Zehra is a Turkish-British structural biologist. She has previously served as Interim President of the Sabancı University and co-chaired the scientific advisory committee for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). She was part of a five-scientist group that received the AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy in 2019. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Turkish Accelerator Center Project (TAC). She serves as a reviewer for several international journals, grant giving agencies and laboratories including Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), USA and EMBL Hamburg Project Evaluation Panel. Dr. Sayers is recipient of the Rammal Award 2017 for her scientific research as well as for her contributions, as Chair of SAC, to the SESAME project from its construction to maturation as an international user facility.

Stephan De Spiegeleire worked as a defense and security analyst at the RAND Corporation for nearly 10 years, culminating in a position as Director for Defense and Security at RAND Europe. His work at RAND was interrupted by 3-year appointments at SWP (Germany) and the Western European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (France). Since 2004 he has been working in research institutes in the Netherlands, first as Director Defense Transformation and currently as the Principal Scientist at the The Hague Center for Strategic Studies. He is also Senior Advisor Defense and Security at TNO and teaches at Webster University and at military academies around the world.

Dr. Evin is a Senior Scholar in Istanbul Policy Center and Professor at Sabancı University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Jean Monnet chair at Sabanci University. Evin initiated, with the European Commission’s support, a policy dialogue on the future European architecture, EU’s eastward expansion, its Mediterranean policy, and the customs union agreement with Turkey. He has established, with the European University Institute (EUI), Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, EU- Turkish Observatory, and several joint programs of professional training and policy research with academic institutions and non-governmental organizations, such as ELIAMEP, USIP, The Kokkalis Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Evin is also the founding member of the Turkish Economy and Social Studies Foundation and the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

Daria is a First Vice Rector, ITMO University. She coordinates the university’s development program within the framework of Project 5-100 and creation of a system of international academic activities. She introduced independent educational standards at ITMO based on the university "code": V+F+PS+SS. To implement educational programs according to the new standards, new university-wide blocks of disciplines were prepared and launched: creative technologies, soft skills, digital culture, thinking, entrepreneurial culture. She also has played a leading role in the formation and implementation of the world-class scientific and educational innovation center "ITMO Highpark".

Christopher Schwartz is an American philosopher and former journalist focused on counter-disinformation and cybersecurity. He completed his doctorate at KU Leuven's Institute of Philosophy in Belgium, and is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the Rochester Institute of Technology's Global Cybersecurity Institute where he is researching deepfakes and explainable artificial intelligence (xAI). Previously, he was a journalist in the former Soviet Union and Central Asia. including serving as editor-in-chief of NewEurasia Citizen Media and consultant for Factcheck.kg, as well as a guest researcher at KU Leuven's Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography (COSIC) research group.

Peter Sloot is a distinguished research professor at the University of Amsterdam and a professor and co-director of the Complexity Institute in NTU, Singapore. He is a Leading Scientist Laureate and has been the PI of many international research programs on complex biomedical systems. He is editor in chief of two highly ranked Elsevier Science publications: Journal of Computational Science and Future Generation of Computing Systems. He has published over 400 research papers. Dr. Sloot is the General Chair of the ICCS series of conferences on Computational Sciences and in the past was the Director of the International MSc program on Computational Science (2008 – 2013), the external member of the UK eScience Strategic Advisory Team and Co-director Complexity Institute NTU, Singapore (2014).

Andrey Evgenievich Volkov is a Doctor of Technical Sciences and Professor. First Rector of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. President of the Russian Mountaineering Federation. Andrey Volkov is one of the leading experts in the field of educational policy in Russia. As an adviser to the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, he led a group of experts from the G8 countries on Russia's initiatives in the field of education and was a participant in the development of a program for the modernization of higher education in the Russian Federation. President of the Russian Mountaineering Federation (since 2003). Master of Sports of International Class. Everest climber (1992). He was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1993), the Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree (2006).

Henry is founder of HMA2, an architectural firm launched in1986 in New York City. Since that time, he has built a distinguished career, fostering education and building community with architecture. Henry's library, school, and college designs transform existing physical and cultural contexts into powerful places of gathering.. Over the years Henry has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University, lecturer at Harvard University, and consultant to dozens of liberal arts colleges through Mellon Foundation sponsored conferences on the impact of technology on places of learning. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Salzburg Global Fellow.