Bijan Khajehpour is a managing partner at EUNEPA, a Vienna-based international consulting firm. He is also the CEO of West Asia Investment Partners ( WAIP), a financial advisory firm in Vienna. Bijan has successfully advised international companies since the mid-1990s. Bijan is also a member of the Board of the European Middle East Research Group ( EMERG) and a regular contributor to Amwaj.media and Al-Monitor. His publications include contributions to The Caspian Region at a Crossroad: Challenges of a New Frontier of Energy and Development (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), Iran at the Crossroads (Palgrave, 2001) Security in the Persian Gulf: Origins, Obstacles, and the Search for Consensus (Palgrave, 2002), L’économie réelle de l’Iran (L’Harmattan, 2014) and Inside the Islamic Republic (Hurst Publishers, 2016). He completed his graduate studies in management and economy in Germany and the UK and his Doctorate of Business Administration at the International School of Management in Paris.

Donna M. Elmendorf, Ph.D., is Co-President of the International Dialogue Initiative. She is a clinical psychologist and the Director of the Therapeutic Community Program at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA, USA. She is a supervisor in the psychoanalytic training program of the Erikson Institute at Austen Riggs and leads its Human Development Initiative. Dr. Elmendorf served on the faculty of the Yale-Riggs Infant and Family Mental Health Program and is a certified group relations consultant of the AK Rice Institute. Prior to coming to Riggs, she completed fellowships in adolescent and family treatment and psychodynamic assessment at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Elmendorf’s work over the last 30 years has centered on understanding the interface between social context and psychological disturbance. She has published and presented on a range of topics, including the social dynamics of so-called treatment resistance, challenges of succession planning in organizations, and adult manifestations of childhood trauma. In addition to her work at Riggs, she has a practice that includes individual, couples and family psychotherapy and organizational consultation. Dr. Elmendorf has served on several not-for-profit boards in the areas of education, environmental conservation, and mental health.

Jerry Fromm, Ph.D., is the immediate Past President of the IDI and the co-editor of the IDI’s recent book, We Don’t Speak of Fear: Large Group Identity, Societal Conflict and Collective Trauma, published by Phoenix in March, 2023. He is Past President of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations and has been on the staff of Group Relations Conferences in various parts of the world. Jerry spent his clinical career at the Austen Riggs Center and was the Director of its Erikson Institute. He is a Fellow of the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis and has taught at and consulted to mental health organizations across the US, including several psychoanalytic institutes. In 2022, he published a book of his papers called Traveling through Time: How Trauma Plays Itself out in Families, Organizations and Society.

David G. Fromm has practiced civil litigation and dispute resolution in U.S. state and federal courts since 1998. He holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and degrees in International Relations from the Central European University (M.A. 1995) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (LLM 2011). Mr. Fromm has also undertaken mediation and negotiation training at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and presented his Fletcher thesis on bilateral investment treaties at the inaugural PEPA/SIEL conference in 2012. He is the author of Expatriate Games: My Season of Misadventures in Czech Semi-Pro Basketball (Skyhorse 2008).

From 1987 to 1998, Lord Alderdice was Leader of Northern Ireland’s Alliance Party and one of the negotiators of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement that ended the long-running violent political conflict in Ireland. He then became the first Speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly until 2004 when he was appointed one of four international commissioners charged with overseeing security normalization in Ireland.

Since 1996 he has been an active Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and was Chair of the Liberal Democrat Group in the House of Lords from 2010 to 2014 during the Conservative/Liberal Coalition. He is currently a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on International Relations and Defence. From 2005 to 2009 he was President (now Presidente D’Honneur) of Liberal International, the global family of more than 100 liberal political parties.

He retired some years ago from clinical work as a consultant in psychoanalytic psychiatry in Belfast but continues to work on conflict issues as an Honorary Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and Professor of Practice at the Global Humanity for Peace Institute of the University of Wales Trinity St David. He has been recognized with many international prizes, honorary degrees, and fellowships for his academic and practical contributions including most recently the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and in 2024 Honorary Fellowship of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Lord Alderdice is the Founding Chairman of The Concord Foundation.

Abdülkadir Çevik, M.D.Hfacopsa, is a professor and chairperson of psychiatry at Ankara University Medical School. Çevik served as an advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister during 1992-1997 and has been an instructor at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Turkish Police Directorate General Headquarters, Defense Institute at the Turkish Military College. Cevik, was the director of the Political Psychology Center (1992-1997). He established the Turkish Psychopolitical Association in 2006. He is currently the director of the Ankara University Center for the Study and Research of Political Psychology. Çevik has given many conferences in the medical field as well as in political psychology. Çevik is the author of two books and various articles, he is a frequent lecturer at the NATO COE-DAT in Ankara.

Senem B. Çevik, Ph.D, is a communication scholar specializing in public diplomacy and strategic communication. She has taught at University of California Irvine and University of California Los Angeles. She is an adjunct lecturer at Woodbury University’s Media Studies Department. Her research focuses on the intersection of identity, communication and psychology with an emphasis on Turkey and the Middle East. Dr. Çevik’s research can be found in multiple journals including Middle East Critique, Politics, Group and Identities, Caucasus Survey, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Global Media and Communication and International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. She is the co-editor of Turkey’s Public Diplomacy (Palgrave MacMillan, 2015) and occasionally blogs for University of Southern California Center On Public Diplomacy. 

Dr. Çevik is both a scholar and practitioner of cultural diplomacy, peacebuilding and experiential learning. She has over fifteen years of experience working with groups in conflict using culture as a way to build bridges between communities unfamiliar to each other. Dr. Çevik served as the academic liaison and faculty member of the Olive Tree Initiative (OTI), an award-winning experiential learning program at UCLA and UCI. She has been a member of the Turkish-Israeli Civil Society Forum since 2015 where she has trained youth groups. Dr. Çevik is a fellow with the International Dialogue Initiative (IDI), a a group that examines large-group conflict from a psychological perspective. She belongs to American-Jewish Committee Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council (MJAC), an interfaith council based in the United States. She served as the Vice President of Apricot Music & Art, a Los Angeles based non-profit, where she created various cross-cultural programs. Dr. Çevik is the executive director of Nexchange, a U.S. based non-profit that focuses on cultural exchange and youth education. She has provided consultation to numerous non-profit and government organizations on the public aspects of diplomacy.

Robi Friedman, PhD. Clinical Psychologist and Group Analyst, President of the Group Analytic Society (International), is Vice President of the IDI (with Lord John Alderdice). He is a co–founder of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis and its current President; Past-President of the Israeli Association for Group Psychotherapy. He writes on dreamtelling and relational disorders, works in private practice and teaches at the IIGA and Haifa University. He conducts long- and short-term workshops of the work with dreams in groups in different parts of the world and teaches about relation disorders in Clinical and Organizational Settings. He has conducted conflict dialogues with Palestinians and participates and in a West/Islam dialogue with a group lead by Dr. Vamik Volkan and Lord John Alderdice.

Anatoly B. Golubovskiy, Ph.D., is a prominent sociologist, journalist, and media producer based in Moscow. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with a thesis on the socio-cultural role of actors. Dr. Golubovskiy currently serves as Chief Editor at STREAM Television Company, overseeing multiple channels, including STREAM RUSSIAN LIFE, which broadcasts in the U.S. He has held key editorial roles at KINO FM and KULTURA Radio, and has authored and produced numerous documentaries and TV programs focused on arts and culture. Additionally, he has contributed to various publications and consulted on museum projects.

Dr. Nimrod Goren is the Senior Fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute.

Dr. Goren is the President and Founder of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, Co-Founder of Diplomeds – The Council for Mediterranean Diplomacy, and Co-Chair of a regional initiative at President Isaac Herzog’s Israeli Climate Forum. Nimrod holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He was a Teaching Fellow on Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University, and has also worked at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies. Nimrod is a past recipient of the Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East and the Centennial Medal of the Institute of International Education, and was selected as a Vamik Volkan Scholar by the International Dialogue Initiative. He serves on the steering committees of the Geneva Initiative and the Turkish-Israeli Civil Society Forum, and is a member of the Global Diplomacy Lab. Nimrod’s fields of expertise include Israel’s foreign policy and regional relations, as well as the Middle East peace process.

Ms. Husseini is the managing Partner the Law Firm of Husseini and Husseini. Under her management the Firm serves a large domestic and international client base on a wide range of legal matters. She practiced law in Washington, DC.

Ms. Husseini chaired the Legal Committee to Final Status Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis. She has served as legal advisor to the peace process negotiations since 1994. Ms. Husseini participates in various meetings that seek to interject innovative thinking to the hard and complex issues involved in the peace process, especially Jerusalem. She has written widely on the peace process, the rule of law, economic development and Jerusalem. She is a political and policy advisor and analyst. Ms. Husseini has co-authored with Dr. Yossi Beilin, the Holy Land Confederation, an enabler to the two-state solution.

She serves on the boards of various educational, professional, cultural, business, and non-profit organizations. She served as the Vice Chair of the Palestine Bourse from 1998-2005. She served as a member of the International Advisory Panel of The American Law Institute and contributed in 2015 to the drafting of the Restatement of the Law Fourth the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Al Quds University and the American Board of the Middle East Partnership for Peace Fund (MEPPA) and is a fellow in the International Dialogue Initiative (IDI).

Ms. Husseini holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University (1992), MA in Political Science from the George Washington University (1986), MSc in Corporate Finance from the University of Sorbonne (2002), BA in Political Science from the University of Tennessee (1982). She speaks four languages.

Peter McBride, a post-conflict mental health specialist and consultant who has a particular interest and expertise in understanding the impact psychological trauma has on large groups (NI society being a significant example) and has worked internationally to develop a deeper understanding of the lasting impact of violence on vulnerable communities and its impact on their ability to rebuild after significant atrocity or genocide. He has worked in bereavement, mental health, learning disability and addiction services latterly as the Group Chief Executive of Inspire Wellbeing, one of Irelands foremost mental health and learning disability organizations.

Ambassador (R) Reuven Merhav, born in Israel in 1936, has dedicated his life to serving his country through diplomacy and public service. After completing his studies in Middle Eastern history and Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he embarked on a career that saw him rise through the ranks of Israel’s security and foreign service, taking on critical roles in regions as diverse as East Asia and the Middle East. Notably, as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he played a key role in establishing Israel’s first diplomatic mission in Beijing and orchestrating the historic “Operation Solomon,” which rescued thousands of Ethiopian Jews in 1991.

Following his official retirement, Merhav has continued to contribute to public life, particularly in Jewish heritage preservation and regional peace efforts. He remains a respected voice in academic circles, offering insights on geopolitical issues and maintaining active involvement in initiatives aimed at fostering understanding and cooperation both within Israel and internationally. Fluent in multiple languages, Merhav’s broad experience and deep commitment have made him a significant figure in Israel’s modern history.

Farrokh Negahdar, 1946, born in a middle class civil servant family, an activist and thereafter a leader of Iranian student movement during the 60s. He was held in prison for about 10 years, (1968-1978). He was convicted because of his role in student movement and also because of his membership in the founder group of Fadaian Organisation. Farrokh Negahdar rejoined to Fadaian after his release from prison and soon after was was recognised as the leader of the whole movement. He was formally elected as the leader of the Organisation of Iranian People’s Fadaian (Majority), OIPFM, www.fadai.org, in May 1982 and held the position until August 1990. He is living abroad, in exile, since May 1983. He is married to Saba and has got one son, 29. Farrokh Negahdar is a well-known left politician and influential political activist and theorist, who has got interests in the area of decision science, policy process and policy analysis. A selection of his works, which covers the period of 1990-1997, is published in ‘ Democracy for Iran’ (1997). Farrokh Negahdar is one of the most credible and demanded political analysts on Iranian domestic and foreign politics and policies. Farrokh Negahdar is graduated form the University of London. He is awarded BSc in Economics and Politics and two masters, in Public Policy and Education. His dissertation is about the invention of models of Policy Analysis by employment of the basic concepts of microeconomics, as metaphors, in the area of policy making and policy analysis. Farrokh Negahdar is among the founders of the United Republicans of Iran, www.jomhouri.com, a broad-church, non-monarchist, non-islamist alliance of freedom lovers of Iran. An archive of his works, from the threshold of the Iranian Revolution 1979, up to date can be found in his personal Persian website, www.negahdar.net.

Dr. Alexander Obolonsky is a Russian social scientist and doctor of Law & Policy. He is currently a Professor in the Research University-Higher School of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Public Administration and Municipal Management (Moscow), lecturing on comparative public service and ethics in public life. Previously he worked in the Institute of State and Law and in the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is the Member of the independent Academy of Humanities Research and has participated in the Congresses of the International Political Science Association and the International Institute of Administrative Sciences.

Dr. Obolonsky’s fields of professional interest cover comparative civil service and the theory of bureaucracy as a part of political theory and history of state, comparative political analysis, psychological aspects of inter-ethnic and inter-cultural conflicts, and other historical and cultural issues. In recent years, he has focused on the problems of: a) world-wide crisis of bureaucratic governance and alternatives to it; b) the geopolitical view as a wrong and dangerous form of consciousness; c) moral aspects of public policy and politics both in comparative and domestic respects; and d) political street protests.

His recent publications are as follows:

• Moral-Psychological Aspects of Ethno-political Conflicts in Russia and Other Post-Soviet Countries, in: We Don’t Speak of Fear: Large-Group Identity, Societal Conflict and Collective Trauma. 2023.
• Ethical Liberal Values vs. the Soviet Political and Administrative Heritage from the 1980s to the Present, in: Dimensions and Challenges of Russian Liberalism: Historical Drama and New Prospects. Vol. 8. Springer, 2019. 
• The Crisis of the Bureaucratic State and the Failed Attempts to Overcome it in the Russian Public Service // Croatian and Comparative Public Administration. 

In Russian:

• The monograph “Ethics of Public Arena and Political Realities. 2016. 
• Geopolitics as a Dangerous Pathology of Political Consciousness. 2024.
• Articles in different editions on political cynicism, political trust and distrust, pathologies of bureaucratic consciousness, mythologems of “special path”, etc. 

Frank Ochberg, MD, is a trailblazing psychiatrist and one of the founding members of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), where he earned their Lifetime Achievement Award for his groundbreaking work in trauma science. A graduate of Harvard University and Johns Hopkins Medical School, Dr. Ochberg has dedicated his career to understanding and preventing the psychological impacts of violence. He played a crucial role in defining PTSD and edited the first major text on its treatment. Ochberg is also known for coining the term “Stockholm Syndrome” and has been a key figure in shaping trauma care and policy in the U.S.

For more information log on to  www.giftfromwithin.org.

Dr. Ochberg works closely with the following organizations in the fields of trauma journalism and critical incident analysis:

1. The Trust for Trauma Journalism  https://www.traumajournalism.org

2. The Dart Center  https://dartcenter.org

3. Gift From Within  www.giftfromwithin.org

4. Post Traumatic Stress Injury  www.posttraumaticstressinjury.org/

5. The Academy for Critical Incident Analysis  aciajj.org/

Ford Rowan is the chairman of the National Center for Critical Incident Analysis, an independent research entity in Washington, D.C. He is the author of a study on lessons from the 2001 anthrax attacks and co-author of What is to be done? Emerging Perspectives on Public Responses to Bioterrorism (2002) and Crisis Prevention, Management and Communication (1991).

Rowan is a founder of the crisis management consulting firm of Rowan & Blewitt Incorporated in Washington, D.C. He has advised on the September 11th air disasters, alleged financial fraud, restatements of earnings, environmental crimes, free trade issues, chemical safety, mad cow disease, SUV rollovers, silicone breast implants, the aftermath of the Valdez oil spill and five explosions at chemical plants and refineries.

He is a former national security correspondent for NBC News who covered the war in Lebanon, the Watergate trials, and Three Mile Island. He was the host of the weekly PBS program, International Edition, in the mid-1980s. Rowan also practiced communications law in Washington and is the author of Broadcast Fairness, a 1984 analysis of the impact of regulation on news coverage. In 1978 he wrote TechnoSpies which described the computer network that became the Internet.

Rowan taught part-time for 13 years at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, for four years at the University of Southern California and most recently at George Washington University where he is Professorial Lecturer in Organizational Sciences. He earned his law degree at Georgetown and masters degrees from Johns Hopkins (behavioral science), American University (political science) and Syracuse (interdisciplinary social science). He earned a doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California.

Nimer Said. MA, CGP. earned his academic degree from Tel Aviv University. He is a senior clinical psychologist, a certificated group psychotherapist from the American Group Psychotherapy Association- AGPA, and an organizational consultant. He is a member of OFEK- The Israeli Association for the Study of Groups and Organizations.

Over the last twenty years, Nimer has had roles as a staff member and a co-director in Group Relations conferences in Israel, Europe, and the United States. He also led large groups dealing with conflicts and promoting dialogue between groups. Nimer has dedicated a major part of his professional life to encouraging dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. He attended conferences promoting dialogue between Jewish, Palestinian, and German participants.

Nimer currently works in public psychiatric health services and has a private practice in Haifa.

Regine Scholz, Dr. phil., studied psychology and sociology and holds a Ph.D. from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, her thesis was titled “Culture and Collective Trauma – a Group Analytic Perspective.” Dr. Scholz’s professional experience includes research on mediation at Ruhr University Bochum and in-house management trainings in an internationally operating oil company. Since 1987 she has worked in private practice as group analyst and psychotherapist, specialized in trauma treatment. From 2010-2017 Dr. Scholz was a member of the Management Committee of the GAS International (GASI), being as Chair of the International Development Committee responsible for setting up the program of the group analytic International Summer Schools. She is a founding member of the German Society for Group Analysis and Group Psychotherapy (D3G) and a supervisor and training analyst of D3G. She is member of the editorial board of the journal group analysis.

Dr. Scholz has published and presented at international conferences mainly on topics related to collective trauma. She is the co-organizer of the meanwhile six conferences on the heritage of Auschwitz “Voices after Auschwitz”. She was awarded by GASI to be the Foulkes Lecturer 2022. Her lecture “When foundation matrices move – Challenges for a group analysis of our time” can be watched on YouTube. A comprehensive list of Dr. Scholz’s publications on issues of large group theory and the influence of culture and collective trauma on unconscious processes is available on her personal website.

Ed Shapiro is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, family therapist, and organizational consultant. He was the Medical Director/CEO of the Austen Riggs Center and is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center. He is a Principal in the Boswell Group of New York, a Founder of the International Dialogue Initiative, and on the Advisory Board of Partners Confronting Collective Atrocities He is a Distinguished Faculty member at the Erikson Institute for Education, Research and Advocacy. He has published three books and over fifty articles and book chapters on human development, personality disorders, organizational and family dynamics, and citizenship, presenting papers around the world. His latest book is Finding a Place to Stand: Developing Self-Reflective Institutions, Leaders and Citizens (Bicester: Phoenix, 2020).

Dr. Shapiro has received the Felix and Helene Deutsch Scientific Award from the Boston Psychoanalytic Society, the Research Prize from the Society for Family Therapy and Research, and the Isenberg Teaching Award from McLean Hospital. He was named Outstanding Psychiatrist for Advancement of the Profession by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Association and since 2011 has been named in US News & World Report’s list of “Top Doctors’.

Dr. Arıboğan received her bachelor’s degree from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, International Relations Department in 1986 and thereafter completed her master’s and PhD at Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences. In 1995, Dr. Arıboğan completed continuing education programs in International Security and Terrorism at St. Andrews University.

From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Arıboğan taught International Relations, International Theory, International Security and Global Problems in International Politics courses at Istanbul University. During this time she also gave lectures at the U.S. Air Force Academy and War College. In 2002 she was assigned as the Director of Vocational Studies at Istanbul Bilgi University. From 2007 to 2010 she served as rector at Bahçeşehir University, and from 2010 to 2014 as trustee board member at Istanbul Bilgi University. During 2016- 2017 she continued her studies as visiting academic at Oxford University, St. Anthony’s College. Arıboğan is currently serving as the Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at Üsküdar University, Istanbul. Arıboğan is presently a senior fellow at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC), Harris Manchester College, Oxford. She is also a fellow of World Academy of Art and Science and a lecturer with the London Speaker Bureau.

Focusing her most recent work on the examination of security issues from the perspective of political psychology and non-violent methods for resolving conflicts, Arıboğan is a founding member/board member of the International Dialogue Initiative (IDI), an international and interdisciplinary work group founded to this end. In 2013 she was assigned as a member of Wiseman Committee for Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process by the government. Until recent years she was a regular commentator and columnist in different media channels and newspapers. Arıboğan serves as an independent Board member at Denizbank, Board of Directors since 2013. Arıboğan is a founding member of the Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD), supporting projects geared towards the empowerment of women in Turkey and worldwide. She is currently serving as a consultant/mentor on the ‘Women on Executive Boards’ project and a founding member of the Women in Technology Association (Wtech).

She has published ten books and numerous articles both within Turkey and internationally. Among her books are Far East Asia in the Shadow of China, The Map of the Future, Theories of International Relations, Our Language Speaks of Us, From the End of History to the End of Peace, Seeing the Big Picture and, most recently,  The Wall.

Lydia Wilson is culture editor at New Lines magazine, and a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. After a BA in Natural Sciences, an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science, and a PhD in medieval Arabic philosophy, Lydia changed field again for her postdoctoral work, looking at the motivations for joining extremist organisations. As part of this, she also worked as a consultant in the field of countering violent extremism, on projects for UN agencies, NGOs, think tanks and governments. She is currently preparing a book on the experiences of that decade, while working full-time as a journalist, and also maintaining research through networks at the World Federation of Scientists, the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at the University of Oxford, and her old groups at the University of Cambridge.

Anna Zajenkowska, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw. She also studied at the University of Vienna and Korea University. Her scholarly interests focus on hostile attributions. She works as a psychotherapist and group analyst, practicing at the Dialog Therapy Center in Warsaw, where she manages a personality disorder treatment program. She has been involved with the Institute of Group Analysis Rasztow and the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (EFPP) as a board member and group section chief. Anna is one of the founders and main organizers of the Poland on the Couch Project, an initiative spearheaded by group analysts aimed at creating a safe space for dialogue – the foundation of social cohesion. This initiative includes reflective citizens’ workshops and publications, providing representatives from various environments with an opportunity to contemplate social processes. Since 2014, workshops have been held in different cities in Poland, with ongoing sessions. https://www.healab.pl/