Mr. Said Abousahl is Head of the Euratom Coordination Unit at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, in charge of coordinating the JRC nuclear activities in the field of nuclear safety, safeguards and security. Before, he spent many years at the JRC/Geel and JRC/Karlsruhe Laboratories dealing with various nuclear research projects. Mr. Abousahl got his PhD in March 1990 from the university of Pierre & Marie Curie.

Mr. Babak Akhgar is Professor of Informatics and Director of CENTRIC (Centre of excellence in terrorism, resilience, intelligence and organised crime research). He has written and edited a number of books on Intelligence management, Cyber Crime , Strategic Intelligence Management, Emerging Trends in ICT Security, Application of Big Data for National Security and OSINT for CT investigation. 

Ms. Nicoline Breed is advisor for Green Deals at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. The Green Deal  approach is an accessible way for companies, other stakeholder organizations, to work with Central Government on green growth and social issues. The aim is to remove barriers to help sustainable initiatives get off the ground and to accelerate this process where possible.

Mr. Duncan Cass-Beggs is the Counsellor for Strategic Foresight at the OECD with a mandate to strengthen strategic foresight across the OECD and bring a stronger future focus to global dialogue on key policy issues. His team works with OECD staff, governments and leading global foresight practitioners to explore alternative futures and implications for policy. Contact: foresight@oecd.org

Mr. Patrick Child is Deputy Director General in DG Research and Innovation at the EC. He leads the policy for implementation, impact & sustainable investment strategies. He is acting Director for the Clean Planet, follows in particular R&I into climate action, clean energy and mobility technologies. He is the EC representative of Mission Innovation and in the International Group of Earth Observation.

Ms. Dominique Darmendrail is the coordinator of the Water Joint Programming Initiative since November 2014, a network of research funding agencies aiming at coordinating and implementing RDI addressing Water challenges. She coordinates the CSA IC4Water for the development of international cooperation in Research and Innovation in Water and is involved in the Water4All Partnership development.

Mr. Andrea De Candido is the Acting Head of the "Innovation and Industry for Security" Unit of the European Commission's DG HOME. Among the responsibilities of the Unit is the management of the security research part of the overall R&I Programme supporting cross border funding of research projects in areas such as disaster resilience, border security and fighting crime and terrorism.

Mr. Olivier De Schutter is the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He was until 2020 member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and was between 2008 and 2014 the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. A specialist in economic and social rights, he chaired the EU Network of independent experts on fundamental rights in 2002-2007. 

Ms. Sandrine Dixson-Declève is the first female Co-President of the Club of Rome; senior advisor/associate for CISL, ETC, Interel, E3G, lecturer at the University of Cambridge. She holds several advisory positions within the European Commission including Chair of DG R&I Think Tank ESIR (Economic and Societal Implications of Research and Innovation); Co-Chair, Manufacturing Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance/Taxonomy.

Mr. Peter Dröll has been working in the European Commission since 1991 with positions in environment, enlargement negotiations, industry policy, innovation and research. He was Cabinet member of Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen and Head of Cabinet of the Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik. Since 2010 Mr. Dröll has been in charge of Innovation, Industrial Technology and now Director for Prosperity in DG R&I.

Mr. Gerhard Duda holds a Master’s degree in History/Political Economy from the Univerity of Toronto, Canada and a PhD in History from the University of Bochum, Germany. He was the Head of the office of the German Adult Education Association in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (1993-1995). Mr Duda has been head of unit in the Secretariat of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) in 1995 and now is now of the Brussels Office and of the Research Policy Department of HRK.

In her role at Suncorp, Ms. Kirsten Dunlop founded and led a bespoke division focused on managing and responding to strategic risk through innovation, transforming core business and industry models from within.Prior to roles in Second Road, KPMG and Suncorp in Australia, she led the Generali Group Innovation Academy for Assicurazioni Generali in Italy, pioneering proprietary thinking in the areas of Strategic Risk management, strategic innovation, strategic leadership development and cultural change. Ms. Dunlop holds a Ph.D. in cultural history.

Ms. Hilde Eggermont is coordinator of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, and Vice-Chair of BiodivERsA (the network of national and regional organisations promoting pan-european research on biodiversity). She also acts as alternate Bureau member and National Focal Point for IPBES; and as National Focal Point and Council Member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

Mr. Paul Ekins has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of London, and is Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, and Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, at University College London. His academic work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.

Ms. Lowri Evans worked for the European Commission for over 35 years, notably in DG Competition (Deputy Director General 2006), DG MARE (Director General 2010) and DG GROW (Director General 2015 to 2019).  She started her career with Deloitte’s. She is a member of the Mission Board for Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters. She is a UK national, Welsh and European.