Jonathan Powell is CEO of Inter Mediate, the charity which he founded in 2011 to work on conflict resolution around the world. His work has involved negotiations with ETA in the Basque Country, and negotiations in Colombia with the FARC. Between 1995 and 2007 Jonathan Powell was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair, and during 1997-2007 he was Chief British Negotiator on Northern Ireland. He is an Honorary Professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at QUB. His books include Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and Talking to Terrorists, How to End Armed Conflict.

Professor Richard English is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement and is also Professor of Politics, and Distinguished Professorial Fellow in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Between 2011 and 2016 he was Wardlaw Professor of Politics in the School of International Relations, and Director of the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of eight books and co-editor/editor of a further six. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), an Honorary Fellow of Keble College Oxford, and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews.