Cristina Sala (University of Deusto – Spain)
Cristina Sala Valdés is a PhD candidate at the University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain) within the Programme “Migrations and Conflicts in Global Society” where she is researching the Role of Media in Conflict Transformation. She is currently Junior Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (University of Coimbra, Portugal) within the Marie Curie Project SPBuild. Cristina Sala holds a University Degree Course in Journalism, Complutense University (Madrid, Spain), and mainly worked as journalist in press agencies and radios in Spain. In April 2008, she completed one year research period supervised by Kjell Ake Nordquist in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Uppsala University (Sweden). From October 2008, she is responsible for the online course “Communication for Development, Social Change and Peace” at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation Studies (IEPC). She is also a member of the European Union Latin America Relations Observatory (EULARO) working as consultant and designer of social development programmes in Colombia.

Francisco Javier Peñas (Madrid Autonomous University – Spain)
Francisco Javier Peñas is Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Law, Autonomous University of Madrid. Francisco has a degree in Philosophy and Humanities, Master in International Relations,l University Institute Ortega y Gasset, and holds a PhD in Political Science, Autonomous University of Madrid (1993). He is also the director of the Master  in International Relations and African Studies at the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Francisco is the author of different books, namely: Occidentalización, fin de la Guerra Fría y Relaciones Internacionales (Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1997) and Hermanos y enemigos; Liberalismo y relaciones internacionales (Madrid. Los Libros dela Catarata, 2003). He is also the editor of África en el sistema Internacional (Madrid, Los libros dela Catarata, 1999).  He hás also written different articles in International Relations Theory.  Francisco is the director of the Spanish group within the European project “Problems of Europeanization and European Perceptions of Turkey as a future member state” (contract no:  TR0604.01-03/o070, December 2009). His current research interests are mainly focused on social imaginaries as ideational forces within the conformation of international relations.

Jacob Høigilt
Jacob Høigilt is a Middle East researcher with the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, Oslo. He holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Oslo. His research interests focus on public culture and ideological currents in the Arab world, with special regard to Islamism. He is currently engaged in a four-year project run by the University of Oslo entitled "The New Middle East: Emerging Political Trends", where his contribution is a study of political activism among Palestinian youth. Among his recent publications are the monograph Islamist Rhetoric (Routledge 2010) and "Islamism and education: The nature and aims of Islamic schools in the Occupied Palestinian Territories" (in Middle East Critique, forthcoming).
Joana Ricarte (University of Coimbra – Portugal)
Joana Ricarte  graduated in History from the University of Brasília – UnB -, in Brasil. She was an intern at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil twice, at the United Nations Division (2007) and at the Department of International Negotiations (2009), and took part of the editorial team of Revista Noctua, a periodic from the History Department of the University of Brasília. She completed a course on Peace and Conflict Studies from the United Nations Mandated University for Peace – UPEACE -, in 2011. In the same year, she was awarded a scholarship from the University of Coimbra to take a summer course of Classical Arabic and Popular Lebanese Arabic at the American University of Science and Technology – AUST – in Lebanon. Joana is currently taking a MA in International Relations, with specialization in Peace and Security Studies, at the University of Coimbra. Her interests are the Middle East, the question of Palestine, Peace Studies and conflict resolution.

José Manuel Pureza (CES/ University of Coimbra - Portugal)
José Manuel Pureza is a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, where he coordinates the Peace Studies Group. He is also Professor at the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra, where he teaches in the Ba, Master and PhD programs on International Relations. He is also co-director of the PhD Program on International Politics and Conflict Resolution. In the more recent years he has leaded several research projects on peace studies and has published in that area and on international legal debates. José Manuel Pureza is visitant professor at different foreign universities: Universidad Torcuato di Tella (Buenos Aires), Pablo de Olavide (Seville), Catholic University of São Paulo and Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Universidad del País Vasco. He is a regular lecturer at the National Defence Institute and at the Centre for Human Rights of the School of Law (University of Coimbra). He is a member of the “Circle of Friends of the Alliance”, promoted by the High-Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Jorge Sampaio, and of the Provisional Board or the Portuguese Association for the United Nations. He is also Member of the Specialized Panels Established Pursuant to the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and/or the Environment. His current research priorities include peace studies – namely peace building and post-conflict settlement processes, small arms regulation and media’s role in international conflicts – theoretical debates on international security and the normative dimension of international relations.

Karlos Pérez (HEGOA – Basque Country University - Spain)
PhD in Political Science and Professor in the area of International Relations and researcher in HEGOA (Instituto de Estudios sobre Desarrollo y Cooperación Internacional), Basque Country University (Bilbao). Main researcher  at the Human Security, Local Human Development and International Cooperation  Research Group funded by Basque government (2010-2013). Author of four books (namely  Diccionario de Acción Humanitaria y Cooperación al Desarrollo, ed. Icaria, Barcelona, 2001) and many different peer review articles. Current research interests: Human security, Complex political emergencies, armed conflicts, peacebuilding, post-war reconstruction, humanitarian action. Research visiting fellow at: Sussex University (1992), Oxford University (1994, 1998), Nevada University (2009) and British Columbia University (Vancouver, Canada, 2010). Fieldwork: Mozambique (1996), Angola (2001, 2004, 2008) and Palestina (2009).

Martina Rieker
Martina Rieker, Ph.D.,  is the Director of the Institute for Gender and Women's Studies at the American University in Cairo.  The Institute houses both a graduate program offering MA specializations in Gendered Political Economies, Gender and Justice, and Gender Studies in the Middle East and a research center. She currently is leading, together with Hanan Sabea, the following two center related research projects: Gender and Region (2006-2011) and Imagining the Political: Young Women's Political Participation in Egypt (2011-2013). Forthcoming book publications from the Institute include Against the Familiar Ed. Martina Rieker and Hanan Sabea (2012) and Neoliberalizing Academies and the Problem of Gender Studies: Comparative Dialogues Ed.  Martina Rieker and Hanan Sabea (2012).  Martina Rieker, along with Kamran Asdar Ali, is the founder (2001) and coordinator of the Shehr Comparative Urban Landscapes Network. Recent publications include:  Gendering Urban Space in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa Ed. Martina Rieker and Kamran Asdar Ali  (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008);  "Urban Margins: Envisioning the Contemporary Urban Global South." Social Text 26, no. 2 95 (2008) and  Comparing Cities: The Middle East and South Asia Ed. Kamran Asdar Ali and Martina Rieker (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Nizar Messeri (University of Al Akhawayn – Morocco)
Nizar  holds a Ph.D. in International Relations (University of Miami), a Master´s in International Relations (The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) and a Bachelor in International Relations (The University of Brasília). He was Assistant Professor at The Institute of International Relations at The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, until 2009, and he is currently an Associate Professor at Al Akhawayn University. He was Visiting Professor at different high education institutions, namely: The Military Academy of Agulhas Negras and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ. He was also coordinator of the International Security Working Group of the Radar of the International System, consultant for Africa and the Arab World of the Network of Intelligence Studies on Energy Issues and Research Assistant at the School of International Studies, The University of Miami. He is the author of two books on International Relations Theory and has published many peer review articles in different national and international journals.

Sofia José Santos (CES/ University of Coimbra)
Sofia José Santos is Junior Researcher at NHUMEP (Centre for Social Studies) and PhD Candidate at the Phd Programme "International Politics and Conflict Resolution", School of Economics, University of Coimbra, and part of the editorial team of P@x, the Centre for Social Studies Peace Studies Group, newsletter. Holds a MA degree in "International Politics and Conflict Resolution" and a Degree in International Relations from the School of Economics, University of Coimbra, and a specialization in Journalism from the Centre for Journalist Professional Training (CENJOR), Lisbon. She was an intern at the UN Information Centre, in Lisbon, and main officer at the International Office from Coimbra College of Education.  Her current research interests include: media, peace and violences, peace media and peacebuilding and the liberal peace. In February 2009, she completed a six month research/mobility period at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, supervised by Professor Ton Robben.

Tarik Sabry (University of Westminster)
Tarik Sabry is senior lecturer in Media and Communication Theory at the University of Westminster where he is member of the Communication and media research Institute (CAMRI). He is author of Cultural Encounters in the Arab World: On media, the Modern and the Everyday (IB. Tauris 2010) and Editor of Arab Cultural Studies: Mapping the Field (IB tauris 2011). He is also Co-founder and Co-Editor of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. His research interests include: Arab Cultural Studies, contemporary Arab philosophical thought, media and migration, globalization and Arab popular cultures.

Teresa Cravo (CES/ University of Coimbra)
Teresa Cravo graduated in International Relations from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, in Portugal. She completed a diploma on Human Rights and Democratization in the Law Faculty at the same University and was later awarded a Master of Arts in Peace Studies from Bradford University, in the United Kingdom. She then became a Junior Lecturer in International Relations at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, where she has taught Geopolitics, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights. She is also a Researcher at the Peace Studies Group of the Centre for Social Studies in Coimbra.
Teresa is currently writing her PhD thesis at the Department of Politics and International Studies of Cambridge University. She is working on a critique of development in post-conflict states in Africa and focusing on Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. She is currently a Research Associate at the International Security Program of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her research interests include conflict resolution, peacebuilding, post-colonial states, democracy and development - particularly within the African context.

Victor Santiago Pozas (University of the Basque Country)
Víctor Santiago Pozas holds a PhD in Political Sciences. He is Professor at the University of the Basque Country where he teaches in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication (University of the Basque Country) subjects related to “Corporative and Institutional Communication”, “Public Relations” and “Communication within conflicts”; in the master “Social Communication” and in the master “Decentralized International Cooperation: Peace and Development”. He also teaches in the official master “Development and International Cooperation” (HEGOA – Institute of Studies on Development and International Cooperation, University of the Basque Country). He is main researcher of the Project “Influence of social, political and economic changes in mass media in Cuba (2008-2010)”. He is author of “Communication and Development: From the MacBride Report to the Congo Wars.”, in Koldo Unceta y Amaia Arrinda (edits.): Development Cooperation: Facing the Challenges of Global Change, Center for Basque Studies. University of Reno, EHU/UPV, 2010, pp. 125-143; "Información en contextos de conflicto bélico" in Utopía informativa. Propuestas para un periodismo más social, Bilbao: Hegoa, 2007, pp. 13-20; (with Juan Carlos De Miguel) “¿Polarización económica o ideológica?. Relaciones entre los medios y el poder político y corporativo”, Viento Sur, nº 103, mayo 2009, pp. 43-51;  “Comunicación institucional y desplazamientos de la opinión pública: la crisis del 11 al 14M”, in La comunicación en situaciones de crisis: del 11-M al 14-M, EUNSA, Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A, pp. 429-440, 2006, among others.