Dr Rachel Ives is the Curator of Anthropology in the department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. She is responsible for the curation of the palaeoanthropology, fossil primate, human remains, and artefact collections and promotes scientific research, exhibitions, and outreach access to the collections. Rachel's research interests are in bone cell biology together with skeletal palaeopathology, particularly the metabolic bone diseases and disease co-occurrence. Rachel has carried out large-scale surveys of metabolic bone diseases in urban contexts and was a post-doctoral researcher on a Calleva Foundation funded Child Health project at the NHM, investigating how the skeleton changes during childhood growth and in response to pathology. Rachel previously worked in the commercial sector carrying out archaeological cemetery excavations and osteological analyses, and she continues work in osteoarchaeological consultancy for heritage development projects.

Simon completed his PhD in archaeology in 1987, and then spent a year teaching archaeology to schoolchildren. He then took up a job as Human Skeletal Biologist for Historic England, a post he still holds. This involves promulgating advice and standards for treatment of human remains from archaeological sites in England. His research interests span most areas of osteoarchaeology, and he has over 250 scientific publications. He helped found the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, and the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past. He is also a visiting member of staff in archaeology at the University of Southampton and at the University of Edinburgh.