Alexander Seger has been with the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, France) since 1999. He is Head of the Cybercrime Division and in that function he is the Executive Secretary of the Cybercrime Convention Committee in Strasbourg as well as Head of the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe in Bucharest, Romania (www.coe.int/cybercrime). Prior to this he headed for many years the Economic Crime Division where he was responsible for the Council of Europe’s cooperation programmes against, corruption, organised crime, cybercrime and money laundering. From 1989 to 1998 he was with what now is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna (Austria), Laos, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and a consultant for German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in drug control matters. Alexander Seger is from Germany and holds a PhD in political science, law and social anthropology after studies in Heidelberg, Bordeaux and Bonn.

Antoine Bernard is a recognized expert and practitioner of human rights, international justice and NGOs. He is the Director of Advocacy and Assistance of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Antoine is also co-director of the Master on human rights and humanitarian action at the Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) where he has been teaching since its launch in 2010. He is the General Secretary of La Maison des Femmes de Saint Denis and board member of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. Previously Director General of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH), an associate researcher at the Institut des hautes études sur la justice (IHEJ), also a member of the jury of the Simone Veil Prize of the French Republic for gender equality and of the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy.

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.

Eliot Higgins is a renowned British journalist and founder of Bellingcat, an investigative journalism platform that uses open-source intelligence to solve critical international cases. Born in 1979, Higgins' contributions, including MH17 investigation and exposure of Syrian Civil War atrocities, have revolutionized journalism. His work on the Salisbury poisonings won the prestigious 2019 European Press Prize Investigation Award. In 2020, he was also awarded the Machiavelli Prize for his role in enhancing digital investigative journalism. Recognized as a trailblazer, Higgins continues to catalyze transformative changes in how the world understands news, truth, and fact-checking in the digital age.

A senior reporter for ARTE news programmes, Vladimir Vasak has produced numerous documentaries around the world. In 2012 he was awarded three prizes for two web documentaries produced for ARTE and France TV at the La Rochelle Web Festival. In 2009 he was also awarded the Louise Weiss Prize for European Journalism for "Journey around the Black Sea". Vladimir Vasak is also a member of the Board of Directors of Cartooning for Peace with the cartoonist Plantu; the President of the Strasbourg-Europe Press Club, which organises and leads debates; a member of the Convention for the Sixth Republic with Mr Arnaud Montebourg and involved in several projects relating to Robert Doisneau.

Marc was born in Algeria, travelled irregularly to France and grew up Stateless in the care system, before being adopted by British parents. This lived experience instilled an early awareness of structural inequality- particularly youth participation and representation in democratic processes- which he further developed as the United Kingdom’s youngest international election observer, deploying several times with the OSCE to Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan and North Macedonia. Marc worked for several years in Mediterranean Search & Rescue operations, followed by junior positions in the UN System and Red Cross Movement. As a result of his regular exposure to marginalised communities, Marc developed a deep personal conviction to use his voice to advocate for inclusive, human-rights centred policy and practice.