Michel Laurin is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 vertebrate paleontologist specialising in the origin and phylogeny of tetrapods, comparative biology and paleobiology

Paleobiology

Paleobiology is a growing and comparatively new discipline which combines the methods and findings of the natural science biology with the methods and findings of the earth science paleontology...

. As an undergraduate he worked in the laboratory of Robert L. Carroll

Robert L. Carroll

Robert Lynn Carroll is a vertebrate paleontologist who specialises in Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians and reptiles.Carroll was an only child and grew up on a farm near Lansing, Michigan...

, and took his doctor thesis on the osteology of seymouriamorphs

Seymouriamorpha

Seymouriamorpha were a small but widespread group of reptiliomorphs. Many seymouriamorphs were terrestrial or semi-aquatic. However, aquatic larvae bearing external gills and grooves from the lateral line system has been found, making them unquestionably amphibians. The adults were terrestrial...

 under Robert R. Reisz

Robert R. Reisz

Robert Rafael Reisz is a Canadian paleontologist and specialist in the study of early amniote and tetrapod evolution.Robert Reisz was born August 27, 1947, in Oradea, Romania. He received his B.Sc. , M.Sc. and Ph.D. from McGill University as Robert L. Carroll’s first doctoral graduate...

 at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

. He has later worked on untangling the phylogeny of the Stegocephalia

Stegocephalia

Stegocephalia is an old term for early amphibians, comprising all pre-Jurassic and some later extinct large amphibians of more or less salamander-like build...

ns, a phylogenetic notoriously difficult group. He later moved to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, working at Université Paris 7 and at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Laurin has been a key contributor to the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature

International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature

The International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature was established to encourage and facilitate the development and use of, and communication about, phylogenetic nomenclature. It organizes periodic scientific meetings and is overseeing the completion and implementation of the PhyloCode....

, where he serves as president 2008-2009 and as secretary 2010-2011.