Dr Charl Ras is a senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. His interests lie in algorithms and network design, and more generally in efficient algorithmic solutions to problems from operations research and combinatorial optimisation. His PhD (2007) was in structural graph theory, and this interest evolved into a wider interest in networks and optimisation. Today he predominantly does research on network design problems that arise in telecommunications, where his focus is on studying mathematical structures underlying optimal networks, analysing the algorithmic solvability and approximability of network problems, and designing and implementing efficient algorithms for network construction.