Michel Laurin obtained his PhD at the University of Toronto in 1994 and did three postdocs, in Berkeley (CA), Paris and Berlin, before accepting a position as CRNS research scientist in Paris. From 2014 to 2024, he has led the team “Metazoan Phylogeny and Diversification” in the CR2P (Paris), one of the three largest research groups in the world. His main research interests include the evolution of Paleozoic tetrapods, dating the Tree of Life and studying biodiversity evolution (including mass extinction events) using fossils, and phylogenetic nomenclature. He served on the councils of several scientific societies, such as the Association Paléontologique Française (currently vice-president) and the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature (currently secretary), which develops the PhyloCode (the code of phylogenetic nomenclature), and has a few editorial responsibilities (chief editor of the Comptes Rendus Palevol (Academy of Sciences, Paris); associate editor of Zoologica Scripta, Frontiers in Paleontology, Contributions to Zoology, etc.). He has published 200 papers in refereed journals (including editorials, book reviews, etc.), 39 book chapters, and 2 books (How vertebrates left the water and The advent of PhyloCode).