Paul Collier is a professor of economics at Oxford University. At this time, he is the director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of St. Antony’s College. From 1998 to 2003, he was the director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He specializes in the political, economic and developmental aspects of lower income people and countries. His numerous articles, books, and speaking engagements all reflect his interest and expertise in the governance of low-income countries (including the political economy of democracy), economic growth in Africa, the connection of natural resources and armed conflict, and the economics of civil war, aid, globalisation and poverty. His most recent book is, Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places, (The Bodley Head, 2009).
Lucy Morgan Edwards lived and worked in Afghanistan between 2000 and 2005. Previous to being the political advisor to the EU Election Observation Mission, she was the political advisor to the EU Special Representative, Francesc Vendrell. During her years in Afghanistan, she also worked as a freelance journalist for The Economist, The Daily Telegraph and The Scotsman. Her first project in Afghanistan was funded by the ECHO and located in Kandahar. Her book, The Afghan Option-the Inside Story of Abdul Haq and How Western Hubris Lost Afghanistan will be published this Summer (2010) by Amazon.
Charles Garraway served some thirty years as a legal officer for the British Army Legal Services. During his military career, one of his numerous postings was as the senior army lawyer deployed during the first Gulf War. Following retirement from the army, he worked for the British Foreign Office on transitional justice issues in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He has taught at universities and military institutions around the world including King’s College, the London School of Economics & Political Science, and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy. He has been one of the appointees of the esteemed Stockton Chair in International Law at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Professor Garraway currently works for the British Red Cross as an international humanitarian law expert.
Jenny Kuper is currently a Research Fellow
in the Law Department at the London School of Economics and Political History. She is a noted expert in the area of children in armed conflict and has written two books on this area, “Military Training and Children in Armed Conflict: Law, Policy and Practice” (Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff, 2005) and “International Law Concerning Child Civilians in Armed Conflict” (Oxford University Press, 1997). She is a member of the Advisory Board of LSE’s Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Before earning a Ph.D. from King’s College, London, Dr. Kuper worked as a solicitor in child-related law.
Conor Gearty was the first director of LSE’s new Centre for the Study of Human Rights from 2002 until 2009. As the Rausing Director, he steered the Centre into a strong position for both students and professionals. He continues at LSE as a professor of human rights. Previous to joining LSE, Conor was at King’s College, London, and a Fellow in Law at Emmanual College, Cambridge. He was a founding member of Matrix Chambers. His academic research has focused primarily on civil liberties, terrorism and human rights. He has produced many articles and books on these areas.
Janet Munro-Nelson runs a website on international issues called THE BEACON. She works for an NGO, Advocates for Human Rights. Her academic and working experience is in public international law, focusing on human rights and the law of armed conflict. She recently attended a two week intensive advanced military course on the law of armed conflict at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law. She is currently working on a proposal to help youths in northern India.
Donald R. Rothwell is a Professor at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. His specific focus in international law is the law of the sea, the law of the polar regions, use of force, and the implementation of international law in Australia. He is a highly prolific writer of international law having written some 11 books and over 100 book chapters. He was previously the Challis Professor of International Law and Director of the Sydney Centre for international & Global Law at the University of Sydney.
Michael N. Schmitt has recently joined the Durham Law School in Durham, England as Chair of Public International Law. Before coming to Durham, he was dean of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Except for his year as Stockton Chair at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, Professor Schmitt was a professor of international law at the George Marshall Center since 1999. He serves on numerous legal panels, editorial boards, advisory boards and expert working groups. He is a very prolific legal writer, focusing on international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) and international law.
Gary Solis is a scholar and teacher of the law of armed conflict. He is currently on the faculties of Georgetown Law Center and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy. While in the U.S. Marine Corps he was a Marine judge advocate, a court-martial judge and the Head of the Marine Corps’ Military Law Branch in Washington, D.C.. He set-up and headed the U.S. Military Academy’s course on the law of war. He has received several prestigious teaching awards including Phi Kappa Phi’s distinguished teaching award and the Apgar Award from the U.S. Military Academy. He is a published author of several books on the law of armed conflict and on the Vietnam conflict. His most recent book is, The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law at War (Cambridge University Press, 2009).