Professor Graham Hassall is Associate Professor, Public Policy and Administration, at the School of Government at Victoria University. He has participated in a range of academic, professional and policy networks and currently serves on the advisory board of the Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, and the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies. He was President of the United Nations Association of New Zealand 2012–16.

Dr Negar Partow is Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, Wellington. Her areas of expertise include international security, Middle East and Southeast Asia, gender studies and body politics, human security and human rights. She is a regular media commentator and an enthusiastic human rights activist. Negar is involved with various civil society groups and has been working on diverse international security topics including social inclusion and diversity.