Cristina Sin is a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Education and Development (CeiED) and assistant professor at Universidade Lusófona. She holds a PhD in Educational Research (Lancaster University) and studies the following areas: higher education policy; international student mobility; internationalisation, employability; equity in higher education. Her past experience involves research roles with the Portuguese Agency for the Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (2017-2022) and the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies - CIPES (2011-2017) in Portugal. Previously she was involved in research with the Centre for the Study of Education and Training at Lancaster University (2010-2011) and in the management of educational projects in the areas of learning and teaching at the Higher Education Academy in the UK (2005-2011). She has participated in various research projects and coordinated a project on the recruitment of international students in Portuguese higher education institutions. She is part of the ENIS network on International Student Mobility (Cost Action CA20115) where she has leading roles in deliverables. She is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Higher Education and a member of the editorial team of Revista Lusófona de Educação.

Elspeth Jones is Emerita Professor of the Internationalisation of Higher Education, Leeds Beckett University, UK, and founding editor of the influential book series, Internationalization in Higher Education (Routledge). As Professor and International Dean at Leeds Metropolitan University, she led the ‘Worldwide Horizons’ drive, which saw internationalisation as fundamental for all students and staff. Her principal interests in scholarship and practice include internationalisation of the curriculum; inclusivity and interculturalisation; personal, professional and employability outcomes from international mobility; and the role of languages in internationalisation. She has published widely and was awarded the inaugural Medal of Lifetime Achievement in Transnational Research (Noam Chomsky Global Connections Awards) and the EAIE Award for Excellence in Research. She has worked with a range of organisations, universities, ministries and other bodies across six continents, including UNESCO, European Commission, European Parliament, International Association of Universities, DAAD, COIMBRA group, Nafsa, the International Education Association of Australia, and for seven years with the British Council in Singapore and Japan.

Giorgio Marinoni has been Manager of Higher Education and Internationalization at the International Association of Universities (IAU), since February 2015. He oversees Internationalization as one of the four strategic priorities of the Association. Among his responsibilities at IAU are research projects, the coordination of the Higher Education Internationalization Advisory Services (HEIAS) programme, and external representation of the Association in internationalization. He has recently published the report of the 6th Global Survey on Internationalization of Higher Education. In addition, he is the coordinator of the Network of International Education Associations (NIEA) and a working group leader in the European Network on International Student Mobility (ENIS). Before his current position at IAU, Giorgio Marinoni worked for UNICA, the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe, in the field of internationalization and higher education policy and reform at the European level and beyond. He has been an active member of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) at local, national and international level, and served the ESN as its President in 2007 – 2008.

Hans de Wit earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Amsterdam. His current research interests include how to reach global learning for all students, the future of internationalisation post COVID-19, international student recruitment and mobility in non-Anglophone countries. From 2015-2020, de Wit was Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. He has also served as Director of the Center for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (Italy), and as Vice-President for International Affairs and Senior Advisor International at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). De Wit also taught at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He is a Senior Fellow at the International Association of Universities (based at UNESCO). In 2021 he received the Prof. A. Noam Chomsky North Star Life Time Achievement Global Connections Award of StarScholars (Society of Transnational Academic Scholars).

Mariateresa Veltri is Adjunct Professor of European Union Law and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bologna, where she conducts research in the field of immigration and asylum. Her research project, entitled Expanding Tertiary Education Pathways for Refugees In Europe: The Added Value Of an EU Reference Framework, aims to identify an innovative link between education-based legal pathways with the EU sponsorship schemes, starting from the experience of the UNI.CO.RE program. She is also part of the Global Community of Practice on Third Country Education Pathways, promoted by the GTF on Third Country Education Pathways and collaborates with diverse Int'l and local NGOs and UN agencies in the field of complementary pathways and community sponsorship. Her research interests include immigration and asylum policies, legal migration, community sponsorship, border management, social and cultural rights, citizenship and pathways to inclusion, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, human rights litigation, children's rights, child friendly justice. She is author of papers and editor of scientific blogs in Portuguese, English and Italian.

Orlanda Tavares is a researcher at the Research Centre on Child Studies (CIEC) at the Institute of Education, University of Minho. She completed her PhD in Educational Sciences in the University of Porto, Portugal, in 2011. Her research interests cover a broad spectrum of topics related to education, such as social equity, international student mobility, access policies and employability. She was the Principal Investigator (PI) for the research project on the impact of COVID-19 on Portuguese higher education access policies, funded by Edulog, Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation. In addition, she is an active member of the Network on International Student Mobility (COST Action CA20115), co-leading the WG3 COVID-19 Systematic Review on the integration of international students and participating in the WG2 General Systematic review on social inequalities in access to and during ISM, and of the Network on "Rising nationalisms, shifting geopolitics and the future of European higher education/research openness (OPEN), CA22121. She was also a member of the research team commissioned to evaluate the Erasmus+ programme 2014-2020 in Portugal, by the Erasmus+ National Agency. She is currently a member of the editorial board of two indexed projects: European Journal of Higher Education and Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education. She has published in international peer-reviewed journals in education, most of them indexed in Scopus (Scopus h-index 15). Her Scopus research record included, in January 2025, 43 documents. She has also published in co-authorship 5 national books and has co-edited 4 international books (Palgrave/Springer), the most recent one entitled Equity Policies in Global Higher Education. She has also published 13 international and 6 national book chapters. Additionally, she has organised 4 international scientific conferences/seminars.

Simon Roy leads the Higher Education Policy Team in the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills. The OECD work programme on higher education policy is currently focused on the issues of resourcing higher education, digitalisation within higher education and adapting higher education provision in the face of evolving skills demand and increasing requirements for upskilling and reskilling. Projects within the team typically combine reviews of international research evidence, policies and practice, data analysis, international peer learning and the development of recommendations. As part of its current activities, the OECD Higher Education Policy Team has established a collaborative network of policymakers and practitioners from OECD and EU member countries – the Education and Innovation Practice Community (EIPC) – to strengthen understanding of how higher education can help individuals acquire the competencies needed to drive and adapt to innovation. The EIPC focuses particularly on the role of higher education in supporting skills development for the green and digital transitions and includes a strand examining policy and practice to increase higher education’s role in upskilling and reskilling adult populations. Major projects related to higher education financing, widening access and study success and quality assurance are also ongoing. Simon joined the OECD in 2017, prior to which he worked for seven years on higher education policy issues at the European Commission.

Susan Robertson is a Professor of Sociology of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, where her research focuses on education in a political context, including how education has developed to help service the economy, the commercialisation of education, and the role of for-profit companies in the education sector. Her research has been funded by a variety of bodies, including the ESRC, the European Commission, and Open Society Foundations, and she was senior expert advisor for the European Commission's DG Education and Culture. Susan holds a PhD in Sociology and Policy from the University of Calgary, Canada, and a B.Ed from the University of Western Australia. She is Editor-in-Chief for "Globalisation, Societies and Education", and Editorial Board member for "Educational Researcher" and "Education Policy Analysis Archives", and an Evaluator for the Horizon 2020 project. Her research has been published in a variety of journals, including Journal of Education Policy, and British Journal of Sociology of Education. Before joining Cambridge she was Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Bristol.

Sylvie Lomer is Senior Lecturer in Policy and Practice at the University of Manchester, where her research expertise focuses on international higher education. Her first book, Recruiting International Students in Higher Education, critically examined UK policy on international students. Follow-up work on blended learning pedagogies led to an interest in how deficit narratives of international students shape pedagogic practices, and subsequent edited book Research with International Students. Recent research funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education and the British Academy/Leverhulme has explored the perceptions of teachers and staff involved with institutional internationalisation/global engagement policy enactment. She also co-convenes the Higher Education Research and Scholarship Group HERE@Manchester, the Research with International Students network, the Internationalisation Practitioners’ network, and serves as Co-Editor on the new Journal of Global Higher Education.

Yasar Kondakci is a professor in Educational Administration at the Middle East Technical University (METU), located in Ankara, Turkey. His research focuses on higher education, change and development in educational organizations, educational leadership and social justice in education. He has coordinated and/or contributed as a researcher to several large-scale projects that were funded by national (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) and international funding agencies (the EU). Professor Kondakci has an extensive experience in editing books and journals. He co-authored the recent book titled Higher Education in the Era of Migration, Displacement and Internationalization. He is the associated editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Educational Administration, co-editor of the books Higher Education Challenges for Migrant and Refugee Students in a Global World, and Research in Educational Administration. Professor Kondakci is one of the founding editors of the Research in Educational Administration and Leadership (REAL) and the founding editor of the Higher Education Governance and Policy (HEGP) journal. His articles have been published in prominent journals of the educational sciences field including Higher Education, Educational Studies, and Educational Management, Administration and Leadership.