Elisabeth Braw’s work focuses on defence against grey-zone and hybrid threats as well as the intersection of geopolitics and the globalised economy. She leads the Transatlantic Security Initiative’s “Threats to the global maritime order” project. Braw is also a columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe. 

Braw is a member of the advisory boards of M&C Saatchi World Services and GALLOS Technologies. She is also an adviser to Willis Towers Watson’s research arm, a member of the United Kingdom’s National Preparedness Commission, and a member of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy’s advisory council.

Braw has published numerous books, including the award-winning Goodbye, Globalization: The Return of a Divided World (2024), The Defender’s Dilemma: Identifying and Deterring Gray-Zone Aggression (2022), and God’s Spies (2019). Her new book, “Undersea War: The Battle to Control the Cables and Pipelines That Connect Our World” (2026), will be published later this year.

Florence, a French-German national, has held key positions such as deputy director at the EU Institute for Security Studies, foresight advisor at the EU Council, and special advisor to EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

Beginning her career at NATO’s Middle East Faculty in 2009, she now focuses on strategic foresight.

van Ivanišević holds a Law degree (2004), completed the Diplomatic Academy “Gavro Vuković” (2006), Msc in Business & Administration Management (2026). He served in Montenegrin Embassies in Ljubljana and Belgrade, in the Permanent Mission to the Council of Europe. He was DG for Multilateral Affairs (2017-2019);the Ambassador of Montenegro in Paris (2019-2025). Today, he’s the DG for EU at the MFA.

Tomasz Kasprowicz is the Editor-in-chief of Res Publica Nowa and Vic President of the Res Publica Foundation. He has a PhD in finance and is a graduate of Southern Illinois University and National-Louis University. Kasprowicz is an academic lecturer with experience on three continents and publicist focusing on economics and new technologies, publishing both in Poland and abroad. Author of reports on, among others, the Metaverse, the Euro, and the EU’s financial perspectives. Entrepreneur running a company specializing in the digitalization and automation of business processes.

Ignacy Niemczycki is a Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. Previously, he served as an Undersecretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology since 2024. He worked in the government administration at, among others, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Office of the Committee for European Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union. He used to manage the European division at Polityka Insight.

A manager, economist, and capital markets expert with extensive experience in Polish and international financial institutions, he specializes in public and private markets, directly managing or supervising investments of multi-person investment teams. He possesses extensive knowledge of macroeconomics and economic processes.v

Jan Sechter is Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, with more than 30 years’ experience in public administration, diplomacy and the private sector. Since 1992, he has held various posts in the Czech diplomatic service in Central European countries;At the Ministry of Industry and Trade, he focuses on international relations, the EU and economic policy.

Ambassador Romana Vlahutin serves as Special Envoy for Strategic Connectivity of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and National Coordinator for the Three Seas Initiative.

Previously, she served as Ambassador at Large and EU Special Envoy for Connectivity at the European External Action Service (2018–2022), where she played a leading role in shaping the EU’s connectivity strategy