Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy. He hosts the podcast The Rest is Politics with Rory Stewart.

Amanda Sloat is Special Assistant to US President Joe Biden and Senior Director for Europe in the US National Security Council. She has previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs at the US State Department, as Senior Advisor to the White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region and as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. She was a post-doctoral research fellow with the Institute of Governance at Queen’s University Belfast between 2001 and 2005 and has served as a special advisor to the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, and European Commission.

Jane Hartley became US Ambassador to the UK in 2022. She was the US ambassador to France and Monaco from 2014 until 2017 during the Barack Obama administration. She has had an extensive career in public service, serving as Director of Congressional Relations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as President Carter’s Associate Assistant in the Office of Public Liaison.

Ambassador Hartley is the former CEO of the Observatory Group, an international economic and political advisory firm. She also served as CEO of the G7 Group, a research firm providing macroeconomic and political analysis to global clients.

Ambassador Melanne Verveer is Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. Before this, she served for many years in government and in the US NGO sector. During the Obama administration, she became the first US Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s issues. Previously she had served in the Clinton administration as assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Among her duties was the responsibility for overseeing Hillary Clinton’s global initiative on women’s rights as human rights. In 2001, she and the former First Lady founded the Vital Voices Global Partnership on the principle that nations and communities cannot move forward without women’s voices in leadership positions.

Mitchell B. Reiss is an American diplomat, academic and business leader who served as the US Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace Process from 2003-2007, a role in which he held the rank of Ambassador. He has served as CEO and President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the world’s largest living history museum, where he steered a financial turnaround. During the Bush administration he served as Director of the Office of Policy Planning in addition to carrying out his role as Northern Ireland Envoy. He has received the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Award for Public Service. He holds a D. Phil from the University of Oxford, a J.D. from Columbia Law School, a Master’s from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and a B.A. from Williams College. He is married to the former Elisabeth Anselmi, and they have two children, Mathew and Michael.

Ambassador Nancy Soderberg has served at the highest levels of government, including in the Senate, White House as Deputy National Security Advisor and as an Ambassador at the United Nations. She also has vast experience with non-governmental organizations, as a business leader, and in academia. She speaks and writes regularly on national security issues. She was President Bill Clinton’s advisor on Northern Ireland policy from 1993-97. She is currently the National Democratic Institute’s Country Director for Kosovo, President and CEO of Soderberg Global Solutions, and Director of the Public Service Leadership Program at the University of North Florida.   

Andrea is an award-winning news broadcaster and journalist, with over 25 years’ experience as a national and international TV and radio presenter. In October 2022 she became the presenter of Feedback on BBC Radio 4.

Her most recent documentary series “This Union: A Sea between Us” explored Northern Ireland a hundred years after its formation and looked at the challenges facing today’s Unionists 

Andrea has presented news and current affairs programmes including The Media Show, Last Word, Any Answers and Woman’s Hour. She was part of BBC Radio’s commentary team for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Angela McGowan joined the CBI in October 2016 as Director for Northern Ireland having previously worked for eight years as the Chief Economist for Danske Bank. The CBI is regarded as the ‘voice of business’ both locally and nationally. It represents around 70 percent of the Top 100 companies in NI as well as many small firms across the region. Angela has enjoyed a varied career as an economist in both the public and the private sector. She has experience sitting on several boards including Vice Chair of Enterprise NI, Non-Executive Director of Young Enterprise and a Commissioner on Belfast City Council’s Innovation and Inclusive Growth Commission. She currently sits on the Northern Ireland Audit Office External Review Panel, she is a member of the Employer’s Forum at Queen’s University Belfast and a member of the Department of Economy’s Interim Skills Council.

Charles Michel was born in the Belgian town of Namur in 1975. He studied law at the University of Brussels. 
In 1999 he was elected member of the federal parliament and later became the Walloon Minister for Interior Affairs and Civil Service, and in 2007, Federal Minister for Development Cooperation. He played an important role in his political party, MR (Reformist Movement), as spokesperson and finally leader of the party (2011-2014). During this time, between 2006 and 2014, he was also Mayor of Wavre.
He became the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium in October 2014. 
On 2 July 2019, EU leaders elected Charles Michel as President of the European Council. He took office on 1 December 2019.

Leading King's Counsel, wife of the former British Prime Minister and committed campaigner for women's rights, Cherie set up the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in 2008 to support women to start, grow and sustain successful businesses in low and middle income countries so that they can contribute to their economies and have a stronger voice in their societies.

Cherie is actively involved in the Foundation, generously and tirelessly giving her time and resources to ensure its success. Travelling internationally to visit projects and donors and to advocate for women entrepreneurs globally, she is an ambassador for women entrepreneurs everywhere, encouraging other non-profits, corporations and governments to do more to support women business owners.

Cherie was awarded a CBE in the 2013 New Year's Honours List for services to women's issues and to charities in both the UK and overseas.

Chris Blattman is the Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute and Harris School of Public Policy. He is an economist and political scientist, and his most recent book is Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace. Dr. Blattman was previously faculty at Columbia and Yale Universities, and holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School. Much of Dr. Blattman’s work designs and tests solutions to violence and poverty, and he has worked mainly in Colombia, Liberia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Chicago.

Chris Conway is the Group Chief Executive of Translink since September 2015. Translink employs over 4,000 people, delivering 12,000 public transport services every day, and maintains the public transport network across Northern Ireland. Previous to Translink he was Managing Director of Tata Steel Ireland. Chris is Fellow of the Institute of Directors and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He has served on numerous boards and was former Chair of Northern Ireland (NI) Co-operation Overseas and Chair of Young Enterprise NI.

Christine Bell is Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal (Global Justice) at the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She has researched and published extensively on human rights, the connections between constitutional law and international law forged through attempts to end violent conflict, with a focus on how these attempts affect constitution-making processes, peace agreements, and the development of international law itself.

Colum Eastwood was elected Leader of the SDLP in 2015. He was MLA for Foyle from 2011 to 2019 and elected as MP in 2019. A Derry City Councillor from 2005 until 2011, he distinguished himself as a passionate advocate for investment, infrastructure, and jobs for communities deprived of prosperity. He was appointed Derry's youngest-ever Mayor in 2010, leading Derry’s year as City of Culture. A strong believer in social justice and human rights, Colum was Mayor during the publication of the Saville Report which exonerated the Bloody Sunday victims, leading the city during a period of immense reconciliation.

Dame Louise Richardson DBE is President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, the philanthropic foundation established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Previously, she served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and of the University of St. Andrews, and as Executive Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. A widely recognized expert on terrorism and international relations, she is the recipient of numerous fellowships, awards, and honorary doctorates. Born in Ireland, Richardson received a BA in history from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in political science from UCLA, and an MA and PhD in government from Harvard University.

Dawn Purvis is a former MLA who served as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2007 to 2010. She previously served as a member of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and was an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. She is currently Head of Corporate Affairs at Choice Housing Ireland and sits on the board of directors for the John and Pat Hume Foundation for peaceful change and reconciliation.

Donie O'Sullivan is an Emmy-nominated CNN correspondent who covers the intersection of technology and politics. Based in New York City, he is a top expert in his field and has spent his career largely focusing on the effects of online misinformation and conspiracy theories in American politics, as well as social media disinformation campaigns, deepfake technology, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and more.

Notably, O’Sullivan was on the ground reporting live outside the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on January 6, 2021. He also traveled the country in the months leading up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election reporting on the role conspiracy theories were playing in voters' attitude to the election and to the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Before joining CNN, O'Sullivan worked for Storyful, a social media verification news agency, in New York and Dublin, Ireland. He holds a master's degree in political science from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, and is a proud dual citizen of the United States and Ireland.

Doug Beattie became Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in 2021 and has been MLA for Upper Bann since 2016. He is also the UUP’s Justice spokesman. He sits on the Assembly’s Justice Committee and is Deputy Chairperson of the Committee for the Executive Office.

Doug served in the military for thirty-four years and holds the rank of Captain. He was awarded the Military Cross for his service in Afghanistan and is a keen advocate for ensuring the Armed Forces Covenant is applied in Northern Ireland. He remains a member of the Army Reserves, serving with 2 R IRISH.

Dr Anna Bryson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, a Senior Fellow of the HEA and a Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Her most recent research has developed at the intersection of transitional justice and oral history. She is currently working on two RCUK funded projects – An Oral History of the Law Centre Movement and Apologies and Dealing with the Past. A British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship is supporting the completion of her fifth book titled Conflict and Civility: Memory, Identity and Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland. She was elected chair of the Committee on the Administration of Justice in 2021. 

Dr Cheryl Lawther is a Reader in the School of Law and a Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. She is also the Director of the Human Rights Centre at Queen's University Belfast. Situated within the field of transitional justice, Cheryl's research interests focus on truth recovery and dealing with the past, victims, ex-combatants, reparations and the use of atrocity sites.

Dr. Steven Ashby is Director of the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he sets PNNL’s strategic direction and oversees its ~$1.4 billion R&D budget. Under his leadership, PNNL’s nearly 6,000 talented staff members draw on signature capabilities in chemistry, Earth sciences, biology, and data science to advance scientific discovery, enable energy sustainability, and enhance national security. Dr. Ashby previously served as PNNL’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology and spent nearly 21 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, ultimately serving as Deputy Principal Associate Director for Science and Technology.

Ellvena Graham has extensive business experience, having worked across a number of different sectors including Energy, Banking, Agri-Food, Business Tourism, Higher Education and Sport. Ellvena is Chairman of Tourism NI, Chairman of Catalyst Inc and a Non-Executive Director of Dale Farm Ltd.  Amongst a range of other roles, she has been Chairman of the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), one of the major state-owned utilities in Ireland, a Non-Executive Director of Ulster Bank Ltd and was Chairman of Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall Ltd. Until Aug 2022, Ellvena was President of NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry for two terms and is a past Chair of the NI Economic Advisory Group. 

Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 12 May 2022 when she was co-opted to replace DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson who declined to take up his seat after being elected at the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election to remain in the House of Commons.

Emma Murphy is the President of Queen’s Students’ Union and has previously served as the Education Officer in the Students’ Union. She is a campaigner and activist representing students, and is passionate about sustainability, democracy, and equality. She has studied English Literature at Queen’s University, participated in the Washington Ireland Class of 2021, and has secured significant support for students to combat the Cost of Living crisis.

Gary McMichael was leader of the Ulster Democratic Party from 1994 to 2001 and was the UDP's lead negotiator during the Northern Ireland talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement. He was a member of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum 2000 to 2002. He was an elected member of Lisburn City Council from 1993 to 2005 when he retired from politics. He was appointed to the Board of the Labour Relations Agency 2011-2021 and has also served on a number of charity boards over the years including the Northern Ireland Fund for Reconciliation. In 1998 he founded the addiction charity ASCERT and as its Chief Executive since 2001 has led it to become a leading provider of drug, alcohol and mental health services across Northern Ireland.

Gerry Adams was President of Sinn Féin from 1983 to 2018. He was MP for West Belfast from 1983 until 1992 and again from 1997 until 2011. A signatory to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, he also represented Belfast West (1998–2010) in the Northern Ireland Assembly and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. He is also an author having published several books and writes a weekly opinion column in the Andersonstown News.

Gillian is the Chief People Officer at Eakin Healthcare Group. She was born in Northern Ireland but grew up in Canada where she worked as a Barrister and Solicitor, specialising in employment law before returning to Northern Ireland in 2001. After returning to Northern Ireland, Gillian worked for the Viridian Group (now Energia Group) for 14 years in various HR roles, eventually becoming the HR Director in 2011. Gillian joined Devenish as the Group HR Director in 2015. In a voluntary capacity, she sits on the Board of NOW Group and the Governance, Nominations and Remuneration Committee of Ulster University.

Ian Jeffers was appointed as the Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the conflict in Northern Ireland in May 2022. His appointment comes at a critical time, as the Government seeks to introduce legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles. Ian has been in senior leadership roles in the private and voluntary sector for more than 25 years. Prior to taking on the role of Commissioner, he was the Deputy Chief Executive of The Prince’s Trust. During his tenure, the charity supported over 500,000 young people to move into education, training or employment. Prior to joining The Trust, he worked in the private sector in roles including CEO of NTL, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and CEO of NTL Ireland.

Ian Paisley Jr is the Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Antrim and has been an MP continuously since 6 May 2010. He is a former Junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive and was the MLA for North Antrim from 1998-2010. He is a Queen’s graduate and postgraduate reading Irish History and Politics. He currently undertakes the roles of Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Culture, Media and Sport), and Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Communities and Local Government).

Jayne Brady is Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Chief Policy Adviser to the First and deputy First Ministers, and Secretary to the Executive. She took up the post in late 2021 following an extensive career in the private sector, the first woman and first external appointment to the role in the Service's history. Committed to delivering economic and social change by harnessing innovation, she has supported those political parties entitled to form an Executive to develop a new and transformative proposition for NI. An advocate for collaboration, she mobilised input from across government and insights from the private sector to help shape the catalytic concept, with a view to its adoption by an incoming Executive.

Jayne is pioneering a programme of renewal within the NI Civil Service, to ensure that each of its 23,000 people are empowered to implement the work of the Executive, while stabilising and transforming services to the public. An engineer at heart, she has extensive board experience and a record of success across blue-chip corporations, start-ups, and funding ecosystems. Before assuming her current post, she was Digital Innovation Commissioner for Belfast, partner in a venture capital firm with £100M+ funds under management and co-founder of an artificial intelligence start-up. She was a member of the UK Government's Innovation Expert Group which developed its 2021 Innovation Strategy and appointed an Entrepreneurial Expert for Oxford University in 2020.She was recognised for services to the economy with an MBE (2018) and two honorary doctorates (2019, 2022).

Jayne has a passion for supporting young people, serving as a counsellor for Childline and board member for Young Enterprise NI. She has a strong, well-established professional network, is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineers. She is mum to three teenagers.

Joan T.A. Gabel serves as the 17th president of the University of Minnesota, where under her leadership, the University established MPact 2025, its first comprehensive systemwide strategic plan; surpassed $1 billion in annual research expenditures; achieved record-setting graduation rates, start-ups, patents and private giving; and advanced transformational collaborations, including NXT GEN MED, the ground-breaking partnership between the University, the Mayo Clinic and Google. President Gabel most recently served as executive vice president and provost at the University of South Carolina. She also served as dean of the University of Missouri.

Joe O’Neill joined Belfast Harbour in 1997, holding several roles including Commercial Manager, Port Manager, and Commercial Director until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2018. He is steering an ambitious plan to establish Belfast Harbour as the best regional port in the world, a key economic hub in Northern Ireland, and create an iconic Waterfront District for Belfast.

Before joining the Port, Joe held positions with Undus Ltd and Cantrell and Cochrane Ltd. He is currently a board member of Simon Community, a Council member of the Ireland US Council, and a Northern Ireland CBI Council member.

John Alderdice is the former Leader of the Alliance Party. He was also Speaker of the NI Assembly, a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) and President of Liberal International.  He is currently a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Executive Chairman of The Changing Character of War Centre at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and Professor at the University of Wales Trinity St David.

Jonathan Powell was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair from 1995 to 2007 and from 1997 to 2007 was also Chief British Negotiator on Northern Ireland. From 1978-79 he was a broadcast journalist with the BBC and Granada TV and from 1979 to 1994 a British Diplomat.  He is Director of Inter Mediate and author of Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland, The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World and Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflict. He is an Honorary Professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

Josh Parker is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Ancora L&G (Ancora), a US based real assets investment partnership with Legal & General Group plc (LGEN:LN). Ancora invests in real estate that is proximate to or in partnership with Anchor Institutions to support and enhance their mission and strategic priorities. Mr. Parker is a leader in the anchor institution, life sciences, and innovation real estate sectors with over 20 years of unique real estate experience in adaptive re-use, urban redevelopment, innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives, and university leased real estate.

He is a full member of the Urban Land Institute and sits on the University Development & Innovation Council, serves as a Trustee of The Duke School, and has served as President of Preservation Durham, Chair of the Cultural Advisory Board and as a member of the Durham Civic Center Authority. He is a graduate of North Carolina Central University.

Leo Varadkar TD became Taoiseach for the second time in December 2022, having previously served from 2017 to 2020. He is a qualified medical doctor and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2007 and was re-elected to a fourth term in 2020. He has also served as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (2011-2014), Minister for Health (2014-2016), Minister for Social Protection (2016-2017) and as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2020-2022). He is parliamentary leader and President of Fine Gael.

Liz O'Donnell was Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs 1997-2002 and was one of the negotiators on the Irish Government side in the multi-party talks leading to the GFA in April 1998. Liz was TD for Dublin South (Progressive Democrats) from 1992-2007 and was Deputy Leader of the party. She retired from politics in 2007. Since then, she has worked in journalism, broadcasting and public affairs. She was Director of Communications, Policy and Government affairs for MSD (Human Health) Ireland from 2017-2020. She was appointed as Chair of the Road Safety Authority by the Government in 2014 and still holds that position. Liz lives in Dublin, was born in Dublin and was educated at Trinity College Law School.

Mark Durkan was a key member of the SDLP’s negotiating team in the run up to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. He became an MLA (Foyle) in 1998 and was appointed Minister of Finance and Personnel in 1999 before becoming deputy First Minister in 2001. He was elected Leader of the SDLP the same year, a position he held until 2010. He was an MP (Foyle) from 2005-17.

Mark Simpson is an award-winning BBC journalist who was one of the few reporters who covered every day of the two-year negotiations at Stormont which led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He studied politics and history at Queen's University in the late 1980s before entering journalism, and was political correspondent at Belfast Telegraph during the early days of the peace process.

On Good Friday 1998, he broke the news of the walk-out by some members of the Ulster Unionist negotiating team. He covered the formation of the power-sharing Executive at Stormont in 1999 and has reported from Belfast, Dublin, London and Washington on every stage of the peace and political process during the past quarter of a century.

Maroš Šefčovič is a Slovak diplomat, who since 1 December 2019 has served as Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. In this capacity, he leads the Commission’s work on interinstitutional relations, better policymaking, strategic foresight and the European Battery Alliance. He is also responsible for the European Union’s relations with the United Kingdom, co-chairing the EU-UK Partnership Council under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the EU-UK Joint Committee for the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Mary Lou McDonald has been President of Sinn Féin since 2018, after serving as the party's Deputy Leader for nine years. Following her 2011 election to the Dáil in the Republic of Ireland, she was Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform, and on her re-election in 2016, was the party's All-Ireland Spokesperson for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.

Mary Lou was an MEP for Dublin from 2004 to 2009. During her time in the European Parliament, she was a prominent member of the Employment and Social Affairs committee and Civil Liberties committee.

Mary McAleese was President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011. Born and raised in Belfast’s Ardoyne, the oldest of nine children, she was the first President to come from Northern Ireland. She and her family experienced first-hand the sectarian violence of The Troubles. The theme of her presidency was Building Bridges and her work for peace and reconciliation culminated in the historic state visit to Ireland by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011. She is a broadcaster, writer, and an academic civil and canon lawyer with a long standing focus on human rights including women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights and children’s rights.

Formerly Reid Professor in Trinity College, Dublin and Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University Belfast she was the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Queen’s and Professor of Children, Law and Religion, University of Glasgow. She is Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame.

Mary Moreland joined The Victims and Survivors Forum in 2016.  As a former chairperson of the War Widows’ Association, she was one of the most prominent campaigners for war widows’ rights in the United Kingdom. In the role, she focused on connecting members to help reduce the loneliness and isolation that many feel, empowering them to tell their stories, and championing research that will help ease their suffering. Herself a widow, she has first-hand experience of these issues. In 1988, her husband was killed by the IRA. He was a serving UDR soldier, and he left behind Mary and their two young children. In time, Mary changed jobs and began to move through the ranks within the Department for Health. She completed a business degree and then a Masters in Counselling and Therapeutic Communications.

Mary Robinson is a lawyer, human rights campaigner and climate change activist. She was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity College Dublin when she was just 25 and was elected to the Irish Senate in 1969. In 1990, she became Ireland’s first female president.  In 1997, she was appointed as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and in 2010 she established the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. She is currently Chair of the Elders, an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet, founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Meghan L. O’Sullivan has been teaching and mentoring the world’s future leaders at the Harvard Kennedy School since 2008. In 2023, she was named Director of the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs - the Kennedy School's hub for teaching and research in international security and diplomacy, environmental and resource issues, and science and technology policy.

Professor O’Sullivan has served in multiple senior policymaking roles and as a national security advisor. From July to December 2013, she was the Vice Chair of the All Party Talks in Northern Ireland, which sought to resolve outstanding issues in the peace process.

Micheál Martin is the Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence. He was appointed to these roles on 17 December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 27 June 2020 to 17 December 2022. He has been leader of the Fianna Fáil party since February 2011. Previously he has served as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1992-93 and has held four cabinet posts: Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008-2011), Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (2004-2008), Minister for Health (2000-2004),Minister for Education (1997-2000). Micheál Martin was born in Turners Cross, Cork. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters degree in Political History from University College Cork.

Minty Thompson has a long career in community and cross-community work, from bringing together young people through the International Fund for Ireland to working as a senior mentoring employment officer in the Greater Shantallow area of Derry, where she lives. In 1971, Minty’s mother was shot dead in her back garden by a British soldier. Minty was only 12 years old. It took nearly five decades for her family’s search for truth and justice to reach a courtroom. She joined The Victims and Survivors Forum in 2016. Minty is also a Director of the Museum of Free Derry.

Monica McWilliams was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and a delegate to the multi-party peace talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement. She served as an MLA from 1998-2003 and was Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission until 2010. She is an Emeritus Professor at Ulster University in the Transitional Justice Institute and a Commissioner on the Independent Reporting Commission. She publishes on domestic violence and the role of women in conflict societies. Her Memoir Stand Up Speak Out was published by Blackstaff Press.

Naomi Long graduated from QUB with an MEng in Civil Engineering, working in the engineering industry before moving into politics. She joined Belfast City Council in 2001 and was elected to the NI Assembly as MLA (East Belfast) in 2003. After serving as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2009 to 2010, she became MP for East Belfast and the first Alliance MP elected to Westminster. In 2019, she became the first Alliance representative to be elected MEP and the only NI politician to have served at every level of Government. She returned to the Assembly in 2020 to serve as Justice Minister.

Paul Crawford is a member of The Forum for Victims and Survivors. He spent over 17 years working with adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties, managing supported housing schemes and community wellbeing services.  Paul joined the forum in 2016 after seeing an advertisement and thinking he could make a difference. His own personal journey of recovery has brought him to a place of hope thanks to the continued support of his family, and to his professional approach to conflict resolution. During the conflict, he lost close family members and friends, witnessed first-hand the immediate aftermath of killings, and survived an assassination attempt on his own life in 1981.

Paul Gallagher is a victims’ campaigner from Belfast and member of The Victims and Survivors Forum. He has years of experience working with local cross-community groups, WAVE Trauma Centre and VAST (Victims and Survivors Trust). He first got involved with cross-community work after his young nephews and nieces asked why he uses a wheelchair. Having been shot in a sectarian attack on his home by UDA gunmen when he was 21 years old, he did not want his response to be filled with hate and retribution. His involvement in WAVE led to a short course and by 2010, he had returned to education, studying for an undergraduate degree in Psychological Trauma Studies and then a Masters in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. He completed his PhD on the Campaign for Recognition led by the WAVE Injured Group of which he was an integral part.

Paul Murphy was MP for Torfaen from 1987 until his retirement in 2015, when he became a member of the House of Lords. He served as Minister of State (Political Development) from 1997 to 1999, before his appointment as Secretary of State for Wales from 1999 to 2002 and 2008 to 2009. He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2002 to 2005. He was also the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee and Co-Chair of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

William J Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001). He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term.  Working with the British and Irish governments, President Clinton employed significant U.S. political and economic resources in support of peace in Northern Ireland. His own personal engagement, as well as the involvement of former Senator George Mitchell, whom he appointed to facilitate the multi-party talks, played an instrumental role in achieving the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 and overcoming hurdles to its implementation.

Bertie Ahern is the former Taoiseach of Ireland. First elected to the Dáil in 1977, he held a number of ministerial appointments before being elected Taoiseach in 1997 and re-elected in 2002 and 2007.  The defining[CL1]  moment of this period and in Irish history was the successful negotiation by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.  On the wider world stage, during his Presidency of the European Council from January 2004 to June 2004, he presided over the historic enlargement of the European Union to 27-member states including eight countries from Eastern Europe. Since leaving Government in 2008, Bertie Ahern has dedicated his time to Conflict Resolution and is actively involved with many groups around the world.

Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law and a Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast and William W Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is also a practicing Barrister at Blackstone Chambers in London. He has researched and published extensively on human rights equality and discrimination, law and domestic social policy, comparative constitutional and public law.

Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, Director of the Human Rights Centre and a Fellow of the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. He has researched and published widely on refugee law, human rights and constitutional law, and recently led an ESRC funded project on the consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland. He previously served two terms as a Commissioner on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and worked extensively on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. 

Dominic Bryan is a Professor of Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast. He was Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s from 2002-2016, and formerly co-chair of the all-party Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (2016-2020). Dominic is presently Chair of the Short Working Group Reviewing Processions in Scotland (2022-) and managing a project, in conjunction with Co-Operation Ireland, evaluating the Communities in Transition programme run by the Northern Ireland Executive Office. Dominic’s research interests include political rituals, symbols, commemoration, public space, identity, conflict and peace building (Books: Orange Parades Pluto Press, 2000 and Civic identity and public space: Belfast since 1780, MUP, 2019).

Fiona Magowan is Professor of Anthropology and a Research Lead of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research addresses music, sound and movement; art and emotion; and religion and transformation. She has conducted ethnographic research in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia, as well as Brazil and Mozambique. Her eight authored or edited books include Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation (Bloomsbury 2023); Christianity, Conflict, and Renewal in Australia and the Pacific (Brill 2016) and Melodies of Mourning: Music and Emotion in Northern Australia (Oxford, James Currey 2007).

Gladys Ganiel is Professor in the Sociology of Religion at Queen’s University Belfast and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Her specialisms include religion on the island of Ireland, religion and conflict in Northern Ireland, evangelicalism, and the emerging church. Her books include Evangelicalism and Conflict in Northern Ireland, Transforming Post-Catholic Ireland, and The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity, co-authored with Gerardo Marti (winner of the 2015 Distinguished Book Award of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion).

Professor Ian Greer is the President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast. He has extensive experience of university innovation driving regional economic growth, co-founding both the Health Innovation Research Alliance for NI, and the Northern Health Science Alliance in England. He leads the innovation pillar of the Belfast Region City Deal, driving innovation in key sectors for the local economy - creative industries, health innovation, data science and analytics, and advanced manufacturing.  He is a strong advocate for University social responsibility including widening participation. He is a member of the Research England Council and is the past President of Universities Ireland.

John Brewer is Professor of Post-Conflict Studies at Queen's University Belfast, Honorary Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University and Honorary Professor of Sociology at Warwick University. He has an honorary degree from Brunel University, is a member of the UN's Roster of Global Experts for his work on peace processes, and is a member of the national academies in three countries. He ran a £1.26m Leverhulme major research grant programme on victims in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Sri Lanka and is the author or co-author of 17 books, and editor or co-editor of seven collections. His latest book is Advanced Introduction to the Sociology of Peace Processes (Edward Elgar, 2022). 

Karen McCloskey is Professor of Physiology in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast and Deputy Director of the Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research. She is Director of the Queen’s Gender Initiative, a female-focused entity in Queen’s enhancing the participation and progression of women in Queen’s. She is Academic Lead for Athena Swan (Advance HE Charter for Gender Equality in Academia) and for the Race Equality Charter in Queen’s. Her work has been recognised most recently as a finalist in the Women in Business Awards 2023 in the Outstanding Management and Leadership Category.

Kieran McEvoy is Professor of Law and Transitional Justice and Theme Lead (Rights & Justice) at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He has research and published extensively on the relationship between law, transitional justice and conflict transformation including; apologies, truth recovery, politically motivated prisoners, ex-combatants, victims, amnesties, human rights, restorative justice and the role and agency of lawyers.

Louise Mallinder is a Professor in the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast and the legacy theme lead in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Her research explores issues at the intersection of law and peace. Her most recent book is Lawyers, Conflict and Transition (CUP 2022) (authored with Kieran McEvoy and Anna Bryson). She is currently working an FCDO funded project entitled ‘Amnesties, Conflict and Peace’ and co-editing the Elgar Concise Encyclopedia on Law and Peace (with Rachel Killean and Lauren Dempster). She is vice-chair of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a human rights organisation based in Belfast and a member of the Law and Peace Practice Group of the Institute for Integrated Transitions.

Mark Lawler is Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Digital Health, and Chair in Translational Cancer Genomics at Queen’s University Belfast.  He co-leads the All Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI) and is Scientific Director of DATA-CAN, the UK’s National Health Data Research Hub for Cancer and Chair of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. He is Chair of the recently published Lancet Oncology European Groundshot Commission on Cancer Research and was the architect of the European Cancer Patient's Bill of Rights. He co-chairs the European Cancer Organisation’s Special Focussed Network on Covid-19 and cancer and co-leads its pan European Time To Act Campaign.

Professor Michael Maguire was Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) between 2012-2019. As Police Ombudsman he was responsible for criminal and misconduct investigations into the PSNI. His responsibilities included oversight of historical investigations into allegations of criminality by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary during the Northern Ireland conflict.

Prior to becoming PONI he was the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland. He is currently a Lay Member of the House of Commons Standards Select Committee and a Member of the Expert Advisory Committee, Yoorrook Truth and Justice Royal Commission, Australia.  He is an Honorary Professor of Practice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast.

Nola Hewitt-Dundas is Professor of Innovation Management and Policy and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also a Non-Executive director of the Board of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is responsible for managing £7bn of funding for research within the UK. As an internationally recognised expert in innovation policy, she has published consistently in the leading academic journals and advised a range of government organisations in the UK and internationally.

Professor Richard English is Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. His books include the award-winning studies Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Member of the Academia Europaea and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. In 2018 he was awarded a CBE for services to the understanding of modern-day terrorism and political history. In 2019 he was awarded the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal in the Social Sciences.

Lord Empey is the former Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, a position he held from 2005-2010. He was elected to Belfast City Council and was Lord Mayor from 1989-90 and again in 1993-94.

Lord Empey was a senior negotiator in the peace process leading up to the Belfast Agreement. He served as Minister of Enterprise Trade and Investment from 1999-2002 with a brief period as First Minister in 2001 and Minister for Employment and Learning from 2007-2010. He was MLA for East Belfast from 1998-2011, a City Councillor from 1985-2010, Member of the Committee of the Regions, Brussels from 1994-2002.

Lord Empey was appointed a Peer in 2011. He has served on 9 Parliamentary Committees and is currently a Member of the Select Committee on Youth Unemployment and a Member of the EU sub Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Congressman Richard E. Neal was raised and educated in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, where he served as Mayor from 1984 until 1988, the year in which he was elected to the US House of Representatives. He served on the House Banking Committee before joining the Ways and Means Committee in 1993, and in 2019 ascended to the committee’s Chairmanship. He is credited for his leadership in supporting measures to bring much-needed relief to the American people during the Covid crisis, most notably with the CARES Act, which has been credited as single-handedly saving the American economy. He has a strong connection to his Irish heritage, with one of his grandmothers hailing from County Down, and has devoted much of his career to maintaining and strengthening US-Ireland relations. In 2020, he was inducted into the Irish-American Hall of Fame.

Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister on 25 October 2022, having previously been Chancellor of the Exchequer from 13 February 2020 to 5 July 2022.

Since becoming Prime Minister, he has been focused on delivering on his five priorities for the UK: to halve inflation; grow the economy; reduce the national debt; cut the NHS backlog; and stop the boats.

He studied for a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University, after which he attended Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar, earning a Master of Business Administration.

This was followed by a successful career in business and finance, which included working as an analyst for an investment bank, followed by senior positions at a number of investment management firms

He was elected Conservative MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, in May 2015, and became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in 2018, and then was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2019 before becoming Chancellor.

Roger Myerson is the David L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies in the Harris School of Public Policy at University of Chicago.  He is author of Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict (1991) and has applied game-theoretic analysis to the study of political systems.  He has written about moral hazard and leadership in the foundations of the state and about local politics in democratic state-building.  In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for contributions to mechanism design theory, which analyzes rules for efficiently coordinating individuals who have different information and difficulty trusting each other. 

As an Irish diplomat, Rory Montgomery was Permanent Representative to the European Union, Ambassador to France, and Second Secretary General at the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs. He was part of the Irish team which negotiated the Good Friday Agreement. He is an Honorary Professor of Practice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.  He serves on the steering committee of the RIA/University of Notre Dame Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South (ARINS) project. He writes on Northern Ireland, the EU, and Irish foreign policy. Since 2022 he has been Chair of the Press Council of Ireland.

Rory Stewart is a writer. He was a Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019. In May 2019, he was appointed Secretary of State for International Development having previously served as a minister in four different departments of the UK Government. He hosts the podcast The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell.

Since retiring from his managerial role in the agri-foods industry, Sam Wilson has become more involved in victims’ groups both in his local area and province-wide. He joined The Victims and Survivors Forum in 2016. During the Troubles, Sam served initially as a member of the police reserve, before joining the UDR.

He was caught up in the bomb attack on Armagh Rugby Club, his cousin Edward Spence was shot and killed whilst on police duty, and he had a bomb placed under his car whilst he attended a funeral of a friend. His wife, who was a prison officer, was also badly assaulted which left her with injuries that forced her to retire and continue to cause pain. Sam is a founding member of the Out of the Shadows group in Richhill, and an active member of his local Phoenix group which brings together mainly veterans’ organisations whose members experienced conflict-related suffering during the Troubles.

Sarah Friar is Chief Executive Officer of Nextdoor (NYSE: KIND). Before joining Nextdoor, Sarah served as CFO at Square, SVP of Finance & Strategy at Salesforce, and lead software analyst and Business Unit Leader at Goldman Sachs as well as holding leadership positions at McKinsey in both London and South Africa. Sarah sits on the boards of directors of Walmart and ConsenSys, as well as the advisory boards of HOPE Global and the Blavatnik School of Government. She is the co-founder of Ladies Who Launch, a nonprofit that celebrates and empowers women entrepreneurs.

Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast. She is an internationally recognised public servant and has strong links with Queen’s and Northern Ireland.  As US Secretary of State, she championed economic development to create the foundation for a strong and competitive Northern Ireland, and during her time as First Lady she was deeply involved in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. In 2018, she received an honorary degree from Queen’s University for her exceptional public service and was appointed the first female Chancellor of the University in 2020.

After serving with distinction in the United States Senate, including six years as Majority Leader, Senator George J. Mitchell presided over the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Since 1995, the Senator has been active in the Northern Ireland peace process, having served as the United States Special Representative for Northern Ireland under President Bill Clinton.  From 2009 to 2011, Senator Mitchell was the United States Special Envoy to the Middle East. In recognition of his work in Northern Ireland, Senator Mitchell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Truman Institute Peace Prize and the United Nations (UNESCO) Peace Prize.  On the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, he was awarded the Freedom of Belfast City.

The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer is the Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras, and has been an MP continuously since 7 May 2015. He currently undertakes the role of Leader of HM Official Opposition. In addition, he is Leader of the Labour Party.

Steve Orr is Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst and serves on the Board of Directors. Catalyst is Northern Ireland’s science and technology hub providing a home to over 150 innovative companies and helping over 1000 entrepreneurs per annum to create and scale companies. Before being named CEO in November 2018, Steve was Director and Co-founder of Connect, Catalyst’s not-for-profit network of experienced entrepreneurs, business professionals and top research talent dedicated to the creation and scaling of innovation companies in Northern Ireland.

Prior to Connect, Steve co-founded Kineticom Inc, a San Diego, California based technical talent firm in 2000. In 2006 Kineticom was ranked #33 on the Inc 500, the list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the US. Previous to Kineticom, Steve worked in Buckinghamshire, UK and San Diego and San Francisco, California for S.Com Ltd and S.Com Inc. Steve earned a BSc in Business Information Technology from University of Northumbria. Steve is a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to innovation.

The Honourable Deborah L. Wince-Smith is an internationally recognized innovation and competitiveness policy expert. Following a successful career in senior leadership roles in the U.S. government., Wince-Smith founded the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC) and serves as its president. She is also the CEO of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness.

Chris was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 6th September 2022. He was previously Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip), Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and Minister of State at the Department for Transport. He was elected Conservative MP for Daventry in May 2010, is a qualified and active football referee and enjoys powerlifting.

Tim O’Connor is a former senior Irish Diplomat and former Secretary General (Chief of Staff) to the President of Ireland. He worked with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs from 1979-2007 and most of his career there was spent working on the Northern Ireland situation.

He was a Senior Official of the Irish Government Negotiating Team in the Talks in 1997/98 that led to the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998.

Thereafter Tim was heavily involved in the subsequent Talks to identify and establish the Cross-Border Bodies provided for in the Agreement, and from 1999-2005 was the Inaugural Southern Joint Secretary of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC), the institution created by the Agreement to oversee Cross-Border Co-operation on the island of Ireland. He retired from the Irish Public Service in 2010.

In 2017, he was appointed by the Irish Government to be its Representative on the Independent Reporting Commission whose mission is reporting on efforts to end Paramilitarism in Northern Ireland, a role he continues to hold.

As Prime Minister, he prioritised the Northern Ireland Peace Process, helping secure the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and implemented a major domestic-policy agenda. Through record investment and reforms, radically improved the performance of the UK’s education and health-care sectors; crime was reduced by a third; introduced a major programme of social liberalism and constitutional change; the Department for International Development was created, the UK’s foreign aid to Africa trebled; and landmark legislation to tackle climate change was introduced. All of this was done in the context of record economic growth and employment levels. He now dedicates the majority of his time pro bono to TBI.

Ursula von der Leyen (b. 1958, Brussels, Belgium) was elected as President of the European Commission in 2019. As the head of the European executive, she has defined six headline ambitions for Europe for her mandate: a European Green Deal, a Europe fit for the digital age, an economy that works for people, a stronger Europe in the world, promoting our European way of life, and a new push for European democracy. Before 2019, Ursula von der Leyen was Minister at federal level in Germany for more than 14 years and responsible for family, then labour and social affairs, and later defence.