Professor Shirley Randell AO, PhD was educated at Perth Modern School and the Universities of Papua New Guinea, Canberra, New England and London. As a leading expert in public sector and institutional reform, gender mainstreaming and human rights in developing countries, Prof. Randell has provided specialist technical assistance to governments in the Asia Pacific Region and in Africa over the last 18 years. For the last nine years she has been working in Rwanda as a gender and education specialist. She is the author of numerous journal articles and books and is a renowned international speaker. Prof Randell was one of Australia’s 100 Inaugural Women of Influence in 2012 and one of the International Alliance for Women’s 100 World of Difference Awardees in 2013. She is the 2013 Distinguished Alumni of the University of New England Armidale, Global Ambassador for The International Alliance of Women, and Patron of the Australian Centre for Leadership for Women and Sunshine Foundation Australia.

Dr. Semiha Topal is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fatih University, in Istanbul, Turkey. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from the same institution, and a Master’s degree in Gender Studies and Religion from SOAS, University of London. Dr. Topal has completed her PhD degree in Religious Studies at Arizona State University, with her dissertation on “Building a Pious Self in Secular Settings: Pious Women in Modern Turkey” in 2012.

Her research interests include gender studies, religion in the public life, secularism, modernity, and theories of subjectivity. Her publications are: "Everybody Wants Secularism But Which One? Contested Definitions of Secularism in Turkey" in International Journal of Politics Culture and Society, (September 2012) and "Pursuit of Piety in the Public Sphere: A Weberian Analysis of the Gülen Hizmet Movement" in The Gulen-Hizmet Movement: Circumspect Activism in Faith-Based Reform, Eds. Balci and Miller (August 2012).

Hilal Elver is a Research Professor of Global Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, an appointment she has held since 2002, and is co-director of the Project on Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy housed at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at UCSB. She has a law degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Ankara Law School where she started her teaching career. During this period, she was also appointed by the Turkish government as the founding legal advisor of the Ministry of Environment. Later she became the General Director of Women’s Studies in the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1994, she was appointed to the UNEP Chair in Environmental Diplomacy by the United Nations Environment Program at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. Since 1996 she has been teaching at several American universities. In 1993 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, and 1996-1998 she was a visiting fellow at the Center of International Studies at Princeton University.

Her publications have focused mainly on international environmental law, and international human rights law. Her book, Peaceful Uses of International Rivers:

Case of Euphrates and Tigris River, was published in 2002. Currently she is working on a book project dealing with secularism and human rights in the Islamic world. She teaches comparative law, international human rights, and environmental law.

Born in 1978, Suna Vidinli is a prime time anchor currently for NTV Turkey, formerly for CNN Turk and Haberturk,. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with a major in School of Foreign Service and a minor in Islamic Studies from Georgetown University, 2000. She has a Master's degree in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, 2002. Formerly, she was Chief Communications Officer (CCO) of Dogan, Ciner and Calik Groups of Turkey. She is publisher's representative of New York Times International Turkey Edition. She is also a member of the board of Turkish Businesswomen's Association and Caspian Strategy Institute. She is a frequent attendee and (three-times) moderator of World Economic Forum meetings. She speaks four languages, Turkish, English, Italian and Arabic.

Zuhal Kurt is the Chief Executive Officer of the privately held Kurt Group, whose investments include 6News, a satellite news video broadcast covering Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East; Kurt Systems, a revolutionary race horse training technology currently employed to over 50 thoroughbreds; and a real estate portfolio including commercial, residential, and industrial properties in Istanbul and Ceyhan, Turkey and London, UK. Kurt is an alumnus of Schiller University. She is married with one son and resides in Istanbul.