Charlie Underwood is a senior lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London with over 25 years of experience in research and teaching. His research has focused on fossil sharks and their relatives, as well as their geological and palaeoenvironmental context, and has expanded to include the formation of the teeth and skeleton of modern sharks and rays. He has published more than 70 scientific papers. Dr Underwood is an editor for the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and has served on the committees of several other societies.