Paul Eckhard Witten (Dr rer nat), educated as a Zoologist at the Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg (Germany) is a professor in the Department of Biology at Ghent University in Ghent (Belgium), where, together with Ann Huysseune, he co-supervises the Evolutionary Developmental Biology laboratory, which specializes in the development and evolution of skeletal tissues, ranging from the notochord to the vertebral column, dermal skeleton and dentition. His research focuses on development, plasticity, and remodeling of skeletal tissues, especially bone, cartilage and teeth of teleost fish. Co-founder of the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology, he is the founder and organizer of the international conference series on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Fish Skeletal Biology (IAFSB.org).

Brian Keith Hall (PhD, DSc, LLD (hc), FRSC), educated as an experimental embryologist and zoologist at the University of New England in Armidale (Australia) is University Research Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada). His research on the differentiation of skeletal tissues led him to earlier stages of embryonic development and the origin, function and evolution of skeletogenic neural crest cells through comparative studies using embryos from all five classes of vertebrates. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, recipient of a Killam Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, he was one of eight individuals awarded the first Kovalevsky Medals in 2001 to recognize distinguished scientists of the 20th century in comparative zoology and evolutionary embryology.