Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the House of Representatives. Sanders ran to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee in both 2016 and 2020 and remains the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history. Elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
David Sanger
David E. Sanger is an American journalist who is the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, writing since 1982, covering foreign policy, Globalisation, Nuclear Proliferation, and the Presidency
Ronny Tong
The author is a former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, a member of the Executive Council, and convener of the Path of Democracy.
Peter Morgan
Peter Morgan In over 40 years working in education, Peter has been a school leader for more than 25 years, including as principal in four very different schools. He hasled in remote, rural, regional, metropolitan, and international schools andtaught from kindergarten to university.Peter has worked as a school innovation consultant, leadership coach and trainer. He is a life member of NSW Secondary Principals Council.
Mahir Ali
Mahir Ali has worked as a journalist in Pakistan, the UAE and Australia across four decades.
Robert Smith
Robert Smith is an international development adviser, specialising in financial sector and private sector development. He is a graduate of Oxford University, born and raised in the UK and currently living in Oxford. He lived in Suva, Fiji between 2022 and 2024. He has written two books on Fiji under the series title “Fiji; Under Assault”.
Marie McInerney
Marie McInerney is an editor at Croakey and reports for the Croakey Conference News Service. She also contributes to various projects, including #JustJustice and #CripCroakey. She is a freelance journalist for a range of publications, including Croakey, BBC Australia, Thomson Reuters, the British Medical Journal, the Saturday Paper and Text Pacific publications, including the HCF member magazine. She is a member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and a former Board Member of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) Australia. She has previously worked as a tutor on writing and journalism at RMIT.
Pearls and Irritations guest Zeyi Yang
Zeyi Yang is a journalist and podcaster based in New York City. Currently, Zeyi works as a China-focused reporter for MIT Technology Review.
He’s always keeping an eye out for stories on technology, LGBTIQ issues, immigration, and everything related to China. In his spare time, Zeyi co-founded a Mandarin podcast JI that tells LGBTIQ stories in China. One of the episodes has been viewed over 300,000 times on Weibo.
David McKewan
David McEwen is a Director at Adaptive Capability, providing climate risk and net-zero strategy, program and project management. He works with businesses, community leaders, policy makers, designers and engineers to deliver impactful change. His book, Navigating the Adaptive Economy, was released in 2016.
Guanie Lim
Guanie Lim is an Assistant Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan.
Adrian Beaumont
Adrian Beaumont Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Michael Fox
Michael Fox AM, is an Australian architect, planner and human rights advocate. He was actively involved in the drafting, adoption and 2008 ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and has traveled extensively in the Middle East and worldwide.
Harry Armstrong-Thawley
Harry is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University researching optimisation of electricity systems. His focus is on identification and characterisation of near-optimal systems. Near-optimal systems be easier to achieve and more realistic than the mathematically optimal solution.
He graduated from the Australian National University in 2023 with a Bachelor of Engineering, Research and Development and first-class honours majoring in renewable energy systems.
Chandra Muzaffar
Chandra Muzaffar, Former Professor of Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang; President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is a Convenor of Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE) and the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). Chandra was Professor and Director of the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya (1997-1999) and Professor of Global Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia (2007-2012).
Steve Posselt
Steve Posselt FIE AustImmediate past chair of Sustainable Engineering Society, Civil Engineer specialising in Climate Change and how it relates to Engineering Risk, Sustainability Educator, adventurer and author of two books furthering education on climate change.
Madison Cartwright
Madison Cartwright is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy and the convenor for the Politics and International Relations undergraduate programme at UNSW. My research interests include the political economy of intellectual property, trade, and the economic-security nexus.
Robert Hinkley
Robert C. Hinkley is a former corporate partner in one of America’s largest law firms and the author of “Time to Change Corporations: Closing the Citizenship Gap.” He was also the principal advisor to the US Department of Justice in its investigation of the fraud in the residential mortgage backed securities that caused the global financial crisis of 2008. He now resides in Berry, NSW.
Vaughan Cruickshank
Vaughan Cruickshank Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania
Geoffrey Whitehead
Geoffrey Whitehead was the first Managing Director and Board member of the ABC under its 1983 Act, from 1984-86. He has a Diploma in International Affairs (London) and a Masters Degree (merit) in International Relations (University of Victoria, Wellington). He is the author of Inside the ABC (Penguin 1988) and of Tending the flame of democracy (iUniverse 2004).
Ingrid Burfurd
Ingrid Burfurd is a Senior Associate in Grattan Institutes Cities and Transport Program. Ingrid has a background in public policy and academic research, with experience in environmental, transport, and procurement policy.
Ingrid previously worked as a Senior Economist in the Victorian Public Service. She served as a Senior Expert Advisor on the UNFCCCs High-Level Panel reviewing the Clean Development Mechanism.
Ingrid has a PhD in Economics and an honours degree in Arts and Commerce (Economics), both from the University of Melbourne. Her research has been published in highly-ranked journals including Experimental Economics and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.
Jeffrey Braithwaite
Jeffrey Braithwaite Professor, Health Systems Research and Founding Director, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University
Richard Falk
Richard Falkis Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University,Chair of Global law, Queen Mary University London, and Research Associate, Orfalea Center of Global Studies, UCSB.
Mara Kronenfeld
Mara Kronenfeld is Executive Director of the UNRWA USA National Committee (online at unrwausa.org), a separate but affiliated nonprofit to UNRWA that mobilises U.S. support for the agency’s mission
Anne E. McLaren
Anne E. McLaren is Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
Peter Hibbert
Peter Hibbert Honorary Professor, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University