Alain Berset became Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 18 September 2024. Prior to that, Mr Berset was an elected Minister in the Swiss government (Federal Council) between 2012 and 2023. During that time, he headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs as Swiss Minister for Health, Social Affairs, Culture, Equality and Anti-Discrimination, and was Minister for Public Health throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Berset also served twice as President of the Swiss Confederation (2018 and 2023), during which he represented Switzerland on the United Nations Security Council and at the Council of Europe’s 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government, where he signed the Reykjavik Declaration on behalf of his country. Before joining the Federal Council, Mr Berset was a member of the Council of States, the upper house of the Swiss Parliament. He was elected as its youngest member in 2003 and went on to serve as its President, from 2008 to 2009. He was also Vice-Chair of the Socialist Group in the Federal Parliament, 2005-2011. Prior to elected politics, Mr Berset held academic roles in economics at the University of Neuchâtel and the Hamburg Institute of International Economics and worked as an independent communications and strategy consultant for associations, companies and non-governmental organisations.

Alain Berset was born on 9 April 1972 in Fribourg (Switzerland). He has MSc in political science and a PhD in economics, both from the University of Neuchâtel. He is married with three children.

Jo Etienne Abela was born in Gozo on 29 November, 1975. He lives in Sliema, married and has three children. Attended Sir Arturo Mercieca Primary School in Victoria, Ninu Cremona – Junior Lyceum Complex and sixth form Sir Michelangelo Refalo, all in Gozo. He studied medicine and surgery at the University of Malta between 1993 and 1999 where he later worked as a medical doctor at St Luke’s Hospital. He moved to Scotland in 2003 to further his studies. During his stay in Glasgow he became a Consultant of surgery where he was the youngest surgeon in the whole country. He then specialized on the esophagus and  the pancreas. He returned to Malta in 2012 and a year later began working at Mater Dei Hospital, Gozo Hospital and also as a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. Professor Jo Etienne Abela has held administrative positions as Deputy Head of the Department of Surgery and Lead Clinician in the High Dependency Unit, endoscopy and pancreatic disease. He also serves as an IST at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and is a college and a Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS) examiner in surgery. He contested the General Election of March 2022 on the 10th and 13th electoral districts and after being elected, was appointed Minister for Active Ageing in the Government led by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge began his second term as WHO Regional Director for Europe in February 2025. A graduate of KU Leuven (1994) and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (1995), he began his career as a family doctor before joining Médecins Sans Frontières. He worked in Liberia, Somalia, and Siberia, then became regional advisor in Moscow for tuberculosis control in the countries of the former Soviet Union. In 1999, he joined WHO in the Russian Federation as project manager for tuberculosis and HIV. From 2004 to 2009, he served successively as technical advisor for tuberculosis, head of the HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria unit at the WHO office in Myanmar, and then as consultant for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Thailand. In 2010, he was appointed Director of the Division of Health Systems and Public Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. As Regional Director from 2020 to 2025, Dr. Kluge guided the Region through the COVID-19 pandemic, mpox, and several crises related to conflict and extreme weather events. He initiated the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, which led to the creation of the WHO European Initiative on the Economics of Well-being and the G20 Joint Task Force on Financing and Health under the Italian G7 Presidency. It also established the Pan-European Network for Disease Control and developed roadmaps for health and well-being in the Western Balkans, Central Asia, and small states.
 

As Assistant Director-General of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Control, Jeremy Farrar leads WHO's work on communicable and noncommunicable diseases, health through the life course, health promotion and social determinants of health, nutrition and food safety, migration and health, and the impacts of the environment and climate change on health. Between 2023 and 2025 Dr Farrar was the Chief Scientist at WHO. Prior to joining WHO, Dr Farrar was Director of Wellcome for 10 years. He oversaw a series of major reforms and growth, with Wellcome now collaborating with partners around the world focused on fundamental discovery science and three challenge areas: Climate and health, Infectious diseases, and Mental health, all with a commitment to ensuring that equity, diversity and inclusion are central to the science they support. Before joining Wellcome, Dr Farrar spent over 17 years as Director of the Clinical Research Unit Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. His clinical and scientific interests have been in integrated health sciences across a range of public health priorities including emerging infections, influenza, infections of the brain, HIV, dengue, typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis, snakebite, and antimicrobial resistance. Dr Farrar trained in neurology and infectious diseases in London, Edinburgh, Melbourne and Oxford. He has a PhD in immunology from the University of Oxford.
 

Aoife Nolan is a leading figure in international human rights law, with a particular focus on social rights. She is President of the Council of Europe European Committee of Social Rights, which she joined in 2017. She is also Professor and Director of the internationally celebrated Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham.
 
Professor Nolan’s professional experience straddles the legal, policy, practitioner and academic fields. She has acted as an expert advisor to governments, as well as a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on human rights issues, including UN entities, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, and multiple NHRIs and NGOs. She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group and is a member of the Doughty Street International steering group. Professor Nolan holds an LL.B. from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence.

Ms Margo Vorykhava is the Advisor on Youth Policy to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, President-elect of Belarus, and a Member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth. She is also part of the official Belarusian democratic delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and a member of the Coordination Council. She has more than seven years of experience in the field of youth rights, education, and democratic participation. From 2020 to 2024, she served as President of the Belarusian National Youth Council (RADA), coordinating the work of over 40 youth organizations during a period of unprecedented repression in Belarus. In August 2024, she was appointed Representative on Youth within the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus. Her work focuses on advocating for the rights of Belarusian youth, supporting students in exile, and strengthening youth participation in European and international policy processes. She has contributed to numerous European and global forums, including the European Youth Forum, and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
 

Gianluca Esposito has been Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe since 1 August 2024.

He was previously the Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Prior to this, he served as Executive Secretary of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Head of the Crime Problems Department, and Head of the Equality and Human Dignity Department.

Gianluca started his career at the Council of Europe in 1995 where he was involved in the negotiation of several conventions and other legal instruments, in the areas of nationality, anti-corruption, cybercrime, the efficiency of justice, combating trafficking in human beings, money laundering, terrorism and its financing. From 2005 to 2009, he was an adviser in the Private Office of the Council of Europe’s Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General. Gianluca served as the Council of Europe’s first Ethics Officer.

From 2009 to 2015, Gianluca was as a Senior Counsel in the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC.

Rafael A. Benitez was born on 23 January 1969 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. He holds a Master’s degree in European Law (LL.M.) from the College of Europe (Bruges) and degrees in Law and Finance from the I.C.A.D.E. - University of Comillas (Madrid). He also studied Political Science at the U.N.E.D (Madrid). He has studied in Spain, Belgium and the United States.

Rafael A. Benitez is currently Director of Social Rights, Health and Environment in the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe.

He has worked in the Council of Europe since 1994 where he has previously occupied other functions including: Director of the Congress of Local and Regional authorities, Director Programme and Finance, Chief of Protocol, Head of the Programme Department, Head of the Public Law Department, Head of the Anti-Terrorism Division and Head of the International Law Division.

He has worked extensively in the legal field including administrative law and justice, international criminal justice and criminal law, in particular corruption and terrorism, and public international law.

He has written in these fields and spoken at many international conferences on these topics.

He has been a visiting lecturer at the Institute of International Relations (ITI-RI) and the International Human Rights Institute (IIDH) in Strasbourg and a member of the admissions board to the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

Prior to joining the Council of Europe he worked in the private sector, both in a law firm and a business association.

He speaks Spanish, English, French and Italian.

Dr Petra Doerr has been the Director of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) since 1 October 2021.

As a pharmacist and PhD, Petra spent the first ten years of her professional career in the medical products industry, working in international regulatory affairs. Before joining Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, she held the position of Vice President Regulatory Affairs Europe, Africa and Asia at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

She joined Swissmedic in October 2004 as Head of International Affairs. In July 2007, she was promoted to Head of Management Services & Networking and became a Member of the Management Board. In this capacity, she assumed responsibility for quality management systems, planning and controlling in addition to steering the national and international collaboration and communications activities. From January 2014 until June 2019, she then held the position of Head of Communication & Networking and Deputy Executive Director.

Amongst other responsibilities in external relations, she oversaw the international activities of Swissmedic with other agencies and international organisations. She was a member of the ICH Management Committee and the IPRP Management Committee as well of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science, and represented Swissmedic at the Heads of Agencies Summits/ICMRA meetings and the DIA’s Council of Regulators. Between 2013 and 2016, she served as the Chair of the International Pharmaceutical Regulators Forum (IPRF; now IPRP). In November 2018, she was elected Vice-Chair of the ICH Assembly.

From July 2019 to October 2020, Petra was also Director and owner of Petra Doerr Consulting Ltd., providing consultancy services to WHO and other not-for profit organizations.

She joined WHO as Head of the Regulation and Safety Unit, Regulation and Prequalification (RPQ) Department of the Access to Medicines and Health Products (MHP) Division at the World Health Organization from November 2020 until August 2021.

A Norwegian national, Hallvard Gorseth has been with the Council of Europe since 2006 and currently serves as Director of Equal Rights and Dignity. He previously held positions as Adviser to the Secretary General and Head of Anti-discrimination Department. His other areas of expertise from the Council of Europe, the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, include gender equality, combating trafficking in human beings, social rights, and the free movement of persons.

Matjaž Gruden is Director for Democracy at the Council of Europe, which includes Council of Europe activities and programmes in the area of education, including education for democratic citizenship, youth cooperation, civil society, media freedom, culture and cultural heritage. 
Matjaž Gruden previously served as Director of Policy Planning, Deputy Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, political adviser and speechwriter for the Secretary General Terry Davis and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Lord Russell-Johnston. Prior to his career at the Council of Europe, he was a diplomat at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted in Brussels. He holds a law degree from the Law Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, as well as a post-graduate degree in EU law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. 

Ass. Prof. JUDr. Tomáš Doležal, Ph.D., LL.M., is a leading legal scholar in medical and civil law. He is Head of the Department of Civil Law and Head of the Research Unit for Medical Law and Bioethics at the Institute of State and Law, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and lecturer at the Institute of Medical Law and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine. He is a Bureau member of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) and Head of the Czech Unit of UNESCO International Network in Bioethics. He collaborates with the Association of General Practitioners, especially during public consultations on medical legislation.
He is the author of many publications, including the monographs The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Private Law, Protection of patients' rights, and Causation the Civil Law.

Member of the CEB’s Management Committee, Ms Faller joined the CEB in March 2024 as Director of the Technical Assessment and Monitoring Directorate. She brings a very strong background in advisory work, with over 20 years of experience in policy advisory and project finance. Her career spans the World Bank, African Development Bank, and Munich Re’s MEAG, focusing on social infrastructure investment. At GIZ, she led teams on sustainable infrastructure, project structuring, and advisory services in education, microfinance, and health solutions. Ms Faller graduated with a master’s degree in international finance and International Development from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Washington DC, and holds an M.A. in Regional Science from the University of Cologne, Germany.
 

Mélanie Lepoultier is Mayor of Sommervieu and Vice-President of the Departmental Council of Calvados (France). In addition, she is Vice-President of « Bayeux Intercom », an institution bringing together 36 French communes of Normandy. She has been a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Congress) since 2022. At the Congress, she is the current Head of the French delegation and has been appointed Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights in March 2024. Ms Lepoultier is a member of the Congress Committee on Social Inclusion and Human Dignity whose work includes promoting the right to health and equal access to health services as implemented by local and regional authorities.

Prof. Stefan Schennach is an Austrian politician and scholar based in Vienna, serving as a Member of the Federal Chamber of Parliament in Austria. He chairs the Committee for Future, Innovation, and Science and serves as Vice-Chair of the Committee for EU Affairs of Austria. Throughout his tenure with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), he has held numerous significant roles, including PACE General Rapporteur for Freedom of Media and Safety of Journalists, Chairperson of the Committee for Social, Health, and Sustainable Development, Chairperson of the Monitoring Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Committee for Culture, Media, and Education. He has also chaired the PACE Subcommittee on Conflicts Between Member States and leads the Republic of Moldova-Transnistria dialogue talks under the auspices of PACE. Additionally, Prof. Schennach acts as Co-Rapporteur for Azerbaijan and Türkiye and has headed multiple election observation missions for both PACE and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Beyond his political and diplomatic contributions, Prof. Schennach is a published author, having published three biographies of Ivica Osim. He is also the Director of the Austrian Baroque Academy.

Hans Wolff is Professor of Medicine at the Geneva University and physician-in-chief of the Division of Prison Health at the Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland, where he was the president of the Clinical Ethics Committee until 2025. He is president of the Conference of Swiss Prison Doctors (CSPD) and member of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
Hans Wolff studied medicine at the University of Marburg, Germany and the University of Geneva, Switzerland and specialized in General Internal Medicine (MD) and Public Health (MPH). 
His main professional interests are related to the human rights of vulnerable populations in relation to social inequalities in health, access to healthcare and medical ethics. In particular, he works on substance use, preventive measures and harm reduction, as well as infectious diseases and mental health in detention. 
He is editor of more than 100 scientific publications and edited 3 textbooks related to prison health and equity and health care for vulnerable populations.
 

Susanne has been with Roche since 2001 and currently serves as the Global Head International Regulatory Policy. In this role she is responsible for leadership, strategic and managerial oversight and execution of regulatory policy activities in international markets.  Susanne has extensive experience with global filings and is a strong advocate for global regulatory convergence and the use of reliance.  Susanne is involved in many international policy activities through EFPIA and IFPMA. Currently, she is the Co -Chair of the EFPIA International Regulatory Expert Group and a member of several working groups in IFPMA and EFPIA.

Konstantina is from Greece. She is a medical doctor, a patient and diabetes advocate, living with type 1 diabetes since 2005.  She currently serves as a Board Member of the European Patients’ Forum and as Board Treasurer of the Hellenic Diabetes Federation. Her work focuses on fighting for patients’ rights, improving access to care and ensuring that the patient voice is included in health policy at national and European levels.

Emanuele Cesta is working in the Product Quality and Pharmaceutical Crime Counteracting Office since 2013 and is providing since 2005 legal assistance and consultancy on compliance issues at the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA). Chair of the European Committee on Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Care (CD-P-PH), he has collaborated with the Council of Europe since 2015, also serving as Gender Equality Rapporteur. Expert in international health law and a member of the European Association of Health Law, he joined the EMA experts’ database in 2016 and has been appointed by the Italian government to repeatedly represent the country in major international initiatives. From 2019 to 2024 he taught Italian Pharmaceutical Law at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and currently lectures in pharmaceutical law within several Jean Monnet initiatives, including the Centre of Excellence EU4GH and the Module “One Health” at the University of Salerno, as well as the Chair “HEAL” at the University of Bologna.

Emer Cooke has been the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency, based in Amsterdam, since November 2020. She also holds the role of Chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA). Between November 2016 and November 2020, she was the Director responsible for all medical product related regulatory activities at the World Health Organization in Geneva. Ms. Cooke is a pharmacist with Master’s degrees in Science and Business Administration from Trinity College Dublin. She has over 30 years’ experience in international regulatory affairs and held management positions at the EMA as Head of Inspections and Head of International Affairs respectively from 2002 until 2016. She has also worked in the Pharmaceuticals unit of the European Commission, where intra-alia, she was responsible for international collaboration, EU enlargement and the orphan medicines regulation for the European Pharmaceutical Industry Association (EFPIA) and in various industry and regulatory positions in Ireland. In 2021 she received the Muckross (her alma mater) Woman of the Year award. In 2022 she received European Movement Ireland’s “European of the Year” award. In 2023 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicines and Health Sciences. Most recently, in 2025, Ms Cooke was inducted as a Fellow of DIA and was awarded DIA's highest honour - the '2025 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Health'.

Judge María Elósegui has served as the Spanish judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 2018 and was elected Vice-President of Section in November 2024. Judge Elósegui has advised national governments and held key roles in ethics and equality bodies, including as an expert and Vice-President of the Bioethics Committee of Aragon from 2013 to 2018, and as an expert in the Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe from 2013 to 2017. In 2005, at the request of the Ministry of Labor and Social affairs, Judge Elósegui served as an expert in the elaboration of the draft Organic Law of Guarantee of Equality between women and men. Judge Elósegui has sat in various cases relating to the rights of patients including the Grand Chamber judgment in Pindo Mulla v Spain, which concerned the administration of blood transfusions to a Jehovah’s Witness against her will. As well as the recent case S.O. v. Spain, regarding the issue of consent in surgical procedures. From 1994 to 2018, Judge Elósegui was Professor of Philosophy of Law, Human Rights and Legal Theory at the University of Saragossa, where she also coordinated the doctoral program of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and served as a member of the Secretariat of the Commission to supervise PhD students. In 2017, she was a visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for comparative Public Law and International law, and at the Faculty of Law of the University of Heidelberg. Judge Elósegui holds doctorates in Philosophy and in Law from the University of Navarre. A Master in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, a Master in Law from the University of Saint-Louis in Brussels, and a degree in law from the National University of Distance Education in Madrid.

In 2008, Judge Elósegui was awarded the Luis Portero award for human rights by the Academy of jurisprudence and legislation, Grenada. From 1999 to 2017, she served as director of Aequalitas, an academic journal which focused on legal equality of opportunities between women and men.

Mr Mubangizi is a senior regulator with experiences in the regulation of pharmaceutical products, Vaccines, Vector Control Products and In-Vitro Diagnostics. His experience includes establishment of a National Regulatory Authority, GMP inspection system, product evaluation and registration system plus regulatory harmonisation at the regional and international level. In 2004 he joined a team of external dossier assessors for WHO Prequalification where he was shortly promoted to the level of senior assessor. He joined WHO as a staff in 2008 as an inspector and rose to head the WHO Prequalification inspection team and subsequently the WHO Prequalification Unit for Medicines, Vaccines, Vector Control Products and In-Vitro Diagnostics. These roles have enabled him to develop regulatory skills and experience at the national and international level. He is currently the Director of the Medicines and Health Products Policies and Standards Department of the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr Christian Tournié is French representative at the Committee of States Parties to the Council of Europe's Medicrime Convention. He served as Vice-President from 2019 to 2022 and currently the chair. From 2006 to 2012, as a French expert seconded to the European Commission in Brussels, he played an active role in the development of this Convention, and its subsequent adoption by France and other countries, as well as the EU directive aimed at preventing the introduction of falsified medicines into the legal supply chain. From 2016 to 2022, he was a member of the bureau of the Working Group of Medicines Enforcement Agencies (WGEO) of the European Network of Directors of Medicines Agencies. Mr. Christian Tournié contributes to the development of strategies to prevent and combat trafficking in medical products, particularly for the UN agency responsible for drugs and crime (UNODC). He has led and participated in state capacity-building initiatives in this area. 

Mark Bale has previously led UK Government policy related to research, healthcare and ethics with a focus on engaging with public, patients and diverse stakeholders to shape policy and delivery. Until March 2022 he was policy advisor and Programme Director for the 100,000 Genomes Project and seconded to Genomics England. He also acted as Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health providing policy leadership in regenerative medicine, genome editing, precision medicine and rare diseases. Mark led the UK’s G7 Presidency work on global pathogen surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark is Chair of the Ethics Advisory Board for Our Future Health. He chaired Ireland’s Genetics and Genomics Strategy Steering Group and acted as Interim Director of Ireland’s National Genetics and Genomics Office leading implementation of enhanced genetic and genomic healthcare. 
He has served on several international bodies, including the EU, OECD, WHO, UNESCO, and Council of Europe. He continues to represent the UK at the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Human Rights and Biomedicine focussed on genomics, horizon scanning and youth engagement.

Pavla Burešová currently serves as Deputy Head of the Director-General’s Office for International and European Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic. She is an experienced lawyer with strong expertise in human rights law and international cooperation, with a particular focus on the prevention of organ trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, and the protection of children’s rights. She also represents the Czech Republic in various Council of Europe committees. Over the past two years, she has actively served as a member of the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, and in June of this year, she was elected Chair of the Committee. Ms Burešová holds an LL.B. in Law and two LL.M. degrees: one in European Law from Leiden University and another in Human Rights from the University of Edinburgh.
 

Işıl Selen DENEMEÇ is an attorney and lecturer in intellectual property and technology law.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University Faculty of Law and master’s degrees in information technology and intellectual property from UC Berkeley and Trinity College Dublin. She serves as Head of the Legal Department at the Digital Transformation Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. She has teaching experience on IT and IP law at Strasbourg University - Center for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI), and Bilkent University Faculty of Law. Additionally, she co-chairs the Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Committee at the International Institute of IP Management (I3PM). Ms DENEMEÇ leads the Turkish Delegation and serves as a Bureau member on the Council of Europe’s Artificial Intelligence Committee, tasked with drafting the first binding international agreement on artificial intelligence. She also participates in the OECD’s Expert Group on AI, Data, and Privacy and its AI Governance Group and contributes to the development of international AI standards within the ISO, CEN, and CENELEC subcommittees. Furthermore, she represents the Republic of Türkiye on the Council of Europe’s European Committee on Crime Problems - AI and Criminal Law Committee (CDPC-AICL), which addresses issues related to autonomous vehicles and criminal law. She has also served on the Digital Assets and Private Law Steering Committee within UNIDROIT.

Dr. Michael Farrugia graduated as a Medical Doctor from the University of Malta in 1982. In 1992, he was elected as a Member of the Maltese Parliament, a position he has held continuously through successive general elections in 1996, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2017, and 2022. Early in his political journey, Dr. Farrugia served as a member of the Council of Europe from 1995 to 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, he was appointed Minister for Health, Care for the Elderly, and Family Affairs. In 2013, he took on the role of Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, responsible for Planning, Lands, and Simplification of Processes until 2014. Following this, from 2014 to 2017, he served as Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, responsible for Social Welfare, Social Security, Pensions, Family, Housing, Persons with Disability, and Care for the Elderly. From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Farrugia was the Minister for Home Affairs and National Security, responsible for Police, Defence, Civil Protection, Prisons, Security Services, and Immigration. He was Minister for Energy and Water Management before assuming the role of Minister for Senior Citizens and Active Ageing from 2020 to 2022. He is currently Acting Speaker and Member of the Council of Europe.

Konstantinos Papachristou is a Human Rights Advocate and Policy Analyst with a focus on children's rights, youth empowerment, and social and digital policy. He is the founder of Teens4greece, the first think tank for Greek youth, and co-founder of #CovidUnder19, a global initiative amplifying children’s voices and experiences during the pandemic. For his work, he was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2019. 

He holds a BA in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick and an MSc in International Development from LSE. Konstantinos has worked at the UK Safer Internet Centre on technology policy and AI and is currently a Policy and Influencing Officer at Action for Children, focusing on child poverty and social policy. He has previously served on the State of Youth Board and the OECD Youthwise Advisory Board and now sits on the Board of the Learning for Wellbeing Foundation.

Mari is a lawyer by background and holds a PhD in Law of the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Mari has worked at the International Affairs Division of the Swiss FOPH since July 2011, first as Deputy Head of section Europe and since January 2023, as Co-Head of Global Health. Between 2013 and 2019, Mari was also a part-time lecturer at the University for applied sciences (HEG-Arc). Mari's main research and working interests include Public health, Global health (incl. International Drug Policy), Food Safety and Risk Analysis. With her long experience at the international affairs division, Mari has been involved in many multilateral and bilateral negotiations in the field of health and has represented the FOPH in various international and European organizations and Expert groups. Since June 2025, she is the Chair of the Committee of the Permanent Correspondents of the Pompidou Group (Council of Europe International Co-operation Group on Drugs and Addictions) under the acting Swiss Presidency of this partial enlarged Agreement on drug and addiction policy co-operation for the second half of 2025.