Simon Underdown

Simon Underdown is a Professor of Biological Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, affiliated with the School of Social Sciences and the Centre for Environment and Society (CES). He leads the Human Origins and Palaeo-Environments (HOPE) Research Group. His research focuses on human-disease co-evolution, ancient DNA, and hominin evolution, with fieldwork in South America, the Middle East, and southern Africa. He holds multiple fellowships, including from the Royal Society of Biology and Royal Geographical Society.

Research interests include Paleopathology, microbiome studies, and Neanderthal adaptation. Notable grants include £45,000 from the Anglo-Omani Society for DNA and Ancient Flora research in Oman (2021–2023) and £14,907 from the Society of Antiquaries for environmental studies (2019–2024). He has supervised six PhD students exploring topics like medieval skeletal health and human migration.

Awards include Chartered Science Teacher status and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His work appears in journals like Annals of Human Biology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.