Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Dr. Zerbo has helped cement the CTBTO as the world’s centre of excellence for nuclear test-ban verification. He initiated the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) promoting the Treaty’s entry into force and the CTBTO Youth Group engaging the younger generation in advancing the Treaty’s aims.

Ms. Shampaine is Chargé d’Affaires a.i. and Acting Permanent Representative of the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. She recently served as Senior Advisor on counterterrorism in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Office of Assistance for Asia and the Middle East in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

Dr Brendon Hammer is the Australian Ambassador to Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. Dr Hammer is Australia’s Resident Representative and Governor on the Board of Governors of the IAEA, and Australia’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna, and Australia’s Permanent Representative to the CTBTO Preparatory Commission.

Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Ms. Di Pippo, leads the Office’s strategies, policies and activities, ensuring that they are implemented in accordance with the mandates of the General Assembly, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), and the established policies of the United Nations.

Managing Director, Policy and Programme Support (PPS) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Vienna, Ms. Haidara sets and implements the strategic direction and goals of PPS in line with organizational objectives. She provides leadership for PPS services and activities, assisting the Director General in promoting cooperation, coherence and partnership with other organizations.

In 2012, Ms. Al Zamel and her family fled the war in Syria for Egypt. After the situation there worsened, she and her fiancé attempted the dangerous sea crossing to Europe in search of a better life. Ms. Al Zamel was among the few survivors of that boat journey, rescuing a small child in the process. She and her family currently live in Sweden.

Since 2015, H.E. Eduards has been Ambassador of Sweden to Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia, and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna. She previously served as the Deputy Director-General, Head of Department for Aid Management in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. She is an avid supporter of gender equality and empowering women.

Ambassador Dr. Christine Stix-Hackl has been the Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations (Vienna), IAEA, UNIDO and CTBTO since June 2012. She was the Austrian Ambassador in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg between 2007 and 2012 and the second woman in the history of the European Court of Justice to take the position as Premier Avocat général in 2005.

The Head of Information at ProSieben Sat.1 PULS 4 Media, Ms. Milborn hosts a variety of political interview, debate and news shows. Dealing extensively with the topics of migration, integration, globalization and human rights, she has authored several books on politics and gender equality.

She is Founder, and Executive Director of Women@TheTable, because a woman’s place is at the decision-making table in governance. in business. in technology. in education, in sustainability. in peace. Co-Founder of the International Gender Champions, a leadership network for male and female leaders who want to move the needle on gender parity, and for which Women@TheTable serves as Secretariat.

Ms. Johnson is the Director of the Office Legal Affairs of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Previously, Ms Johnson served nearly 20 years with the UN in increasingly senior positions in UNHCR (Guinea, Conakry, West Africa), the UN Office of Legal Affairs and the UNDP Legal Support Office in New York.

Mr. Lemahieu is the Director of the Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He previously served for extended periods in countries challenged by political economies heavily depending on narco-cultivation such as Afghanistan and Myanmar, and transit regions such as the Caribbean and Central Asia.

Mr. Kreutner is Dean and Executive Secretary of the International Anti Corruption Academy, Austria. He previously served as the Director of the Austrian Federal Bureau for Internal Affairs, a unit he was responsible for commissioning. Among his numerous functions, he was also President of the European Partners against Corruption (EPAC/EACN) network for nine years.

Dr. Unterberger is Head of Public Value at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), responsible for the broadcaster’s quality control system, including internal and external evaluation, audience and expert panels. He is also a member of the ORF Board of Ethics, supervising the organization’s code of conduct.

Of Soroptimist International, Dr. Gredler Chairs the Executive Committee of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Vienna. The Committee is comprised of around 40 international NGOs with a focus on women’s issues; it facilitates the activities of its member organizations in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Dr. Fodor is Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Pro-Rector for the Social Sciences and Humanities at the Central European University. Focusing on comparative social inequalities, she uses historical research, qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis of datasets to examine wealth’s influence on gender differences and other areas.

The Head of Corporate Communications at Robert Bosch AG, Ms. Kiessling focuses on
Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Governmental Affairs, Media and Public Affairs and Digital Communication. She is a strong proponent of supporting women in the workplace and enabling women to excel in tech fields.

Ms. Me is the Chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Statistics and Surveys Section. Her responsibilities include: collection, analysis and dissemination of drug and crime statistics, support to countries in their efforts to collect drug and crime data, and development of international standards in the field of crime and drug statistics.

During Ms. Muttonen’s term as OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President, she was a strong proponent of women’s leadership in the OSCE, its Parliamentary Assembly and within national parliaments. As a Member of the Austrian Parliament, she strengthened diplomatic cooperation between the countries in Europe and beyond. Ms. Muttonen is also an educator.

Ms. Essam is a graduate of UNODA’s Women Scholarship for Peace: Global South program. She has worked with refugees and communities at risk for many years, as project coordinator, media specialist, reporter and interpreter. She has also supported international development projects dealing with gender, education, microcredit loans, and vocational training.

Heather’s international career in education and cross-cultural training has spanned 30 years, four continents and multiple fields. She authored two books reaching Amazon’s top ten in their category, and her NYC-based television series has won multiple national awards. An expert in digital architecture, she is eager to apply modern methods to engage youth and decision-makers about nuclear topics as well as the SDGs.

Dr. Math Noortmann is Professor in Transnational Law and Non-State Actors at the Center for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) of Coventry University (UK) and incoming Executive Director of the Academic Council of the United Nations System. He Holds a Ph.D. in International Law and a M.Sc. in Political Science. International organizations and security governance are his fields of study.

Maximilian Edelbacher studied law at the Vienna University, worked for Federal Police, title Hofrat as chief of the MajorCrime Bureau, retired 2006. Acted as International expert for UNO, OSCE, Council of Europe, European Union. Since 2008 with ACUNS, since 1997 with IPES – Internation Police Executive Symposium, since 2008 with Vereinigung Kriminaldienst Österreich.

Ms. Richardson has served as Secretary of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in Vienna since 2016. Since 2015, she has been the UN Liaison for FAWCO, managing a team of UN Representatives in NY, Geneva, Bonn, Vienna and Athens for a global women’s NGO with consultative status to ECOSOC. She has worked in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and the US.

Dr. Oedl-Wieser is Senior Researcher at the Federal Institute for Less-Favoured and Mountainous Areas (BABF) in Vienna. She is an agronomist and sociologist and her research focuses on issues of rural development, regional policy and regional governance, rural sociology and women and gender issues in agriculture and rural areas.

A member of the Norwegian Women and Family Association (NWF), Ms. Hovstad has been a member of the Association of Country Women of the World (ACWW) since 2002 and on the ACWW Projects Committee since 2007. She was Chair of FOKUS (a Norwegian umbrella organisation with 65 member organizations) for three years.

Ambassador Andrej Benedejčič is the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other International Organizations in Vienna. From 2011 to 2015 he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.

Dean for International Relations and Legislation and Junior Professor of European Law in the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Institute of European Studies and International Relations at Comenius University. Professionally, she is focused on European Law issues, especially legal content of citizenship, citizens’ rights and human rights protection.

Ms. Lagomarsino holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Milan, Italy and is currently pursuing a PhD in Political Sciences with special focus on Gender Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Prior to joining RAUN, she worked at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly as a Research Assistant.

Ms. Clift is the Principal Legal Officer and Head of the Legislative Branch of the International Trade Law Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the Secretariat for the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She has responsibility for overseeing the legislative work of the Division, conducted through UNCITRAL’s six working groups.

At the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU), Dr. Weish has taught courses ranging from environmental ethics and human ecology. He has written extensively about topics such as biodiversity and food supply.

As the Director of the International Monitoring System (IMS) Division at the CTBTO in Vienna, Dr. Özel is directly responsible to the Executive Secretary for the installation and certification of the IMS network’s stations, systems and facilities, as well as the engineering and development of the network and its continuous sustainment.

Dr. Both is the Founder of the Budapest-based BAGazs Public Benefit Association which works towards ‘an inclusive and tolerant society where Roma people too have a chance to reach their goals.’ Project areas include child development, adult education, debt management, sport and ‘Make Your Voice Heard.’

Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations (Vienna), she was instrumental in establishing the International Gender Champions initiative in Vienna. Ambassador Saborío de Rocafort previously served as Ambassador to Ireland, Iceland and the United Kingdom as well as Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the International Maritime Organization.

President of Soroptimist International, a group of 76,000 professional women focused on improving the lives of women and girls, Ms. Verhoef-Cohen is also President of the Women for Water Partnership, whose mission is to position women as active leaders, experts, partners and agents of change to realize access to safe water for all.

Programme Officer in the Office of the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), he supports the Director with the preparations of UNISPACE+50, administration of internal UNOOSA coordination groups, and implementing workshops, forums and symposia. Leads the design and elaboration of a dedicated UNOOSA Space for Women project.

Ms. Femundsenden is the Gender Coordinator for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Vienna. She previously served as an Adviser on Gender Issues for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Vienna. Before that, she was Strategic Planning Officer and then Gender Officer at UNIDO Vienna.

Ms. Shumilova is completing an M.A. degree in International Relations at the University of Pavia in Italy. She interns at the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) Preparatory Commission, and is a Member of the CTBTO Youth Group. Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for the US and Canada Studies in Moscow.

Active in the startup ecosystem since 2012, working with founders as an investor, mentor and supporter. As Principal at Speedinvest she focuses on B2C related startups. In 2016, she co-founded Female Founders, to support women in entrepreneurship, grow the number of successful companies founded by women and foster the next generation of female opinion leaders.