Patricia Vickers-Rich

In 2016, Vickers-Rich was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Earth Sciences, particularly palaeontology, as an academic, to education curriculum development, and to international scientific organisations.

Vickers-Rich's work has gained her election to numerous prestigious organisations. In 2015 she was elected as a Bragg member of the Royal Institute of Australia, she was made a member of the Explorers Club, New York, in 1998, and elected a member of the International Academy of Sciences of Nature and Society Moscow Branch in 1996.

Vickers-Rich's scientific literary works have attracted the Victorian Premier's Award for Science Writing (2007-2009) and Queensland Premier's Award for Science Writing (2007-2008) for The Rise of Animals; the Eureka Prize (1993 and 2000) for Wildlife of Gondwana and Dinosaurs of Darkness; Michael Daley Award for Excellence in Science Technology and Engineering Journalism (1993); and the Whitley Medal (1994 and 2004) for best book on the natural history of Australian animals for Wildlife of Gondwana and Magnificent Mihirungs. Additionally, Vickers-Rich is the recipient of the Roy Wheeler Medallion for Excellence in Field Ornithology (2005), the National Geographic/Toyota Field Vehicle Award (2002), Chairman's Award from the National Geographic Society (2000), the Crosbie Morrison Medal (1998), and she received the Key to the City of Mesa,  Arizona, for the Great Russian Dinosaurs Exhibition (1995).

In 1976, Vickers-Rich took up a position as Lecturer in Earth Sciences at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. During a long tenure, her significant roles at Monash University included Deputy Head of Earth Sciences and Professor and Personal Chair of Palaeontology, and currently as Emeritus Professor in Palaeontology.

In addition to her roles at Monash, between 1976 and 2021, Vickers-Rich has held positions as Vice President and President of the Australian Association of Palaeonologists, Research Associate at the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston, Research Associate in Vertebrate Palaeontology and Ornithology at the Museums Victoria and Research Associate in the Laboratory of Precambrian Organisms at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow.

She, along with husband Tom Rich, has led a major effort since the 1970s to locate new fossil localities in her home state of Victoria, Australia. Together the couple described the dinosaur genera Leaellynasaura and Timimus, naming them after their daughter and son, Leaellyn and Tim Rich, respectively. Their field work in Victoria informs their research on interpreting changing climate and biogeographic affinity of the biota of Gondwana during the past 120 million years.

Vickers-Rich was born and educated in the United States. In her early career, she worked as a zooarchaeologist at the Nevada State Museum and Research Assistant in Palaeontology while she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in paleontology at the University of Berkeley. She completed a Master of Arts in geology at Columbia University in 1969, and obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy from Columbia University in 1973.

Patricia Arlene Vickers-Rich AO (born 11 July 1944), also known as Patricia Rich, is an Australian Professor of Palaeontology and Palaeobiology, who researches the environmental changes that have impacted Australia (including the ancient super continent, Gondwana) and how this shaped the evolution of Australia’s fauna and flora.