Andreas T Hirblinger is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate Institute in Geneva where he conducts research on peacebuilding, with a special interest in the role of knowledge production. His most recent research project asked how information and communication technologies can support inclusive peace mediation. He currently explores opportunities and challenges of machine-supported argument analysis for peace mediation, as well as the role of technology in navigating uncertainty in peace processes.

Sausan Ghosheh is a Senior Political Communications Strategist with two decades' experience working mainly in conflict and post-war settings. She worked for CNN, rising to Senior International Producer and reporting live during violent clashes and armed conflicts. In 2006, she joined the UN and held multiple positions, including Senior Adviser to several Special Representatives to the Secretary-General, Spokesperson, Director of Communications and Head of Strategic Planning and Analysis.

Katrin Wittig is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. She specialises in peace and conflict studies, with a focus on mediation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and the analysis of rebel groups and violence patterns in armed conflicts. Katrin has worked in the African Great Lakes region, especially Burundi. Before joining Cambridge, Katrin worked with the United Nations in the fields of early warning and mediation.

Akiko Horiba is Program Director of the Asia Peace Initiative Department in the Sasakawa Peace Foundation with a focus on Southern Thailand, women’s political participation in Asia and strengthening civil society networks in Southeast Asia. Previously Akiko worked as a policy secretary in the Japanese House of Representatives. She received a PhD in Area Studies (Indonesia, conflict analysis) from Sophia University, Japan and a Master of theological studies at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Massachusetts, USA.

Maho Nakayama is Director of the Asia Peace Initiatives Department in the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Prior to this she spent a decade at the Japan Foundation including working in Indonesia to develop programmes to promote Japan’s relationships with Asian countries, and supporting peace and reconciliation projects in Aceh. She holds an MA in social anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK.

Alex Shoebridge, an Oxfam Peacebuilding Adviser based in Denmark, is involved in supporting civil society peace organisations in South Sudan, at the national and local levels as well as in the refugee community in Uganda. This role includes a specific focus on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Previously Alex worked in the UN system on conflict prevention and peacebuilding focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. Alex holds an MA in Anthropology, with a focus on conflict and fragility, from the Australian National University.

John Packer is Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre and Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. He previously taught at the Fletcher School (Tufts University) and the University of Essex, held fellowships at Cambridge and Harvard Universities, and has lectured at academic and professional institutions around the world.

Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka has 20 years’ experience working on conflict transformation and peacebuilding as a practitioner, researcher and lecturer, as well as Senior Policy Officer at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), most recently focusing on inclusive peacebuilding, recovery and reconstruction in the Middle East and North Africa region as well as Afghanistan.

Khalilullah Safi is an independent peace activist and analyst. He was born into a land-owning family in eastern Afghanistan, where his father was an elder in their tribe. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 his family was displaced to Pakistan. While enrolled at Dawat al-Jihad, an orthodox university, his classmates and cohort included future Taliban leaders. Khalilullah has degrees in agriculture from Kabul University and international relations from Peshawar University.

Ja Nan Lahtaw is a civil society leader in Myanmar. Since 2014 she has been the Executive Director of the Nyein (Shalom) Foundation, an NGO founded in 2000. Ja Nan has been directly involved in the peace process in a number of roles including as a Technical Adviser to the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), the negotiation team of ethnic armed organisations and a co-facilitator of the NCCT and Government of Myanmar negotiations for the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) from 2013 to 2015.