Cathleen Berger – Global Engagement Lead, Mozilla

Cathleen Berger is a global engagement lead with Mozilla. In this position she is responsible for analyzing global developments on digital issues, strategizing engagement across different teams, and supporting Mozilla’s ongoing presence in international key fora. Previously, she worked within the international cyber policy coordination staff at the German Federal Foreign Office, where she was in charge of devising strategies for internet governance, promoting human rights and freedom online, and drafting policy concepts for capacity building and digital development. Before joining the Foreign Office, Cathleen was a research assistant with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, examining practices of data exchange in the EU, and a visiting lecturer at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. She holds a master’s degree in European studies from the European University Viadrina and a magister’s degree in political science from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. 

Gunnar Berkemeier – Diplomat, German Federal Foreign Office

Gunnar Berkemeier is a diplomat with the German Federal Foreign Office. Currently based in Berlin, he works in the Minister's Office. Previously, he served at the German Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, focusing on human rights issues and the conflict in Eastern Congo. He also worked for the United Nations Development Programme on rule-of-law assistance to war-torn countries, as well as for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. During the intergovernmental negotiations on the UN Human Rights Council, Gunnar was a human rights advisor at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN. He holds a master's degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Dresden.

Yolanda Jinxin Ma – Communications and Partnerships Specialist, Social Impact Investment Team, Bangkok Regional Hub of the United Nations Development Programme

Yolanda Jinxin Ma is a communications and partnerships specialist in the Social Impact Investment team at the Bangkok Regional Hub of the United Nations Development Programme. Yolanda is also active in the data journalism field, and currently serves as a judge for the Data Journalism Award, organized by the Global Editors Network. Previously, Yolanda worked for Thomson Reuters and South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she led data visualization and crowdsourcing projects, respectively. Yolanda holds a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s degree in political science, both from the University of Hong Kong.

Vincent Ni – Senior Producer, BBC World Service

Vincent Ni is a journalist at the BBC in London and a fellow at Britain’s Royal Society of Arts. At the BBC, he mainly covers China and its emerging role in international affairs. Most recently, Vincent reported from the United States on the presidential election. He also reported from Myanmar on its historic elections in 2015. Until early 2014, Vincent was a foreign correspondent for Caixin Media in Washington, DC, New York and London. Among other topics, he covered the 2012 US presidential election and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. During the 2011 revolution in Egypt, he was one of the few Chinese journalists reporting from Tahrir Square. Together with a Caixin colleague, he was a runner-up for the London Foreign Press Association’s “Financial/Economic Story of the Year” award. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Oxford. 

Elizabeth Prescott – Deputy Director and Education Portfolio Lead for MD5, National Security Technology Accelerator, National Defense University

Dr. Elizabeth “Libbie” Prescott works at the intersection of science, technology, and security as the deputy director and Education Portfolio Lead for MD5, the National Security Technology Accelerator based out of National Defense University. She is also an adjunct associate professor at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Previously, Libbie served at the US Department of State as a special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom, as counselor and strategic advisor to E. William Colglazier, the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State; and as science and technology adviser to Kurt Campbell, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Libbie has also served as Practice Head for Biosecurity at the Eurasia Group; an American Association for the Advancement of Science Science and Technology Policy Congressional Fellow with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy; a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies-US; an S and T Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Science’s Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy; and consulted for the strategy division of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. She is a former Council on Foreign Relations Term Member; Center for New American Security Next Generation National Security Leader; German Marshall Fund Young Strategist, and Truman National Security Project Fellow. Libbie holds a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Oxford, Balliol College and dual degrees with high honors in Economics and Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Reirui Ri – Fellow, Stanford Law School

Reirui Ri is currently a Stanford Program in International Legal Studies Fellow at Stanford Law School. Her primary research interests are technology and internet issues. Her current research is focused on how the US and the EU courts determine internet jurisdiction, especially with regards to freedom of expression and data governance. She started her career as an associate for Boston Consulting Group, helping foreign market entry and strategy building for telecom, media and technology corporations. She moved on to Google Japan’s public policy team to help legal and policy advocacy for YouTube, Google Play and Google X products. She was also Google’s Asia Pacific lead for copyright and Google X. Her legal expertise includes copyright, media regulations and privacy. She has lectured at Komazawa University in Japan on media innovation. Reirui received a bachelor of law from the University of Tokyo.

Shireen Santosham – Senior Policy Advisor and the Chief Innovation Officer, Mayor's Office, San Jose, California

Shireen Santosham is a senior policy advisor and the chief innovation officer for Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, California. In this capacity, she leads efforts to build a “smart city” vision and strategy for San Jose. Shireen is also a team member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, she worked at the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), where she was a director in the Mobile for Development group, which aims to close the digital divide for base-of-the-pyramid populations in the developing world through mobile technology and the internet. She has extensive experience working on innovative initiatives across sectors, including at McKinsey and Company, international NGOs and Vulcan Capital. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a master’s in public administration in international development from Harvard Kennedy School.

Rahul Sharma – Senior Consultant, Data Security Council of India

Rahul is a senior consultant with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), where he leads DSCI’s policy initiative and works on cybersecurity, data security, privacy, internet governance, cyber laws, conventions and treaties, and data protection challenges in cloud computing. He runs the secretariat for the Cyber Security Task Force of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, which defined action items for India’s emergence as the cybersecurity hub of the world. He also works closely with the Indian government on trade negotiations with EU-EFTA countries over privacy issues that impact trans-border data flows. He is actively engaged in promoting the adoption of the DSCI Security Framework (DSF©) and the DSCI Privacy Framework (DPF©) by the Indian IT/Business Process Management and domestic industry. He represents India in the ISO SC27 committee and is rapporteur for “Privacy consideration for Smartphone Application Developers.” Previously, he worked as a senior security analyst with HCL Technologies and as an engineer with Nokia Siemens Network. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication from Indraprastha University in New Delhi.

Satyarupa Shekhar Swain – Director, Government Outreach and Advisory Group, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group

Satyarupa Shekhar heads the Government Outreach and Advisory group at the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), where she works to overcome challenges to access to basic services posed by the lack of data and information, and to improve transparency and accountability while doing so. Her areas of interest are public administration, open data and the use of civic technology to improve governance. Previously, Satyarupa worked with the Transparent Chennai project at the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), where she led the group’s research on metropolitan governance and open data initiatives, and with the Chennai Data Portal project, an engagement with the city government to bring a data-driven approach to urban governance. She also worked with the Centre for Development Finance at IFMR, Democracy Connect, the Indian School of Business and the World Social Forum 2004. She is a founding member of the Global Diplomacy Lab. Satyarupa holds a master’s degree in law and economics from the University of Rotterdam, where she was an Erasmus Mundus scholar.

Evan Sills – Associate, Good Harbor Security Risk Management

Evan Sills is an associate with Good Harbor Security Risk Management, where he advises corporate executives and boards of directors on cyber risk management, helps clients prepare for crisis and incident responses to cyber incidents, identifies and recommends best-in-class cybersecurity technologies, and reviews cyber-related legislative and regulatory activities. He is the editor and rapporteur of A Playbook for Cyber Events, a project of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security that serves as a guide for legal and cybersecurity professionals on the interplay of legal, operational and technical issues that arise when preparing for and responding to cyber incidents. In 2014, Evan was part of the Madison Policy Forum’s Military-Business Cybersecurity Fellowship, where he discussed public–private solutions to cybersecurity and different tactics and strategies being pursued by the military and private industry. Previously he served as a legal fellow at the Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute at the George Washington University. While in law school, he worked at the National Security Division in the US Department of Justice. He is an active member of the Virginia Bar Association. Evan is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and Elliott School of International Affairs.

Shoko Yoshihara – Research Fellow, Tokyo Foundation

Shoko Yoshihara is a research fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. She joined the foundation in 1998 and has since been working in the Policy Research Division, gaining broad experience in policy research and project management. Her research focuses on Japan’s land ownership system in an era of depopulation and globalization,  and her research outcomes have been widely cited in the media and have had a major impact on policy processes. She earned a master’s degree in intercultural relations from Lesley University in Massachusetts and received a bachelor’s degree in Thai studies from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. She also studied at Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok and worked at the Institute of International Education (IIE) Southeast Asia in Bangkok.

Sulzhan Bali – Technical Consultant, World Bank

Sulzhan Bali is a microbiologist and global health security consultant, currently working as a technical consultant with the World Bank. As the former director of production and human resources for This Week in Global Health (TWiGH) – an online video and audio podcast on global health – Sulzhan has regularly provided commentary on global health issues. For her work with TWiGH, Sulzhan was featured as a prominent leader in global health in the “300 Women Leaders in Global Health” campaign of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and the medical journal, The Lancet. In the past, Sulzhan has also worked on projects for the “No More Epidemics Campaign,” the University of Maryland’s MOOC on Lessons from Ebola, and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)’s Immunization Technical Support Unit. Sulzhan holds a M.Sc. in Global Health from Duke University, where her interdisciplinary research explored the impact of Ebola on Nigeria’s private sector, as well as the private sector’s role in Nigeria’s Ebola response. Sulzhan conducted her doctoral studies in molecular biology at the Medical Research Council in the UK. She also holds a master’s degree in molecular and diagnostic virology from the University of Manchester and a bachelor’s degree with honors in microbiology from the University of Delhi.  Her research and work interests include global health security policy, preparedness and response to health emergencies, health systems resilience, and global health financing.

Chandrakant Lahariya – Public Health Specialist

Chandrakant Lahariya is an international civil servant, specializing in global health, public policy, and political economy of health. He has been active in policy decision-making processes in the health and other social sectors in India and other regions of the world. He has designed and implemented a number of new health interventions that are improving the accessibility and affordability of health services in India, including new vaccines, mohalla or “community” clinics in Delhi, and health insurance schemes. Chandrakant’s work focuses on advancing universal health coverage, strengthening health systems, public health, and primary healthcare, and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), amongst other issues. His writing has been published in mainstream media such as Yojana, Economic and Political Weekly, Dainik Bhaskar, as well as in reputed international and Indian biomedical journals. Chandrakant is also a medical doctor with advanced training in epidemiology, healthcare management, and public policy. 

Mara Pillinger – Doctoral Candidate, George Washington University

Mara Pillinger is a doctoral candidate in international relations at the George Washington University. Her research focuses on global health governance and has appeared in Perspectives on Politics and Global Health Governance, among other journals. She worked for and consulted the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the World Health Organization and the Clinton Foundation, among others, and conducted fieldwork in Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. This spring, she will be a junior visiting scholar at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. She holds a master’s degree in global governance and diplomacy from Oxford University, where she was a Clarendon scholar, as well as a master’s degree in public health from Emory University.

Elina Suzuki – Junior Health Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development

Elina Suzuki is a junior health policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Previously, she was a consultant at SEEK Development, a strategic and organizational consultancy based in Berlin. She works with a range of organizations and international institutions on issues of global governance and health financing. Her projects have included advising the World Bank on the development of the Global Financing Facility, working with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, on a strategic review of its direct financial support to countries and developing options for reform of the global health architecture for the Chatham House Global Health Architecture project. She is particularly interested in the role of private actors in global governance for health. Elina has a master’s in global health and population from the Harvard School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in international development studies from McGill University.

Rie Takesue – Health Specialist, United Nations Children’s Fund in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Rie Takesue is a specialist in health systems strengthening at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She works on the reduction of maternal and child mortality and morbidity, focusing on the availability of essential medicines, community mobilization, financial access and monitoring for action. Previously, Rie managed health programs at the Japan International Cooperation Agency in the DRC. Rie also worked on post-tsunami emergency relief at the Japan committee for UNICEF; on HIV/AIDS at UNICEF in Tanzania, New York and Uganda; and on gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health at the Family Planning Association of Nepal. Rie holds a master’s degree in global health from the University of Tokyo. 

Kun Tang – Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health, Peking University

Kun Tang is an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health at Peking University. He also serves as the global health adviser of the Chinese delegation to the World Health Organization Executive Board. Kun was the founding director of the China Youth Network, the first youth-oriented NGO working to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights in China. He served as the national standing council member of the China Family Planning Association and as the governing council member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. He was a member of the XVI International AIDS Conference Scientific Programme Committee and chair of the Youth Committee in the 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights. Kun has worked on a number of global health programs in Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford, a master’s degree in global health from Harvard University and a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery from Peking University.

Aryaman Bhatnagar – Program Advisor on Peace and Security, Friedrich Ebert Foundation India

Aryaman Bhatnagar is a program advisor on peace and security policy at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation India. There, he is coordinating a three-year-long track II India-Pakistan project, among other responsibilities. He was previously an associate fellow with the Neighbourhood Regional Studies Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a public policy think tank based in New Delhi. His research focused on political and security developments in South Asia, with a focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. At ORF, he coordinated a year-long research project commissioned by the Indian Ministry of Defence on the situation in Afghanistan after the NATO drawdown and its implications for India. He was also a research officer at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi. His publications have appeared, among other places, in The Huffington Post, The Diplomat, The National Bureau of Asian Research, Hindustan Times and The Indian Express. Aryaman holds a master’s degree in international politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Elisa D. Lux – Political Affairs Officer

From 2012 to 2016, Elisa D. Lux worked as a political affairs officer in the cabinet of the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. She previously worked for New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, where she studied the impact of transnational organized crime on governance and security. In addition to her professional focus on peace and security, Elisa has gained broad academic experience in climate change and geopolitics. She conducted research at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University as well as at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. Elisa holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Sciences Po and a bachelor’s degree in political affairs and philosophy from the University of Heidelberg. She has lived and worked in Guatemala and Madagascar, and recently moved to Kenya, looking for new job opportunities.

Yuan Ma – Instructor, Department of Strategic Studies, National Defence University of the People’s Liberation Army of China

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Yuan Ma is an instructor in the Department of Strategic Studies at the National Defence University of the People’s Liberation Army of China. Her research focuses on international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and policy aspects of counterterrorism. Previously, she was a visiting scholar with the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has published numerous papers on terrorism studies and nuclear policy. She recently finished her book An Analysis of New Characteristics of International Terrorism, which is currently under consideration for publishing. She received a master’s degree in weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation and terrorism studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California and a master’s degree in military science from the National Defence University.

Minako Manome – Livelihoods and Recovery Specialist, United Nations Development Programme in Jordan

Minako Manome is a livelihoods and recovery specialist in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Jordan, managing the livelihoods and economic recovery initiatives and coordination in response to the Syria refugee crisis. These initiatives aim to enhance the resilience and social cohesion within communities and to prevent violent extremism. Previously, she worked at the UNDP headquarters, providing technical and strategic support to country offices in the area of livelihoods and early recovery in crisis and post-crisis settings. She also worked as an emergency education officer with United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund in East Timor and as a peacebuilding officer with UNDP in Nepal. She holds a master’s degree in post-war recovery studies and education.

Sarah Markiewicz – Interim Professor, Department of Religious Studies and Inter-Faith Theology, University of Münster

Sarah Markiewicz is an interim professor at the Department of Religious Studies and Inter-Faith Theology at the University of Münster. Previously, she was a research and teaching associate in the Department of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where she taught interfaith and intercultural dialogue and communication. In 2014, Sarah completed her doctoral dissertation on the genesis of an international and high-profile Muslim-initiated interfaith dialogue initiative from 2007 that attempted to improve Islam–West relations through theological argumentation. Sarah’s research took her to Lebanon, Jordan, England and the US, where she conducted interviews with leading religious figures, academics and politicians. Sarah conducted research in Beirut from 2011 to 2012, and returned to the Middle East in 2014 as a post-doctoral scholar of the Erasmus Mundus PEACE program. She spent six months in Jordan researching the intersections of religious and national identity between Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Sarah holds a master’s degree in ecumenical studies from the University of Bonn and a bachelor’s degree in theology from the University of Oxford.

Elisa Oezbek – Policy Officer, Peacekeeping and General Assembly Affairs in the German Federal Foreign Office

Elisa Oezbek is currently working as a policy officer on United Nations Security Council, Peacekeeping and General Assembly Affairs in the German Federal Foreign Office. Previously, she served as an advisor to the Special Representative of the Federal Government of Germany for the Stability Partnership Middle East, as a special advisor to the president of the United Nations Human Rights Council and as a political affairs officer at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Before joining the German Federal Foreign Office, she spent two years working for the Emerging Security Challenges Division at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. She is a former Mercator fellow on International Affairs and has worked as a volunteer in Namibia, Costa Rica and Thailand. She received a master’s degree in international political economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also studied political science, economics and public law at Heidelberg University, Ruperto Carola. She also spent one year as a Fulbright Scholar at Northeastern University in Boston.

Fanglu Sun – Assistant Professor, Fudan University

Fanglu Sun is an assistant professor at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs. Her research focusses on internal conflict process and resolution, foreign policy analysis and ethnic politics in China, and she applies quantitative analysis, spatial statistics and formal modeling to her work. She has presented her research at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, the International Studies Association, and the Peace Science Society. She holds a PhD from Rice University, where she wrote her dissertation on the relationship between territorial autonomy and ethnic violence. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international politics from Nankai University and is a recipient of numerous scholarships and awards.

Laila A. Wahedi – Doctoral Candidate and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Georgetown University

Laila A. Wahedi is a doctoral candidate and a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow at Georgetown University, and an adjunct research associate at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Her research interests span the field of security studies and international relations, but focus on understanding networks of militant organizations: Why do groups align, and what is the impact of alignment patterns on these groups? Laila also works in strategic force mix and readiness issues for the US Department of Defense. She has worked on assessing force mixes and readiness requirements for an uncertain future, modeling force generation across the military services and understanding the impact of energy on force readiness across the services. Previously, Laila worked at Army Headquarters on costing methodologies and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense on strategic force mix issues, science and technology, and missile defense. She has master’s degree in political science and bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and political science, both from MIT.