Dr Keyron Hickman-Lewis — Birkbeck, University of London

Overview

2019–2020 Research Assistant, CNRS Orléans (France) and Università di Bologna (Italy)

2021–2024 Aurora Research Fellow, Natural History Museum, London

2024–2024 Research Fellow, Imperial College London

2024–present Lecturer in Planetary Exploration, Birkbeck, University of London

Correlative 2D and 3D microscopy of Earth's earliest traces of life: Hickman-Lewis et al. (2023, Geology)
Report on the samples collected by the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, on which I have been a Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist since 2020: Herd et al. (2025, PNAS)
Identification and characterisation of the oldest preserved traces of microbial life in Africa: Hickman-Lewis et al. (2018, Precambrian Research)
Development of the palaeo-metallome as a trace element biosignature with applications to the search for life on the early Earth and Mars: Hickman-Lewis et al. (2020, Scientific Reports)
BBC News story reporting our work on Earth's earliest traces of life: Life on Mars? Australian rocks may hold clues for Nasa rover

M.EarthSci (Oxon.) in Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, UK, 2015
Ph.D. in Sciences de la Terre et de l'Univers, CNRS Orléans (France) and Università di Bologna (Italy), 2019

Research

Co-evolution of Earth and Life in the Precambrian: can we constrain the emergence of major microbial metabolisms throughout the Precambrian and their relationship with changing sedimentary environments and ocean chemistry?
Modern analogues of ancient ecosystems: How can we use extreme planetary field analogues most effectively to explain geological and ecological aspects of environments on the early Earth and Mars?
Technique development: How can we harness non-traditional and emerging instrumentation and data treatment (e.g. chemometrics) to shed new light on the ancient fossil record?
Planetary exploration: How can we effectively utilise space mission observations, including rover and orbiter datasets, to reconstruct past environments and habitability throughout the Solar System?

Supervision and teaching

I welcome enquiries from prospective students and postdoctoral researchers who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of interest.

Publications

Herd, C.D.K. and Bosak, T. and Hausrath, E.M. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Mayhew, L.E. and Shuster, D.L. and Siljeström, S. and Simon, J.I. and Weiss, B.P. and Wadhwa, M. and Zorzano, M.-P. and Maki, J.N. and Farley, K.A. and Stack, K.M. (2025) Sampling Mars: geologic context and preliminary characterization of samples collected by the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122 (2), ISSN 0027-8424.
Dorneles, V.A.C. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Barbieri, R. and Caminiti, A.M. and Cavalazzi, B. (2024) Microbe-mineral interactions in the microstromatolitic crusts of the lacustrine chimneys and volcanic bedrock of Lake Abhe, Republic of Djibouti. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana 63 (3), pp. 229-244. ISSN 0375-7633.