A day in the life of a dinosaur researcher

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Paul Barrett is a dinosaur researcher at the National History Museum of London. He has been there for three years and says he can't imagine ever leaving.

"I generally get up in the morning at about seven thirty. I'm not very good in the mornings; it takes me a long time to get going. I usually find myself thinking about the day ahead in the shower, and daydreaming, which makes me later than I should be.

I get into work between 9:30 and 10. My day usually starts with checking my phone messages and email, and that takes me about an hour - replying to emails which have come in from colleagues all over the world.

I often have to sit in on a number of meetings during the day. These can be quite varied: administrative meetings, meetings to do with exhibitions or research projects, meetings with my students.

I like to do some research of my own when I have time. That usually involves looking at specimens in our collection, finding out information about them, or trying to get information on other specimens in other museums.

I work on plant-eating dinosaurs, and at the moment I'm working with some early dinosaurs from China and South Africa.

I'm looking at those specimens at the moment and trying to work out whether they're new types of dinosaurs and how they're related to other dinosaurs that we already know.

I leave the museum at about seven in the evening, and generally I do try and check my email when I'm at home, just so it doesn't build up too much for the next morning. But other than that, I usually switch off.

The best thing about my job is the variety. I get to travel to lots of interesting places, look at all sorts of interesting animals which I get to work with in all sorts of different ways - using different techniques, and with different colleagues from around the world.