Franziska Brantner has been a Member of the German Bundestag since October 2013. She is the Spokeswoman on Children’s and Family policy, and the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Management and Intergrated Action. Prior to this, she was a Member of the European Parliament for four years where she served a number of different roles, including as Spokesperson for foreign affairs of the Greens/EFA group, standing rapporteur for the Instrument for Stability, and as the Green’s chief negotiator for the establishment and review of the European External Action Service (EEAS). She holds a Doctorate from the University of Mannheim and a dual degree (M.A. and diplôme) from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York and Sciences Po in Paris.
Emilio Cassinello
Director General, Toledo International Centre for Peace
Emilio Cassinello is the Director General at the Toledo International Centre for Peace Law. He is also Vice-president of the Euroamerica Foundation; Founding Member and First Secretary General of the US-Spain Council; and acts as advisor and trustee to a number of organisation including the Picasso Museum Foundation in Malaga. He has been awarded the “Gran Cruz del Mérito Civil”. Cassinello joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1963 where he served in numerous functions: Deputy-Director for Africa, Director-General for International Organizations and Conferences, Director-General for Latin-American Affairs and Director of Planning Staff. He has had a number of Embassy postings, including Chargé d'Affaires in Addis Abeba and Dar es Salaam, Cultural Attaché in Mexico, Spanish Ambassador in Angola and Mexico, and Consul General in New York and Ambassador at large for North American Affairs. From 1985 to 1992, Emilio Cassinello was President of the Board of the EXPO'92, S.A. and Commissioner General of the Universal Exposition of Seville, 1992.
Chris Coulter
Head of Conflict Prevention Programme, Folke Bernadotte Academy
Chris Coulter is Member of the Folke Bernadotte Academy Civil Response Team’s Civilian Pool of Experts, Member of the American Association of Anthropologists (AAA), Member of the Peace and Conflict Studies in Anthropology Network (PACSA), Member of the European Association of Anthropologists (EAA), nominated by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as candidate for the 2014 and 2016 UN Department of Political Affairs Standby Team of Mediation Experts as an expert on gender and social inclusion. Chris has more than 15 years’ experience of working with peacebuilding assignments in multiple countries and contexts. And more than 10 years’ experience of working and collaborating with international organisations such as the UN (UNWOMEN, UNMISS, UNOCHA, UNICEF, Sida, FBA etc)
Marta Dassù
Senior Director of European Affairs, The Aspen Institute
Senior Director of European Affairs at The Aspen Institute and Editor-in-Chief of Aspen Institute Italia’s journal, Aspenia. She was Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 2011 to February 2014. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Finmeccanica, Trevi Finanziaria and Fondazione eni Enrico Mattei. Executive President of Women for Expo and Vice President of The Center for American Studies in Rome. She sits on the Board of Directors of IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali), as well as on the Board of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. She is member of the Advisory Council of the European Policy Centre in Brussels and a member of the scientific committee of the LUISS School of Government in Rome. She is a regular contributor to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. And is the author of various books and essays.
Ryszarda Formuszewicz
National Security Bureau, Warsaw
Ryszarda Formuszewicz worked as scientific associate at West-Institute of Poznań. She pursued her career at the Polish Institute for International Affairs (PISM) in Warsaw. Ryszarda also worked at the Bureau for National Security (BBN). Since January 2016, she is managing projects at Genshagen Foundation. Her expertise includes: foreign policy of the EU and Germany, German-Polish relations, Weimar Triangle, EU CSDP. She speaks Polish, German, and English.
Laurent Goetschel
Director, Swisspeace Foundation
Laurent Goetschel is director of swisspeace and a professor of political science at the Europe Institute of the University of Basel. He holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International Relations (IUHEI) at the University of Geneva (1993).
He worked as a journalist with the Swiss service of the Associated Press, conducted research with the IUHEI's Program for Strategic and International Security Studies (1990-1992) and with the Graduate Institute of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne (1992-1995), where he was also a lecturer (1994-1995). After having been a visiting scholar with the Center for European Studies at Harvard University (1995-1996), he joined swisspeace as a research analyst. He taught Swiss foreign policy at the Institute of Political Science of the University of Bern from 1997 to 2003, and directed a Swiss National Science Foundation's research program on Swiss foreign policy from 1997 to 2000. . From 2003 to 2004, he served as the political advisor to the Swiss Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey. He is currently also president of the Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
Tuija Talvitie
Executive Director, Crisis Management Initiative
Tuija Talvitie is Executive Director of the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) where she leads the execution of CMI’s mission and the implementation of CMI's strategy. Tuija Talvitie has over twenty years’ experience in international leadership, social development and conflict resolution. She works on, inclusive multi-stakeholder approaches, innovation and ethical leadership. During her time CMI has more than quadrupled its turnover and staff, and continues to grow at a steady pace. Prior to joining CMI, Tuija Talvitie was the Director of British Council Finland where she led the organisation’s transformation to a cooperative, project based actor and played an active role in the leadership team of North and Central Europe.
Peter Van Houtte
Former Member of Parliament, Belgium
Peter Van Houtte is an International Conflict Mediator, specialised in political conflicts. He is a former journalist and Member of Belgian Parliament with specific expertise in parliamentary empowerment. His area of activity is very broad, with a focus on Eastern and Southern Europe (extensive experience in the Balkans, through EU, OSCE and UN missions) and the Eastern Neighbourhood
