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, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, the Bolshoi in Moscow 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.

Prof. Colin Crouch is an external scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies at Cologne and professor emeritus of the University of Warwick. He previously taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Oxford (Fellow of Trinity College), and the European University Institute, Florence. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a member of the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. His most recent books include The Globalization Backlash (2019); Will the Gig Economy Prevail? (2019); Manifesto for Social Europe (2020); and Post-Democracy after the Crises (2020).

President of the Republic of Chile between 2000 and 2006, Ricardo Lagos’ career began as an academic and official of international organizations linked to the United Nations. He was an opponent of the military dictatorship and founded the Party for Democracy. In 2000 he became President of the Republic of Chile. He led the improvement of the concessions system and with it a substantial improvement in the country's infrastructure, the creation of a health system, and the important advances in human rights matters. After the return to democracy, he was one of the leaders of the transition process as Minister of Education and Public Works. After his presidential term, he was President of the Club of Madrid, founder of the RIAL, professor at Brown University, and special envoy of the United Nations for Climate Change. He is currently part of the group The Elders, member of Club the Madrid, and President of the Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo, of which he is its founder.

Tomohiko Taniguchi is Professor at Keio University Graduate School of System Design and Management (SDM), specializing in international political economy and Japanese diplomacy. He was also Special Adviser to Prime Minister Abe, until Mr. Abe stepped down as prime minister on 16 September 2020. Between February 2013 and March 2014, he was Councillor, Prime Minister’s Office. Throughout the period of more than 90 consecutive months, his responsibilities included writing foreign-policy speeches for Mr. Abe.

Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, was most recently the director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Russia on the White House’s National Security Council. Previously, he served as the Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as an attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. While on the Joint Staff, he authored the National Military Strategy for Russia and the Global Campaign for Russia. He is currently a doctoral student and senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Pritzker Military Fellow at the Lawfare Institute, executive board member for the Renew Democracy Initiative, senior advisor for VoteVets, and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Here, Right Matters.