Samir Puri has worked as a diplomat in the British foreign office and as an academic, and is now a think tanker based in Singapore.

Ania Helseth is AI Policy Head at Meta in Brussels, leading EU engagement on AI, copyright, and media regulation. She played an active role in shaping the EU AI Act and the GPAI Code of Practice. Before Meta, she held policy roles at AmCham EU, ESOA, and the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU. Oxford-trained lawyer with 17+ years in Brussels policy.

Adalberto González Ayala has been building intelligent systems since the 1990s – from early robotics and microprocessors through to production AI at scale. Over three decades he has shipped innovation for Fortune 100 companies, founded four corporate innovation labs including the first Generative AI garage at Accenture, and co-invented AI patents recognized in 29 countries. He was named Inventor of the Year. Today, as Co-Founder and AI Strategy & Engineering at Design Thinking Japan, he leads the Future Signals research programme, annual human-AI collaborative forecasting on structural shifts in how organizations and enterprises engage with AI. The 2026 report, AI: The Architecture of Intent, identifies five signals challenging conventional assumptions about capability, governance, and human judgment.He still codes. It changes every decision he makes.

Dr. Marijn Hoijtink is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science at the University of Antwerp. Her research combines insights from International Relations, critical security studies, and science and technology studies to understand how war shapes technology and vice versa. Her research project, PLATFORM WARS, funded within the framework of the Odysseus program from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), investigates the expansion of the platform model in defense, and how this impacts military innovation and procurement, practices of warfighting, and regulation and ethics. She is also one of the lead researchers on the Realities of Algorithmic Warfare project, which investigates the innovation, deployment, and impact of AI systems in the military domain and how these affect civilian harm, security, human rights, and democratic principles.

Dr. Igor Kalinic is a senior expert in international economics, trade, and entrepreneurship, with leadership experience spanning EU policy-making, academia, and the private sector. He currently works at the European Commission, where he contributes to the design and implementation of policies and strategic funding instruments that support innovation, competitiveness, and entrepreneurial growth across Europe. Alongside his policy role, Igor has an academic background in innovation and entrepreneurship in a global context, with publications in leading international journals. Earlier in his career, he advised companies on international market entry, trade-related strategic positioning, and cross-border growth strategies.

Dr. Simona Demková is an Assistant Professor in European Law at the Europa Institute of Leiden University. Her research focuses on EU digital regulation, particularly the evolving enforcement architecture of the EU digital acquis and the constitutional and administrative challenges arising from the design of new enforcement authorities at EU and Member State level. More broadly, her work explores the intersection of European administrative and constitutional law, fundamental rights protection, and the regulation of emerging digital technologies. She currently leads a collaborative research project on the EU’s human-centred digital transformation, funded by a Leiden University starter grant, and is the author of the monograph Automated Decision-Making and Effective Remedies (Edward Elgar, 2023). Before joining Leiden University, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg in the interdisciplinary project DILLAN (Digitalisation, Law and Innovation). She completed her PhD at the University of Luxembourg under the supervision of Professor Herwig Hofmann. She was a visiting scholar at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa (2024) and the European University Institute (2020).

Dr. Mihalis Kritikos is the new Secretary of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Ethics and Integrity Sector of the European Commission (DG-Research and Innovation) working on the ethical development of emerging technologies with a special emphasis on AI Ethics. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Brussels School of Governance (VUB) on digital ethics and rights, digital transition, AI Governance and Values and responsible innovation and author of 2 books in the field of disruptive technologies (Ethical AI Surveillance in the Workplace, Emerald, 2023 and EU Policy-Making on GMOs: The False Promise of Proceduralism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) Before that, he worked at the Scientific Foresight Service of the European Parliament (STOA/EPRS) as a legal/ethics advisor on Science and Technology issues.

Dr. Oskar Josef Gstrein is Associate Professor at the interdisciplinary Faculty Campus Fryslan, University of Groningen in The Netherlands. He is also Programme Director of the BSc Data Science & Society, Scholar on 'Data Autonomy' at the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI, and Member of the University of Groningen Alliance for Digital Autonomy (ADA).His overall research theme is 'Human Dignity in the Digital Age'. In his research he explores the transitions from (e.g. legal/ethical/policy) principles to concrete legal or governance frameworks in the areas of digital autonomy and artificial intelligence. His research also covers the topics data protection, value-based digital infrastructure, and security related research.Oskar joined the University of Groningen to work with the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy on aspects related to internet governance. His teaching is inspired by a contemporary interpretation of the Humboldtian model of higher education.

Dr. Andrej Zwitter is Professor of Human and Data Sciences as well as Director of theResearch Centre for Human and Data Sciences at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. He served as Dean of the Faculty Campus Fryslan and founding dean of the University College Fryslan, University of Groningen, Netherlands. He was a founding board member of the WEF Chapter Zero, Netherlands and of the urban data centre Data Fryslân. He was also the program director of the research group on Human Flourshing at The New Institute in Hamburg. His expertise covers data governance, law and ethics of digitalization, as well as emergency management and sustainability and human flourishing.

Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Tom Simoens is a Professor of History at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, where he leads the Department of Conflict Studies. He specialises in military history, with a focus on the First World War and military justice. Since 2022, he has frequently provided analysis for the Belgian press on the war in Ukraine. Since the summer of 2022, Dr. Simoens has noted increasing parallels between the conflict in Ukraine and the Western Front from 1914-1918.

Pierre is a PhD candidate at King’s College London and a soldier in the Belgian army. He has spent his 15-year career as a Special Forces operator with well over a dozen deployments in central Asia, the Middle East, and most recently in Africa. His PhD concentrates on two central themes: coping with uncertainty (the ultimate strategic question) and the tactical conversion problem. His ambition is to reanimate the tactical level of warfare to match the current and unfolding characteristics of war (and non-war). In addition to his studies and military duties, Pierre guest lectures at various universities and institutions on strategy, uncertainty, unconventional leadership, and change readiness.

Cosmin Dobran is a manager at the European External Action Service with extensive experience in European affairs, both at national and European level. On 1 February 2023, he took up the position of Director for Peace, Partnerships and Crisis Management. A former Romanian diplomat, with postings in Washington DC and Brussels, he has an established track record in foreign and security policy and has represented Romania and the European Commission in the EU Political and Security Committee. He has worked on a variety of external action areas, including development, trade and economic governance but also European internal policies, at the General Secretariat of the European Commission, such as agriculture, energy, transport, environment, health, employment, education and youth. He has studied at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC.

Colonel (GS) Peter Philipsen graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1989 with the 125th promotion ‘Alle Wapens’ and received a master’s degree in social and military sciences. After completing his professional education as an engineer officer, he is appointed to the 1st Engineer Battalion in Westhoven (Germany). In 2000 he graduated from the Senior Officers Course in the Royal Higher Institute of Defense and in 2005, after graduating as a master’s in political and military Sciences from the Defense College in the Royal Military Academy, he stayed in the institute to teach engineer support to land operations. In 2017, he graduated from the higher studies for Security and Defense. For three years he was the commanding officer of the 11 Engineer Battalion in Burcht near Antwerp (Belgium). This is a multi-role engineer battalion, consisting of 590 men and women. Later, he commanded the Competence Center of the Land Component, an institute that organizes all professional education in Land warfare. During his career Colonel (GS) Philipsen was deployed several times in missions abroad. He participated in a NATO operation in KOSOVO (2000), in the UNIFIL (UN) demining mission in Lebanon (2012) and in a NATO mission (Resolute Support) in Kabul (Afghanistan) (2018). Currently, Colonel (GS) Philipsen is head of the World Politics Chair in the Conflict Studies Department at the Royal Military Academy.

Mr. Christopher Case is the senior intelligence analyst for Hybrid Threats and Emerging and Disruptive Technologies assessments at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). He is a career intelligence officer with over twenty years’ experience in strategic, operational, and tactic analysis. Mr. Case served in the US Army for five years analyzing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency topics and deployed to Iraq for sixteen months to directly support operations. As a civilian analyst for the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Mr. Case analyzed a variety of problem sets and twice deploying to Afghanistan to support NATO operations. He also provided support to NATO’s Operation Unified Protector in Libya in 2011 before assuming his current position with SHAPE in 2019. Mr. Case holds a Bachelor of Arts in international affairs from Vesalius College and a Master of Arts in international conflict and security at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. He is currently a PhD candidate with Leiden University researching the military implications for NATO from biotechnologies and human enhancement.

Rory has worked for several years on matters relating to foreign policy and peace and security with various organizations, including the OSCE, the OECD DAC, the EU and the United Nations. In addition to expertise on international relations, political analysis, peacekeeping, conflict prevention and international security policy, Rory has worked in and on post-conflict settings notably the Western Balkans, West Africa and the Sahel and Central Africa. Rory holds a PhD in international relations and a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellowship related to EU foreign and security policy.

Tony van der Togt studied contemporary history in Amsterdam (Free University) and Nijmegen (Radboud University) and is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of History of Leiden University, researching the role of Russian think tanks in relation to the changing Russian strategic narratives towards Europe. He has recently retired after a long career as a Dutch diplomat, dealing with Eastern Europe and Central Asia, both in The Hague and in Moscow, Almaty and as Dutch Consul-General in St. Petersburg. In 2013 he acted as Dutch co-ordinator of the Netherlands-Russia bilateral year. As a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre (CREEC) since 2014, he has published widely on EU-Russia relations, the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Dutch-Russian bilateral relations and the Eurasian Economic Union. He also participated in a number of dialogue platforms with Russian and other international experts, including in the framework of the EU-Russia Expert Network, the Minsk Dialogue and the Cooperative Security Initiative. After his retirement he still serves as an Associate Fellow at CREEC, contributing on Russian domestic and foreign policies.

Vincent Joassin is military officer from Belgium with a diverse background. Graduating from the University of Liège in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree in political sciences (2009), he went on to pursue further education, obtaining master’s degrees in social Geography at the University of Rebound Nijmegen (2010) and Management (2016) from HEC Liège. Vincent started his academic career at Belgorod University where he conducted research about cross border and geopolitical relations between Russia and Ukraine. He later explored the world of international press while residing in Moscow. In 2012, he transitioned into the military, serving as a military analyst in the air force, working especially on NATO Eastern flank. Beyond academia and military service, Vincent has developed specialized knowledge in Open-Source intelligence and digital technologies with experience in R&D and project management in the industry.