Annette Gerlach from Berlin is a bilingual journalist and TV host for ARTE, the European cultural channel she joined when it was founded in 1992. She presents the daily news programme as well as prestigious live music events from La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the Paris Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Salzburg Festival, and the Savonlinna Festival in Finland. She is also in charge of developing Educ'ARTE and ARTE Campus in Germany, ARTE's educational tools for schools and universities. Annette Gerlach is a regular speaker at conferences, round tables, symposia or award ceremonies for the Council of Europe or the European Parliament, among other institutions and associations. She also does coaching for television and stage presentations.

Alex Taylor is a European journalist. He has produced and presented TV and radio programmes for 30 years, mainly on French TV and radio (France Télévisions, France Inter), but also for international broadcasters (Euronews, TV5 Monde, ARTE, BBC). He was Programme Director for Radio France Internationale in charge of implementing the current 24 hours news format. Parallel to journalism, he has hosted some 1 500 international conferences on a wide variety of topics, especially environmental issues. He has also written a best seller on his passion, languages, of which he speaks (more or less) 7. He also once worked as a camel trainer in a circus.

Kathryne Bomberger has worked in the field of international relations, human rights, politics and conflict prevention for the last 20 years.  Since 1998, she has led the development of ICMP, which is today the world’s leading human rights and rule of law organization dedicated exclusively to helping governments address missing persons issues arising from war, human rights violations, migration, organized crime, natural disasters and other causes. She was appointed ICMP Director-General in 2004.

Dita Charanzová is a Vice President of the European Parliament. Elected first in 2014, she is serving her second mandate. Ms Charanzová completed a doctorate degree from the University of Economics, Prague, and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in Madrid. She is a former diplomat, whose postings included the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU during the Czech Presidency. She has also worked at the Council of Europe. In the European Parliament Ms Charanzová is the Renew Europe Coordinator (ranking member) for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.

Based in Paris, currently represents the agency in engaging with major development partners, and international organizations in Europe, closely following topics such as crises in Ukraine and the Sahel. His past positions include, Senior Deputy Director General of Africa Department, member of the Digital Transformation Taskforce, Senior Director and head of India Division, Deputy Chief of Myanmar Office, Director of Climate Change Office, Representative of PRC Office in Beijing. Obtained BA Economics, Keio University, Japan, MSc in Environmental Change and Management, University of Oxford, UK, and studied Chinese language at Peking University, PRC.

Adam Lupel has been Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the International Peace Institute since 2016. He served as IPI Acting President and CEO from October 2020 to March 2021. He is responsible for developing IPI’s long-term research agenda and for overseeing management and coordination between IPI’s offices in New York and Manama. Between 2014 and 2016 he served as the director of research and publications for the Independent Commission on Multilateralism, a project of IPI. In 2015, he led IPI’s support to the General Assembly mandated “Lessons Learned Exercise” on the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, working in close collaboration with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

Jakob von Weizsäcker, has been Minister of Finance and Science in the state of Saarland since 2022. Previously, he headed the secretariat of the Joint Task Force of the G20 finance and health ministers. From 2019 to 2022 he was “Chief Economist” at the Federal Ministry of Finance and Director General of the department for fundamental policy issues and international financial policy. From 2014 to 2019 he was a Member of the European Parliament for Thuringia, he previously headed the department for economic policy and tourism in the Thuringian Ministry of Economic Affairs. From 2005 to 2010 he worked as resident fellow at Bruegel, a leading European policy think tank in Brussels. He has a master’s degree in physics at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and a Diplôme d'études approfondies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.