At first glance, Natalia Jagielska\u2019s workspace looks like a clash between a scholarly science laboratory and a whimsical art studio. On one hand, she studies reconstructions of 200-million-year-old dinosaurs; on the other, she creates \u201ccute\u201d digital sketches of Jurassic-era creatures.<\/p>\n
For Jagielska, a 28-year-old postdoctoral researcher in palaeontology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the two worlds are inseparable. Apart from research, she also works as a freelance illustrator and scientific consultant for television, books and video games.<\/p>\n
Jagielska\u2019s journey to Hong Kong was a meandering road. Born in Poland, she moved to the United Kingdom as a child. Having grown up as a \u201cJurassic Park<\/em> kid\u201d, she joined an integrated master\u2019s programme in Earth science at the University of Manchester the year she turned 18.<\/p>\n After that, she headed to the University of Edinburgh to complete her PhD in palaeontology, but her fascination with Chinese fossils \u2013 sparked by a British Council cultural immersion programme in Chengdu and Hangzhou in mainland China \u2013 eventually pulled her into Asia.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of sites across China and Hong Kong which have amazing fossils that have not been described yet,\u201d Jagielska says. \u201cIt\u2019s like an unexplored frontier with very different animals, new species and new features.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/14\/92cb0f44-08dc-4a13-9c65-219b13f5ed06_9fb1ea23.jpg\" "\\"An")
<\/div>Hong Kong\u2019s Jurassic rocks<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n