — 14 %
• research — 14 %
• public programming — 14 %
• paleobotanical taxonomy — 14 %
• paleontological research — 14 %
• paleontological resource mitigation — 14 %
• phylogenetics — 14 %
• policy development — 14 %
• program implementation — 14 %
• macrofloral analysis — 14 %
• microscopy — 14 %
• morphometrics — 14 %
• collection care — 14 %
• excavation — 14 %
• exhibit development — 14 %
• fossil anatomy identification — 14 %
• data capture — 14 %
• descriptive anatomy — 14 %
• digitization — 14 %
• documentation — 14 %

Methods

• best practices — 14 %
• ceqa/nepa documentation — 14 %
• countywide paleontology management planning — 14 %
• collections-based research — 14 %
• ct scanning — 14 %
• museum best practices — 14 %
• museum curation — 14 %
• natural history collections — 14 %
• ontogenetic analysis — 14 %
• field research — 14 %
• imaging techniques — 14 %
• inclusive programming — 14 %
• interpretive program development — 14 %
• peer review publication — 14 %
• permit reporting — 14 %
• phylogenetic techniques — 14 %
• scientific collaboration — 14 %

Responsibilities

• research conduction — 29 %
• report preparation — 29 %
• field team oversight — 29 %
• data analysis — 29 %
• facility planning — 14 %
• fossil collection — 14 %
• fossil identification — 14 %
• fossil research — 14 %
• grant proposal preparation — 14 %
• image capturing — 14 %
• data interpretation — 14 %
• data quality control — 14 %
• database management — 14 %
• ct data processing — 14 %
• conference participation — 14 %
• cost proposal preparation — 14 %
• collections reorganization — 14 %
• client coordination — 14 %
• collaboration with curators — 14 %
• agency coordination — 14 %
• anatomical key usage — 14 %
• outreach event facilitation — 14 %
• junior staff mentoring — 14 %
• lab maintenance — 14 %
• literature review — 14 %
• manuscript review — 14 %
• marketing support — 14 %
• project management — 14 %
• public outreach — 14 %
• scientific reporting — 14 %
• specimen maintenance — 14 %
• specimen organization — 14 %
• technical report preparation — 14 %
• volunteer supervision — 14 %
• mitigation implementation — 14 %
• vendor identification — 14 %
• timesheet submission — 14 %
• specimen preparation — 14 %