I’m delighted to be championing the region by bringing the Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology to Birmingham in 2025. This is the largest meeting in the world for palaeontological researchers, and will bring over a thousand researchers, students, enthusiasts and journalists from all over the world to the city. It is only the fourth time in the 85 year history of the meeting that it has been held outside of North America, and it is a hugely exciting opportunity to showcase everything the region has to offer.