Mark Furness is a senior researcher in the Inter- and Transnational Cooperation research programme at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), with experience in applied social science research, analysis and policy advice. His research and advisory work focus on German and EU development policy, development cooperation with the Middle East and North Africa, policy coherence, cooperation with fragile and conflict-affected countries, peacebuilding and resilience.

His work has been published, among others, in World Development, Mediterranean Politics, Development Policy Review, European Union Politics, European Foreign Affairs Review, European Politics and Society, Journal of Contemporary European Research, The Broker and Development and Cooperation.

Rim Filali Meknassi joined the IEMed (European Institute of the Mediterranean) in March 2025 as Head of the Euro-Mediterranean Policies department. Since 2017, she has served as member in the Cabinet of the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, first as a speechwriter and policy analyst, and then as an advisor on strategy, programming, and engagement. Born in Tangier, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Euro-Mediterranean studies and a dual master’s degree in International Development and Public Policy from Sciences Po Paris and Bocconi University. Since 2022, Ms. Filali Meknassi is also an associate professor and academic advisor at Sciences Po’s Mediterranean and Middle Eastern programme.

Richard Youngs is a senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, based at Carnegie Europe. He is also a professor of international relations at the University of Warwick and previously held positions in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as director of the FRIDE think-tank in Madrid.

He is co-founder and director of the European Democracy Hub. Youngs has authored seventeen books, the most recent of which are Democratic Crossroads: Transformations in Twenty First-Century Politics (Oxford University Press, 2024), Geoliberal Europe and the Test of War (Agenda Publishing, 2024), Rebuilding European Democracy: Resistance and Renewal in an Illiberal Age (Bloomsbury/Tauris, 2021) and The European Union and Global Politics (Macmillan, 2021).