Dr. Iyer is a barrister and academic from Northern Ireland and has acted as a consultant to a number of governments, private corporations, and non-governmental organisations. He is the Editor of The Round Table – The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law of the University of Ulster. 

Dr. Iyer is a former Nuffield Press Fellow at Cambridge University and has lectured in a number of foreign universities, including Meiji University (Japan), University of Melbourne (Australia), Tsinghua University (China), Fordham University (USA), University of Malaya, International Islamic University of Malaysia (Malaysia), University of Bombay (India), and Soochow University (Taiwan). 

In 2003-2004 – and again in 2012 – he was invited by the Royal Government of Bhutan to advise on, and draft, media laws for that kingdom. In 2007, he was appointed a consultant by the World Bank to design a programme on Continuing Legal Education for the Kenyan Bar. In 2011, he was asked to review the Broadcasting Act in Vanuatu and to recommend changes to the media law regime in that country. Since 2012 he has been advising the Burmese government on a wide range of media law related matters.

Ms. Nicholls is an International Trade and Development Consultant with nearly a decade of experience working in, and writing on, trade and development matters of interest to the Caribbean. Alicia is a national of Barbados and is currently part of the research team of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, the premier trade policy training, research and outreach institution in the Caribbean.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science (First Class Honours), a Bachelor of Laws (Upper Second Class Honours), and a Masters in International Trade Policy (with distinction) from the University of the West Indies, and an Associate Degree in French, Spanish and German for Business and Tourism from the Barbados Community College. She also holds the FITT Diploma in International Trade from the prestigious Canadian-based Forum for International Trade Training (FITT) and has been a FITT General Member since 2015. She is also a member of the Michigan-based Academy for International Business (AIB) since 2016.

Ms. Nicholls has presented and written on a wide gamut of trade and development issues for regional and international publications and industry magazines, including IFC Review, Caribbean Export Outlook, The BCSI’s The Exporter Magazine and the Caribbean Studies Association’s newsletter. Alicia speaks French, Spanish and Portuguese and has knowledge of German and Italian.

Dr. Greene-Dewasmes is a Trinidad & Tobago national who has for many years designed and headed international development projects in the Caribbean region working closely with international donors such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the EU and via her NGO work. She is currently the Trade Specialist of the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce in Europe.

She was formerly the Programme Officer of the Ramphal Institute, a not-for-profit organisation working on issues of special concern to the Commonwealth in the areas of social and economic policy, governance and the environment. 

Dr. Greene-Dewasmes graduated from the Department of Environment and Politics at the University of York. Her PhD research focused on "Green Transitioning and Innovation Governance in Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Managing Implementation Under Constraints". Her professional background is as an International Development Professional and Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist focused on sustainable development implementation activities. 

Mr. Hammond is an award-winning journalist, a fellow with the Center of Media and Peace Initiatives and an alumnus of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh's Commonwealth Study Conferences. He is a communications executive with the Commonwealth Africa Initiative and was the chief moderator of the 2018 Commonwealth Africa Summit organized by that organization. He is also a contributor to Newsweek Middle East and his writing has also appeared in the Economist, Al-Arabiya, International Business Times, The Diplomat, and international editions of Esquire and Rolling Stone. A former Cairo correspondent for Radio Free Europe during the Arab Spring, Mr. Hammond has also reported from four continents on issues ranging from the Arab Spring to the M23 rebellion in the Eastern Congo. 

As a consultant, Mr. Hammond has worked for the Politico Focus, Oxford Business Group, Global Integrity, and has also worked as a consultant on international aid projects related to conflict issues. In these roles and others, he has worked in Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Bahrain, Jordan, Ghana, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere. Mr. Hammond was a 2014-2015 Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy fellow with the government of Malawi. He has also held fellowships from several think tanks including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Atlantic Council, and International Center for Journalists, and the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America Foundation. 

Mr. Hammond has interviewed distinguished politicians from around the world including John Mahama - former president of Ghana, Sid Ahmad Gozali - former prime minister of Algeria, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman.