José María Bermúdez de Castro Risueño (Madrid, 18/06/1952), graduate and PhD in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM); Professor of the Department of Palaeontology of the Faculty of Ciencias Geológicas of the UCM (1988-1990); Senior Scientist, Researcher and Research Professor of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) between 2004 and 2012, and Coordinador de Paleobiología of this institution between 2012 and 2023. His awards include the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Investigación Científica y Técnica (1997), the Premio de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades of the Comunidad de Castilla y León (1998) and the " Ciudades Patrimonio de la Humanidad " (2009). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Burgos, co-director of the excavations at the Atapuerca sites since 1991, co-director of the Fundación Atapuerca and member of the Real Academia Española.