diff --git a/db/migrations/001_create_users_table.sql b/db/migrations/001_create_users_table.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3be0b28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrations/001_create_users_table.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
+    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
+    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
+    affiliation VARCHAR(255),
+    expertise TEXT,
+    orcid VARCHAR(255),
+    password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, -- For simplicity, will store as plaintext for now
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
diff --git a/setup.php b/setup.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d85819
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.php
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<?php
+require_once 'db/config.php';
+
+try {
+    $pdo = db();
+    $sql = file_get_contents('db/migrations/001_create_users_table.sql');
+    $pdo->exec($sql);
+    echo "Database setup successful.";
+} catch (PDOException $e) {
+    die("Database setup failed: " . $e->getMessage());
+}