Ian joined the British Army in 1980 and spent 37 years in uniform, retiring in 2017. He spent most of his service in the Brigade of Gurkhas, including Commanding a Gurkha Infantry Battalion, as well as in operational staff roles at every level of Command, National, Coalition and Multinational. He has served on operations on the Hong Kong-Sino Border, the Falkland Islands (post-conflict), Northern Ireland, Belize, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was the Regional Security Sector Advisor for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Asia Regional Office and Myanmar Team from 10 July 2017 to 1st April 2022 working on the Myanmar Peace Process, engaging with multiple actors. He then became the Regional Advisor for HD Asia-Pacific, coordinating, mediating and facilitating specific projects on Humanitarian access and human security (particularly Myanmar), but also supporting HD’s wider efforts in South East Asia, including Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines, as well as providing security sector advice to HD’s team globally as required. He has taught mediation and negotiation and facilitated multiple dialogues during the last 7 years plus to many conflict parties throughout South East Asia and further afield, with another 15 years negotiation and mediation practical and teaching experience in the UK Armed Forces prior to that.

He holds Master’s Degrees in Defence Studies from King’s College, London (1995), and Strategic Studies from the US Army War College (2008). He is a member, facilitator and mentor for the Centre of Competence for Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), which is based in Geneva. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Greg was born in the UK and lives and works in Germany. He teaches mediation, negotiation and cross-cultural communication in commercial law, management and MBA programmes at the Technical University of Wildau, Berlin, Germany, where he also coordinates an internal conflict advisory service.

Professor Feargal Cochrane was born and educated in Belfast and has been publishing and teaching on Northern Ireland and wider themes of violent political conflict and peacebuilding for 30 years.

James is a mediator, arbitrator, and law professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. He previously practiced international dispute resolution at law firms in Paris and was legal counsel at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes of the World Bank in Washington.

Ye-Min Wu has over 15+ years of experience as a diplomat, having represented Singapore at the United Nations (UN), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and World Trade Organization (WTO).