Author of ‘Are we there yet? Localisation as the journey towards locally led practice: Models, approaches and challenges’ (2022), Arbie Baguios is a humanitarian and development professional, and founder of Aid Re-imagined. His initiative aims to advance the evolution of aid towards effectiveness and justice through an interdisciplinary lens, integrating insights from development studies, anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, and management.

Arbie brings extensive experience from global organizations such as ActionAid, Save the Children, the Red Cross, and UNICEF, where he has contributed to humanitarian response, program management, policy development, strategy formulation, and research. Originally from the Philippines, he holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Ateneo de Manila University.

Arbie’s interests encompass evidence-based policy, complexity and systems thinking, and the decolonization of development and humanitarian aid approaches.

Jon Barnett is Professor in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Melbourne University. He is a political geographer whose research investigates social impacts and responses to environmental change.

Professor Barnett leads the Australian Research Council funded Future Islands project, which seeks to transform knowledge about climate change adaptation on atoll islands so that people can lead dignified and meaningul lives well into the future.

He has over twenty-five years of experience conducting field-based research on social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Australia, China, Timor-Leste and Pacific Island Countries. His research has helped explain the impacts of climate change on cultures, food security, inequality, instability, migration, and water security, and ways in which adaptation can promote social justice and peace.

He co-directs the Oceania Institute at The University of Melbourne and is the panel member for climate change adaptation on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) to the Global Environment Facility (GEF). He previously served for six years as editor of Global Environmental Change and was a Lead Author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.into the future.

Dr Alistair D. B. Cook is Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests focus on humanitarian affairs, disaster governance, foreign policy and regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. He was a Visiting Scholar at the East-West Center and Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA from May-June 2022. He served as the President (2018 – 2021) of the Asia-Pacific Region of the International Studies Association. He teaches a masters level seminar titled Governance and Security in Myanmar at RSIS and contributes to professional development courses. His most recent publications include ‘Military humanitarian and disaster governance networks in Southeast Asia: Framework and analysis’ (with Angelo P. L. Trias in Disasters, 2023).

Fleur Johns is Professor in the Faculty of Law & Justice at UNSW Sydney. Her latest book, ‘#Help: Digital Humanitarianism and the Remaking of International Order’ (Oxford University Press, 2023), explores the implications of digital technology for international law and politics, as well as the international law of diplomacy. Fleur’s research spans international law, legal theory, law and development, and law and technology.

An Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2021-2025) and Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2021-2024), Fleur has authored five books. She holds degrees from Melbourne University (BA, LLB(Hons)) and Harvard University (LLM, SJD; Menzies Scholar; Laylin Prize), and previously practiced law in New York.

Fleur’s academic contributions extend globally, with visiting appointments in Canada, Europe, the UK, and the US. She serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of International Law, Technology and Regulation, the Journal of Cross-disciplinary Research in Computational Law, and Science, Technology & Human Values, and is an Advisory Editor for the London Review of International Law, the Australian Feminist Law Journal, and several scholarly book series.

Elected to Fellowship of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2020, Fleur currently serves on its Executive Committee as International Secretary. Within UNSW, she is affiliated with the Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, and is an associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute. Fleur was Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Law at UNSW Sydney from 2016 to 2019 and currently serves on UNSW’s Academic Board.

Mr Sylvester Lee is Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of the venture capital-backed startup Emerge, which seeks to foster meaningful bonds across distance and time.

He is also former founder and Advisor to the Board of The Hydrous, a 501(c)3 nonprofit on a mission to fostering open access oceans. Their methods of 3D capturing coral reefs underwater have been used in over 20+ international universities and NGOs. Their current projects include a VR film, a joint educational program with Google Expeditions, archiving coral specimens at the Smithsonian Institute, and leading expeditions with Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue. Their work has been featured in WIRED, Fast Co, and TED.

Mr. Lee is a Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2018 recipient, a Singularity University Global Solutions Program 2015 Alumnus, and a World Economic Forum Global Future Council Member for AR/VR. He is dedicated to creating a more connected and empathetic world, and envisions a future based on love for our environment and one another.

Dr 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 among all IPI Departments. 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.

Dr. Lupel also conducts research on issues related to globalization, multilateralism, and the prevention of mass atrocities. He is the author of Globalization and Popular Sovereignty: Democracy’s Transnational Dilemma (2009) and the co-editor of Peace Operations and Organized Crime: Enemies or Allies? (2011) and Responding to Genocide: The Politics of International Action (2013).

Prior to 2006, when he joined IPI as Editor, he was the Managing Editor of Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, and he taught modern and contemporary political theory at The New School’s Eugene Lang College in New York. He has a PhD in political theory and an MA in liberal studies from the New School for Social Research and a BA in international relations with a concentration in Latin America from Boston University.

He tweets at @ALupel.

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Ly is the founder and developer of Center for Environment and Community Research (CECR) in 2009.

She holds a diploma in Food Chemistry from the Technical University of Prague, Czech Republic, a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and a Master’s Degree in Information and Library Science (University of Maryland) as well as a Master Degree in Public Administration (Harvard University), USA.

She has extensive practical experience, working as an executive at the Ministry of Internal Trade, a lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, an Environmental expert at the World Bank, Washington DC and Head of the Department of Sustainable Development at UNDP Viet Nam from 1998 to 2008.

With more than 30 years working in water pollution control, solid waste management, climate change and natural resource management in Vietnam, Ms. Ly has made numerous meaningful contributions, especially in in the areas of policy advocacy, system governance, gender equality promotion and stakeholder participation increasing in environmental solutions. In 2010, the book reporting background information on Hanoi lakes was completed by her and her colleagues. The book is considered a manual for agencies and organizations in the protection of Hanoi Lakes. In 2018, she and her colleagues completed the report Situation analysis in terms of water pollution and the need to develop the Law on Water Pollution Control in Vietnam.

Author of ‘Private Foundations and Development Partnerships: American Philanthropy and Global Development Agendas’ (2014), Dr Michael Moran is an Academic Specialist and Lecturer in Social Enterprise in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne in 2024, he was a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) Swinburne University of Technology and National Education Director for the CSI network administered by the UNSW Sydney.

Dr Moran is a political scientist and leading Australian scholar of the social economy whose research uses theories from policy and organisational studies to understand how people and organisations can work more effectively to enhance Australian and global society.

Dr Moran has published in leading journals including Public Administration Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Policy & Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management and Australian Journal of Public Administration and has served on the international advisory boards Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly and Policy & Politics.

Ambassador Ong Keng Yong s Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is concurrently Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) and Head of International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at RSIS. Mr Ong continues to hold the position of Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also Singapore’s Non-Resident High Commissioner to Pakistan and Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran. Mr Ong was the Chairman of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) from 2015 to 2023.

Mr Ong was High Commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia from July 2011 to October 2014. He served as Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), based in Jakarta, Indonesia, for five years from January 2003.

He was Singapore’s High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to Nepal from 1996 to 1998. From September 1998 to December 2002, he was Press Secretary to the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong. From 2008 to 2011, he served as Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Author of ‘The humanitarian exit dilemma: the moral cost of withdrawing aid’ (2023), Prof Chin Ruamps is an Assistant Professor at Audencia Business School with over a decade of academic and practical expertise in humanitarian ethics. She specializes in the ethical dimensions of business practices during humanitarian crises and disasters, including conflicts, pandemics, and climate change.

Her research applies ethical theories and humanitarian ethics frameworks to analyze the complexities of cross-sector collaborations between businesses and humanitarian organizations. Prof Ruamps aims to steer these partnerships towards sustainable and morally justifiable outcomes for affected populations and the humanitarian community.

She also contributes to the ‘What is climate humanitarianism’ project, examining the ethical implications of ‘managed retreat’ in climate adaptation.

COL Tan Eng Han Fredie is presently the Deputy Chief Guards Officer in the Guards Formation, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He is also concurrently the Director of Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Coordination Centre (Changi RHCC).

Enlisted into the SAF on 27 September 1996, COL Tan was commissioned as an Infantry Officer on 26 September 1997, and completed the Guards Officers Conversion Course in 1998. He has served in numerous command and staff appointments in the SAF over the last 26 years.

COL Tan’s key command appointments included Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards, and Commander of a NS Infantry Brigade. His staff appointments included Head Plans & Doctrine, and Head General Staff in the Guards Formation. He was also Head of Overseas Training Policy and Plans in the Singapore Army General Staff, and Head of Doctrine Development Group in HQ Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Prior to his present appointment, COL Tan was the Head of SAF Centre for Leadership Development in SAFTI Military Institute.

COL Tan attained a Bachelor of Commerce (Management) from the University of Adelaide, Australia. He also completed a Master of Arts (Instructional Design and

Technology) from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Australian War College, and graduated from the Defence and Strategic Studies Course with a Master of International Relations from Deakin University, Australia.

COL Tan was awarded the SAF Tsunami Relief Operation medal for his role as the Deputy Ops Officer in Operation FLYING EAGLE, the SAF’s largest HADR deployment in the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. As Director RHCC, COL Tan looks forward to strengthen the regional and global HADR networks, as well as the disaster relief preparedness of the SAF with its partners.

COL Tan is happily married to Chin Chin, with three children Adelaide, Aden and Ancel.

Prof A.J. (Andrej Janko) Zwitter is Associate Editor for Blockchain for Good at Frontiers in Blockchain and a founding board member of WEF Chapter Zero Netherlands. He holds the position of Guest-Professor at the University of Klagenfurt. His expertise extends to advisory roles, including as a member of the Advisory Board for the Dusk Network (https://dusk.network) and as.

Prof Zwitter contributes to scientific committees such as NWO, the European Research Council, and ZonMW, reflecting his commitment to advancing research and innovation in technology and governance. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Global Centre on Adaptation.

Prof Zwitter’s editorial leadership includes his role as Editor of ‘Handbook on the politics and governance of big data and artificial intelligence’ (2023), where he explores the intersection of policy, ethics, and technology. His work emphasizes the responsible use of blockchain and AI for societal benefit, shaping discourse and practices in these evolving fields.