Agni Vlavianos Arvanitis is the founder and the current president of the Biopolitics International Organisation. She is a graduate of Barnard College, New York University and the University of Athens, and worked as a teacher and researcher in the USA, Paris and Athens.

She is Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science, Member of the Vienna Economic Forum, Honorary Professor of St. Petersburg Technological University, Doctor Honoris Causa of Mendeleyev University Moscow, Founder and President of the Hellenic Chapter of the Club of Rome, Member of the Board of the European Generation Foundation, the Balkan Political Club, the Brussels-EU Chapter of the Club of Rome, the International Bioethics Society, the Board of the Euro-Arab Cooperation Center, the Academic Committee of the Regional Interdisciplinary Program for Bioethics in Latin America, the Board of the Journal of Cleaner Production, Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Goodwill Ambassador for Autism, International Patron of Global Cooperation for a Better World, Member of Transparency International.

Albert Somit is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and President Emeritus of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. A pioneer in the field of Biopolitics, Dr. Somit organized the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee #12, Biology and Politics in 1973. (IPSA was the first scholarly organization to formally recognize the discipline known as “biopolitics.”) In 1980, he was among the founders of The Association for Politics and the Life Sciences.

He has published extensively in the history of political science, birth order, politics of the elderly, and, of course, biopolitics. Among his publications in biopolitics are “Toward a More Biologically Oriented Political Science” (1968), Biology and Politics (1976) and, with co-author, Steven Peterson, Darwinism, Dominance, and Democracy: The Biological Bases of Authoritarianism, (1997). He and Professor Peterson also co-edit the series Research in Biopolitics. Their Handbook of Biology and Politics was published earlier in 2017.

Göran Hermerén is senior professor emeritus of medical ethics, Lund University, Sweden.

From 2002 to 2011 President of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, Brussels, he is currently a member of the National Council on Medical Ethics, Stockholm and chair of the permanent working group for science and ethics of ALLEA (All European Academies).

He has served on many governmental commissions in Sweden. In addition, he has served as external examiner in bioethics at the National University of Ireland, as a referee for international journals, and is involved in several on-going EU-funded research projects. He has published books and papers on research ethics, ethics of stem cell research, the goals of medicine and priority setting in health care and contributed to many encyclopedias. 

Hallam Stevens is an Associate Professor of History and Head of History in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technology. He also holds an appointment in NTU's School of Biological Sciences. He is the author of Life out of Sequence: A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics (University of Chicago Press, 2013) and Biotechnology and Society (Chicago, 2016) as well as the co-editor of Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology After the Genome (Duke, 2015).

Hallam's work examines is focused especially on the intersections between the life science and information technology and he is currently pursuing research examining the impact of Big Data on biology and on the development of the life sciences in East Asia.

Maria Helena Nazaré is, since 2016, the president of the Portuguese Higher Education Council, since July 2017, the president of the Board of Trustees of University Nova de Lisboa and a member of Board of Trustees of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos in Portugal, since 2013.

Has been President of the European University Association, 2011- 2015, Vice-President 2009-2011 (elected President in 2011). Served the Portuguese National Education Council as Chair of its Higher Education Commission 2009-2012. Member of the governing Board of University Nova de Lisboa 2014-2017.

Was elected Rector of the University of Aveiro for the first time in 2002 and reelected for a second mandate in 2006-2010. Has been the chair of the Portuguese Rectors Conference Committee for research and knowledge - transference, and a Member of the Research Working Group of the European University Association.

Member of the EUA Institutional Evaluation Pool, since 2004, has participated in the evaluation of universities in Spain, Turkey, Palestine, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Romania and Ghana. Has also participated in OECD lead projects: in Catalonia, Lombardy and HEInnovate in Bulgaria, Ireland and The Neterlands, ENQA evaluations in Galiza and Finland and World Bank projects evaluation in Nigeria.

Outside academia she served as member of the Administration Board of Aveiro Maritime Harbour 1998-2002, member of the Administration Board of Portugal Telecom 2008-2015, President of the Advisory Board of Fundação Galp Energia and President of the Portuguese Physics Society (2009-2013).

During 2016 was the thinker in residence for the KVAB, the Royal Academy for Sciences in Flanders.
Maria Helena Nazaré, trained as physicist, graduated (Master of Science-1972), from University of Lisbon, PhD from the University of London (King’s College London) in 1978 and habilitation from University of Aveiro in 1989. Obtained a full professorship in 1990. Has been Head of Department between 1988 and 1990, Vice-President of the Scientific Council in 1990-91 and Vice-Rector of the University of Aveiro, a position held until 1998.

Honorary distinctions:
- Grã Cruz da Ordem de Instrução Pública ( 2015)
- Chanceler das ordens de Mérito since March 2016.

Janusz Marek Bujnicki is Professor of Biology, and head of a research group at IIMCB in Warsaw and at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.

Born in Cracow in 1975, PhD at the University of Warsaw in 2001, full professor in 2009, elected to the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2016. His research combines bioinformatics, structural biology and synthetic biology. He is an author of > 300 publications, cited > 7000 times. Bujnicki received numerous awards, including EMBO/HHMI Young Investigator Programme award, ERC Starting Grant, award of the Polish Prime Minister, and was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President.

Bujnicki is an executive editor of the journal Nucleic Acids Research. He has also been involved in various activities in the area of science and policy, including the Polish Young Academy, civic movement Citizens of Science, Life, Environmental and Geo Sciences (LEGS) panel of Science Europe, Scientific Policy Committee - an advisory body of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland, and the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors within the Scientific Advice Mechanism for the European Commission.

Jorge Simões is Invited Full Professor of Health Policy and Health Care Systems at Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Institute, Nova University of Lisbon.

He is president of National Health Council.

He is the leader, in Portugal, of Health Systems in Transition (HiT), from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

He was Advisor to the President of Republic between 1996 and 2006, President of the Committee for the Sustainability of the Financing of the National Health Service, in 2006/2007, Coordinator of the team on evaluation of public private partnerships in hospitals, in 2008/9, co-coordinator of National Health Plan 2011-2016, President of Health Regulatory Authority in 2010/2016.

His research interests are in health policies, health care evaluation, health planning, health regulation.

He published six books, coordinated the editing of seven books, published eighteen chapters of books and dozens of articles in academic journals.

Nuno Rogeiro, published author, lecturer and political commentator, specializing in defense and security. Was the Portuguese MFA representative for issues of terrorism and extreme fundamentalism in the EU, 2002-2003. 

Viriato Soromenho-Marques teaches Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Nature, and European Ideas in the Departments of Philosophy and European Studies of the University of Lisbon, where he is Full Professor.

He is correspondent member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Class of Humanities (Letras), since 2008, and from the Marine Academy since 2012.

He was Vice-Chair of the European Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils network (2001-2006).

He is member of the National Council on Environment and Sustainable Development.

He was the scientific coordinator of the Gulbenkian Environment Program (2007-2011).

He was one of the twelve members of the High Level Group on Energy and Climate Change by invitation of the President of the European Commission (2007-2010).

Jorge Simões is Invited Full Professor of Health Policy and Health Care Systems at Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Institute, Nova University of Lisbon.

He is president of National Health Council.

He is the leader, in Portugal, of Health Systems in Transition (HiT), from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

He was Advisor to the President of Republic between 1996 and 2006, President of the Committee for the Sustainability of the Financing of the National Health Service, in 2006/2007, Coordinator of the team on evaluation of public private partnerships in hospitals, in 2008/9, co-coordinator of National Health Plan 2011-2016, President of Health Regulatory Authority in 2010/2016.

His research interests are in health policies, health care evaluation, health planning, health regulation.

He published six books, coordinated the editing of seven books, published eighteen chapters of books and dozens of articles in academic journals.

Viriato Soromenho-Marques teaches Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Nature, and European Ideas in the Departments of Philosophy and European Studies of the University of Lisbon, where he is Full Professor.

He is correspondent member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Class of Humanities (Letras), since 2008, and from the Marine Academy since 2012.

He was Vice-Chair of the European Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils network (2001-2006).

He is member of the National Council on Environment and Sustainable Development.

He was the scientific coordinator of the Gulbenkian Environment Program (2007-2011).

He was one of the twelve members of the High Level Group on Energy and Climate Change by invitation of the President of the European Commission (2007-2010).

Maria do Céu Patrão Neves is Full Professor of Ethics (with Tenure in Philosophical Anthropology), at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of the Azores (Portugal), where she is also responsible for teaching and research on applied ethics (mainly bioethics).

She authored about 170 papers, 10 books, and edited 8 others, and is currently leading the publication of a 12 volume collection on Applied Ethics.

She was a member of the European Parliament, from 2009 to 2014.

António Martins is professor of Biology, at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, where he is responsible for teaching and research on Cell and Molecular Biology.

Between 2000 and 2005, and since 2013 he has been the Director of the Department of Biology at the University of the Azores and, as such, supervisor for the development and implementation of the educational projects offered at the unit.

Currently, besides coordinating the Department of Biology, he is also Director of the Basic Cycle of Medicine and Chairman of the Pedagogical Council of the University of the Azores.

António Onofre Soares is Auxiliar Professor of Ecology at the Faculty of Sciences and
Technology, University of the Azores and his research focusing in several aspects of Applied
and Fundamental Ecology.
Over the last years he has been involved in several international and national research projects
as coordinator and participant, resulting in several papers and book chapters.
Currently is coordinator of a Master program and supervises research plans at the Master, PhD
and Post-Doctoral levels.

Jean Monnet Chair, Carlos E. Pacheco Amaral is Associate Professor, with Aggregation, of the
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of the Azores.

Member of the Group of Independent Experts of the Congress of Regional and Local Authorities of the Council of Europe, and of the Center for Twentieth Century Studies of the University of Coimbra, CEIS 20, he also integrates the Center of Humanistic Studies of the Azorean Academy, coordinating its research unit entitled Portugal and the Sea|Europeanism and the Transatlantic Relation.

Responsible for the organization of courses, seminars and other scientific events, as well as for
a plurality of services rendered to the Azorean community, he has researched, and published,
extensively in his fields of study - Political Philosophy and European Studies -, in Portugal and
abroad.

Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Azores Director of the Master's Programme in International Relations.

Lectures several courses both at the undergraduate (Euro-Atlantic Studies) and graduate (Master in International Relations) levels.

Published several books and articles in Portugal, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany and Bulgaria.

Has delivered conferences at various Universities in North and South America, Europe and Africa.

Responsible for the International Relations of the University of the Azores (November 2004-February 2014).

Director of the Department of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences (1995-1996).

Director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at the University of the Azores (1995-1998).

Adviser for External Cooperation to the President of the Regional Government of the Azores (1996-2000).

Assistant to the Minister of the Republic for the Autonomous Region of the Azores (1991-1992).
Represented the Government of the Azores in the Bilateral Commission of the Bilateral Defense Agreement between Portugal and the United States of America.

Maria Anunciação Ventura is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology of Azores University (Portugal), and affiliated to CIBIO InBIO - Azores. Has a degree in Biology by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, and finished her academic career at the University of the Azores where she got a doctorate in Biology, specialty Animal Ecology. She is responsible for various disciplines in the fields of Ecology, Conservation and Sampling, given to graduation courses (Biology and Psychology), post graduation courses (Masters in Biodiversity and Insular Ecology; Integrated Studies of the Oceans; Environment, Health and Safety; Erasmus Mundus on Sea Planning), and a doctorate course in Biology. She has coordinated and participated on research projects in the areas of Conservation and Sustainable Development, and has supervised graduated scholars, master and PhD students.

Master in Public Health and Specialist in Health Promotion and Health Policies - Universidade Nova de Lisboa: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública.

Specialist (E Polytechnic) Nursing, since 2012 - Universidade dos Açores.

Community Nursing Specialist - ESEnfPDL.

ACTIVITIES / PROJECTS

She is involved in Bridging the Atlantic Project, for the exchange of teaching-learning experiences with the University of Dartmouth, MA, USA.

Several articles published;

Author of several communications;

Coordinator of the Postgraduate and Specialization Course in Community Nursing, 2009/2011

Member of the management committee of the Postgraduate and Specialization Course in Community Nursing

Member of the College of Health Assembly

Member of the College of Health Pedagogical Commission

Member of the Technical and Scientific Committee in Nursing Degree course

Member of Technical-Scientific Council

Director of the Nursing Degree Course