Andrew Mitchell is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Monash University, and a member of the WTO Dispute Settlement Panelists Indicative List. He has extensive legal practice experience with Allens Arthur Robinson and consults for governments, international organizations, and the private sector. Mitchell has taught law in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Singapore, and the US. He holds law degrees from the University of Melbourne, Harvard Law School, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on international economic law, public international law, and digital trade governance, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of trade law and public health. Mitchell has secured six major grants, including an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, and has authored over 170 books and articles. He serves as an editor for Edward Elgar’s International Economic Law Series and multiple journal editorial boards. Recent projects include 'Safeguarding Health in International Investment Agreements' (2022–2025) 'Maritime Cooperation for a Sustainable Indo-Pacific' (2021–2022) 'Global E-Commerce and Cottage Industries in India' (2020–2021) He has contributed to policy submissions on bilateral investment treaties and delivered lectures on data sovereignty and digital trade. His awards include editorial leadership roles at journals like the Journal of World Investment and Trade and Asia Pacific Law Review .
Susan Fino is a Professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wayne State University. Her research focuses on public law, American constitutional law, administrative law, and the role of state supreme courts. She holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. She has received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her courses include American Government (PS1010) and Constitutional Law (PS5110/PS5120), taught across multiple terms from 2023 to 2025. Dr. Fino's research explores judicial federalism, state constitutional frameworks, and legal interpretations of rights. Her work analyzes topics like church-state relations, taxation provisions in state constitutions, and assisted suicide debates. She has written extensively on state supreme court dynamics, including landmark cases and institutional performance metrics. Her scholarship bridges legal theory with practical governance challenges at both state and federal levels. Her publications span over three decades, addressing evolving legal landscapes such as the Rehnquist Court’s federalism approach and technological impacts on criminal sentencing. She consistently engages with issues at the intersection of law, politics, and societal values.
Maria Gorlatova is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where she leads the Intelligent Interactive Internet of Things (I3T) Lab. She also holds a secondary affiliation as Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and has previously served as Assistant Professor of Computer Science. Dr. Gorlatova earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University (2013), following M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada. Prior to joining Duke, she was an Associate Research Scholar in the Electrical Engineering Department and Associate Director of the Princeton EDGE Lab at Princeton University (2016-2018). She also has industry experience with Telcordia Technologies, IBM, and D. E. Shaw Research. Her research focuses on advancing intelligent behavior in Internet of Things systems and applications, particularly in mobile pervasive systems and the Internet of Things. Her work crosses traditional discipline boundaries, requiring thinking across multiple layers of system and protocol stacks. Current research themes include breaking barriers for technologies that enable fundamentally new deployments and experiences, such as energy harvesting, artificial intelligence adapted to IoT constraints, and augmented reality. Her lab specifically develops edge- and IoT-enabled intelligent augmented reality platforms, with applications in healthcare and human-robot collaboration. Analyzing her recent publications reveals a strong focus on augmented reality systems, particularly for medical applications. Her work spans computer vision for AR, spatial tracking, SLAM systems, vision-language models for AR security, and VR/AR applications in neurosurgery and rehabilitation. A significant portion of her recent work addresses challenges in mixed reality for medical procedures, demonstrating the translational impact of her research. Google Anita Borg USA Fellowship Canadian Graduate Scholar CGS NSERC Fellowships Columbia University Presidential Fellowship Columbia University Jury Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communications ACM SenSys Best Student Demonstration Award IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications Best Research Artifact Award, IEEE IPSN (2020) N2 Women Rising Star, Networking Networking Women (N2Women) (2019) Dr. Gorlatova's research has been supported by various funding sources that enable her work on edge computing for augmented reality, IoT systems, and medical applications. She actively mentors graduate students who frequently appear as first authors on her publications, indicating strong student involvement in her research. Her I3T Lab at Duke focuses on creating human-facing pervasive mobile computing platforms that enable transformative applications, with recent emphasis on creating advanced augmented reality platforms that integrate edge computing and IoT technologies. The I3T Lab is developing next-generation AR systems with capabilities in edge AI, collaborative spatial awareness, AR user cognitive context sensing, and AR QoS/QoE evaluation. Current projects include applications in healthcare (particularly neurosurgery guidance and rehabilitation) and human-robot collaboration scenarios, demonstrating the lab's focus on real-world impact of pervasive computing technologies.
Adèle Garnier is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Université Laval's Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics. She serves as Director of undergraduate geography programs and the certificate in sustainable tourism. Her research focuses on political geography, migration dynamics, and humanitarian governance, particularly examining refugee labor market participation, temporary migration policies, and technological impacts on immigration systems. Education : PhD in Political Science (Macquarie University/Universität Leipzig, 2012), MA in Political Science (Universität Leipzig, 2006), Diploma in Political Science (Paris, 2002) Her research integrates political geography , migration studies , and geographies of inequality , analyzing power structures in migration governance. Recent work explores Canada's digitalization of immigration, multiscalar impacts of refugee policies, and settler-colonial migration frameworks. Current research trends focus on technological governance of migration , refugee resettlement , and marketization of humanitarian services , with interdisciplinary approaches bridging political science and geography. Research Units : Graduate School of International Studies (ESEI), Immigration Research Team (ERIQA), Cultures-Arts-Societies Center (CELAT) Collaborations : Study Group on Ethnic Relations (Flers), Center for Refugee Studies (York University), Peace Research Institute Oslo She supervises graduate students in geography and co-leads multiple funded projects, including Liberating Migrant Labour (2023-2030) and digital migration governance research (2023-2028).
Professor Jennifer Payne is Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and a leading authority in company law, corporate finance law, financial regulation, and corporate insolvency. She has authored numerous influential books and articles, and holds significant editorial and advisory roles in the academic and policy-making spheres. Research Interests: Company law and corporate governance Corporate finance and securities regulation Financial regulation and policy Corporate insolvency and debt restructuring Comparative and European financial law Her work spans both theoretical and practical dimensions, with a strong focus on regulatory frameworks, legal reforms, and cross-border financial issues. She has contributed extensively to policy debates and legal developments in the UK and EU. Scientific Awards & Honors: Elected to membership of the International Insolvency Institute (2016) Member of ESMA’s Securities and Markets Stakeholders Group (2016–2018) Member of ESMA’s Corporate Finance Standing Committee Consultative Working Group (2015–2017) Law Delegate of Oxford University Press (2020–present) Expert Advisory Panel member to the Law Commission on Intermediated Securities and Digital Assets Editorial & Advisory Roles: Founder editor, Journal of Corporate Law Studies Founder editor, Oxford Business Law Blog Review Articles editor, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies Contributor to Palmer’s Company Law Visiting Positions: She has held visiting professorships at Melbourne Law School, National University of Singapore, and the University of Auckland, reflecting her international academic influence.
Sakari Melander is a Professor at the Faculty of Law , University of Helsinki, specializing in Criminal Law , with a focus on constitutionalization, Europeanization, and sentencing policies. His work bridges theoretical criminal law with practical legislative and policy challenges. Key research areas include EU criminal law, constitutional constraints on criminal legislation, and general doctrines of criminal law. He has extensive experience in parliamentary legal consultation, providing expert opinions to Finland’s Legislative Committees (e.g., on immigration control, anti-corruption directives, and digital evidence handling). Recent publications address topics like EU corporate sanction policies, constitutionalization of criminal law, and reforms in Finnish sentencing systems. His 2025 article in the New Journal of European Criminal Law explores balancing administrative and criminal sanctions in the EU. Scientific awards include: Hilkka ja Otto Brusiin Foundation Thesis Prize (2001) Magister Bonus – Good Teacher Award (2014) Primustohtori Award (2010) Year’s Teacher (2010) Year’s Opponent (2008) He leads research projects such as Criminal Law Under Pressure: Differentiation and Harmonization (2012-2015) and Assessment of Human Trafficking Sanction Practices (2021-2022), and supervises doctoral theses on criminal law topics.
Andy Pavlo is an Associate Professor with Indefinite Tenure in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. He is an active member of the CMU Database Group and the Parallel Data Laboratory, where he leads research in database management systems with a focus on self-driving architectures, transaction processing, and large-scale analytics. His work bridges academic research and industry applications through projects like NoisePage, OtterTune (which he co-founded and served as CEO before it ceased operations), and Peloton. Dr. Pavlo's research interests span database management systems with particular emphasis on autonomous database architectures that can self-tune and optimize without human intervention. His work explores transaction processing systems that can handle high-throughput workloads while maintaining consistency, and large-scale data analytics techniques that efficiently process massive datasets. He has made significant contributions to query optimization, database extensibility, and automatic database tuning using machine learning techniques. His recent work on database extensibility revealed critical issues in PostgreSQL's extension ecosystem, showing that approximately 16% of extensions are incompatible with at least one other extension due to API violations and memory errors. His research output demonstrates a consistent focus on practical database systems challenges, with recent publications examining database extensibility, user-defined function optimization, and the cyclical nature of database research. The articles show a strong trend toward making database systems more autonomous, with increasing integration of machine learning techniques for automatic tuning and optimization. His work often combines deep theoretical analysis with practical implementation in open-source systems. Dijkstra Award 2024 for contributions to database systems research Dr. Pavlo actively mentors graduate students, with current advisees including Wan Shen Lim, William Zhang, and Sam Arch (co-advised with Todd Mowry). His former students have gone on to successful careers in both industry and academia. He has secured significant research funding through CMU's affiliate program with major database companies including ClickHouse, DataStax, dbt, Firebolt, MotherDuck, RelationalAI, SingleStore, Spiral, PingCAP/TiDB, Yellowbrick, and Yugabyte. His research is supported by these industry partnerships and likely includes NSF funding given his active participation in the database research community. At CMU, Dr. Pavlo leads the Database Group and organizes several seminar series including "SQL or Death," "Database Building Blocks," and "ML⇄DB Technical Talks." These seminars bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge developments in database systems. He also runs a summer research internship program that has attracted students for multiple consecutive years, indicating a strong research group with ongoing projects and funding.
Professor Christopher Carman is the Stevenson Professor of Citizenship at the University of Glasgow, holding a PhD from the University of Houston. He has served in leadership roles including Head of Subject (Politics & International Relations), Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences, and Deputy Head of the School. His research focuses on political representation, electoral processes, public opinion, and Scottish politics, with notable contributions to studies on the Scottish Parliament and rural-urban political divides. Carman has led the Scottish Election Study (SES) since 2011 and co-leads the NORFACE-funded RUDE project on European rural-urban dynamics. He also contributes to the Glasgow-Nankai Joint Graduate School and the Stevenson Trust, fostering citizenship education and democratic research. Education: PhD in Political Science, University of Houston (2000). Previous academic roles include professorships at the Universities of Strathclyde and Pittsburgh. Research Interests: Political representation alternatives (e.g., public petitions systems), electoral behavior, Scottish and UK politics, direct democracy, and comparative legislative politics. Recent work addresses rural-urban divides in Europe and political compromise in democratic systems. Key Projects: Scottish Election Study (SES), Rural and Urban Divide in Europe (RUDE), and studies on political scandals and multilevel governance. His publications span electoral studies, comparative politics, and political behavior, with a focus on institutional trust and democratic engagement. Grants and Funding: ESRC and NORFACE grants support his research. The Stevenson Trust supports his work on citizenship education and public lectures.
Professor Tatsuhisa Tamura is affiliated with the Faculty of Law at Waseda University , specializing in Public Law . His academic career spans over two decades, with a focus on local government law, administrative law, and economic regulation. Research Interests include: Public Law : Constitutional frameworks and local governance structures. Disaster Relief Law : Legal systems for JSDF deployment in crises. Economic Regulation : Impacts of deregulation on administrative law. Civic Accountability : Judicial control mechanisms like resident litigation. Policy Reform : Decentralization and carbon-neutral governance. Recent Publications (2015–2020) address municipal financial systems, citizen litigation frameworks, and disaster response protocols. His work emphasizes balancing efficiency with democratic control in shrinking societies. Grants & Projects include: 2025–2029: Sustainable Public Official Law (JSPS Grant). 2019–2022: Civil Defense Systems in Large-Scale Disasters . 2017–2021: Legal Regulation of Local Government Enterprises . 2021–2025: Comparative Studies on Personnel Administration . Teaching involves courses like Local Government Law and Administrative Law at Waseda’s Graduate School of Law. He also contributes to public policy debates on carbon neutrality and judicial transparency.
Scott D. Landes is a Professor in the Sociology Department at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He holds affiliations with the Aging Studies Institute, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, and Center for Aging and Policy Studies. Landes earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Florida in 2014. His research focuses on disability mortality disparities, veteran health outcomes, and the intersection of disability with medical and social theory. Education: Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Florida, 2014 Research Interests: Landes investigates mortality trends for disabled adults and veterans, disability theory integration with life course frameworks, and data equity in disability measurement. His work addresses systemic undercounting of disability in federal surveys and explores racial/ethnic disparities in lifespan outcomes for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). Recent Research Trends: His publications analyze pandemic impacts on IDD populations, combat veteran longevity, and diagnostic overshadowing in mortality reporting. Recent work critiques Washington Group disability measures' limitations and advocates for improved data collection methods. Awards: 2025 Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award O’Hanley Faculty Scholar (Syracuse University) NIH-funded research projects on aging policy and mortality disparities Advising & Grants: Recipient of multiple National Institutes of Health grants. Advises on disability data equity initiatives and participates in interdisciplinary teams addressing veteran health disparities. Supervises graduate research on IDD lifespan trajectories and pandemic vulnerability. Labs/Teams: Core member of Syracuse’s Aging Studies Institute and Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion. Collaborates with the Center for Aging and Policy Studies on federal health data projects. Engages with national disability advocacy groups through research briefs and policy consultations.
Jay Raman serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Urology and Professor in the Department of Surgery at Penn State College of Medicine, with additional affiliation at the Penn State Cancer Institute where he contributes to cancer control research. His clinical and academic leadership spans urologic oncology, surgical innovation, and healthcare policy initiatives. Dr. Raman's research centers on Transitional Cell Carcinoma (bladder cancer) and Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma , with extensive work on nephroureterectomy outcomes, local ablation techniques, and renal preservation strategies. He actively investigates prostate cancer diagnostics , comparing transperineal versus transrectal biopsy approaches, while addressing systemic barriers in surgical training through analyses of residency application fees and workforce diversity. His 2025 publications reveal a dual focus: advancing surgical precision in upper tract urothelial carcinoma management and critiquing structural inequities in surgical education. Key studies compare renal outcomes between local ablation and radical nephroureterectomy while examining how application costs hinder healthcare workforce diversity, demonstrating his commitment to both clinical innovation and equitable medical training.
Lorena Sosa is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University, specializing in International and European Law. She is affiliated with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and the research program Family & Law (UCERF). Her roles include membership of the management board of the Center for Global Challenges, Director of Education at UGlobe since 2022, and a community-engaged learning ambassador for her faculty since 2023. Education: PhD (cum laude) in Law from Tilburg University (2015), LL.M. in International Public Law (cum laude, National University of Córdoba), and a law degree from the same institution. Prior to Utrecht, she held positions at the University of Buenos Aires, University of Turku, and others. Research focuses on intersectional discrimination, gender-based violence, and human rights law. Key areas include the Istanbul Convention, feminist legal frameworks, and trans rights in criminal procedures. She employs socio-legal methods and collaborates with international organizations like the EU, Council of Europe, and UN. Publications span topics like femicide, domestic violence, and transgender experiences. Recent works include contributions to the Routledge International Handbook on Femicide and Feminicide (2023) and Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women (2023). Awards include the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (2018), VENI Grant (2020), and the Max van der Stoel Award (2015) for her PhD on intersectionality in violence against women frameworks. Teaching includes courses on human rights law at Utrecht’s Legal Research Master, PIL Master, and University College Utrecht. She advises on projects related to victim rights, gender diversity, and empirical legal studies.
Dr. Shahrzad Fouladvand is an Associate Professor in International Criminal Law at the University of Sussex's School of Law, Politics and Sociology. Her research focuses on transnational criminal law, human trafficking, and corruption, particularly their interplay in contexts like Albania. She previously worked at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), contributing to human rights conventions. A member of RUSI's Strategic Hub for Organised Crime (SHOC), she advocates holistic approaches to combating human trafficking beyond prosecution-centric methods. Dr. Fouladvand holds a PhD from the University of Sussex and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Education: PhD in Law, University of Sussex (2008–2012) Common Professional Examination (CPE)/Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), University of Huddersfield (2012–2014) Certifications in Machine Learning for Social Scientists (2023) and Social Network Analysis (2020) Research Interests: Dr. Fouladvand explores the nexus between human trafficking and corruption, emphasizing evidentiary challenges and institutional complicity. Her work integrates network analysis and responsibilisation frameworks, critiquing prosecution-centric approaches. Recent projects include a monograph on 'Human Trafficking, Corruption and Corporate Complicity' for Routledge, examining public-sector complicity in trafficking. Key Contributions: Authored over 30 publications, including journal articles and book chapters on ICC jurisprudence, anti-corruption law, and trafficking dynamics. Advised UK parliamentary committees on human trafficking and migration policies. Edited volumes on transnational organized crime and economic criminology. Awards and Fellowships: Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (2016) Visiting Scholarship at Max-Planck Institute (2021–2022) Elected Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Slavery for BACL Labs/Teams: Active member of RUSI's SHOC, focusing on policy-relevant research to combat organized crime.
Francesca De Benetti is a Researcher at the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedures (Prof. Navab) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory (IFL) and NARVIS Lab at the Garching Campus. Her research focuses on Nuclear Medicine and Machine Learning for medical image processing, particularly in internal radiation therapy simulations and AI-driven segmentation. Education : M.Sc. in Biomedical Computing (TUM, 2018-2020), B.Sc. in Information Engineering (Università di Padova, 2015-2018) Francesca's recent publications highlight her work in Monte Carlo dosimetry , dynamic PET tracer modeling , and deep learning-based anomaly detection in medical imaging. Her projects emphasize personalized radiation therapy and cross-modality image translation , often involving collaborations with nuclear medicine experts and radiologists. She contributes to teaching at TUM, leading lectures and practical courses on topics including Medical Augmented Reality , Computer Aided Medical Procedures , and Deep Learning for Medical Applications . Francesca is actively involved in labs such as the IFL Lab and NARVIS Lab , focusing on interdisciplinary applications of computer vision and generative AI in medicine.
Dr. Charilaos Nikolaidis is a Senior Lecturer at Essex Law School, University of Essex, specializing in international human rights law and the intersection of law and literature. He received his LLB from City, University of London, LLM in International Business Law from University College London, and PhD in Law from King's College London. His research focuses on international human rights law, particularly the theory and implementation of the right to equality, and the relationship between law and literature. Nikolaidis has published extensively on equality jurisprudence, comparative human rights law, and democratic challenges in European contexts. Nikolaidis's publications demonstrate consistent focus on human rights jurisprudence, particularly equality and non-discrimination within European legal frameworks. His work spans theoretical explorations of legal equality, comparative analyses of European and US privacy rights, and practical examinations of democratic challenges in Greece and beyond.
