Emilio Sperone is Associate Professor of Zoology (SSD BIO/05) at the Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences of the University of Calabria. He graduated with honors in Natural Sciences at the University of Calabria and obtained the title of PhD in Animal Biology at the same university. His research interests cover many aspects of the biology, ecology, ethology and conservation of amphibians, reptiles and marine vertebrates, in particular elasmobranchs, bony fishes and cetaceans. His laboratory has research projects currently underway in the Mediterranean basin, Mexico, South Africa, Madagascar. His research group makes use of a variety of field investigation techniques (drone, ROV and BRUVS) and laboratory techniques (analysis of stomach contents, analysis of microplastics, leukocyte counts, stable isotopes). He has been supervisor of bachelor's and master's degree theses at the University of Calabria, Bologna, Turin and Naples "Federico II", but also at CICIMAR (Mexico), the University of Faro and the University of Evora ( Portugal). He has supervised three doctoral theses, and is currently supervisor of an RTDA seal of excellence "Marie Curie". He is Assistant Editor for Acta Herpetologica, European Zoological Journal, Frontiers in Marine Science and Guest Editor for Biology MDPI. He is part of the committee that drew up the IUCN red lists for Italian vertebrate fauna (anuran amphibians), he is a member of the UCN SHARK SPECIALIST GROUP for the Mediterranean, he is a member of the CITES national committee. He has served as a consultant to NOAA as a shark expert. He organized the XXIII European Congress of the European Elasmobranch Association and was Invited Speaker at the First Latin American Congress on Elasmobranchs. He has coordinated and coordinates projects of the FEAMP fund (CESPES-BIO, AVAM-AZA, CIRPES) and two PRIN project as principal investigator.