Andreas Papaconstantinou is currently the Director for Neighbourhood and Middle East with the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) at the European Commission. In this capacity, he is also responsible for Humanitarian Aid Thematic Policies. Before joining DG ECHO, he was Head of Unit for Ocean Governance, Law of the Sea, Arctic Policy with the Directorate General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries at the European Commission. Prior to that Mr. Papaconstantinou was Senior Adviser in the cabinets of European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki (2010 2014) and European Commissioner for Environment Stavros Dimas (2004-2010). Previously, he was a member of the Policy Unit of the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana (2002-2004), a seconded diplomat to NATO’s International Secretariat, Defence Planning and Operations Division (1999-2002), and the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Albania (1998-1999). Mr. Papaconstantinou holds a Law Degree from Aristotle University in Greece and a Master’s Degree in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, and he has been a Fellow at the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University.

Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) - the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has 30 years of experience with the United Nations (UNHCR, UNDP, OCHA) and international NGOs, starting her international career in 1988. Ms. Sherif has served in some of the most crisis affected countries and regions on the globe, including Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and across the Middle East, including Jordan (the Syria-crisis) and the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in New York and Geneva. Her expertise spans across the humanitarian, development, human rights, gender and peacekeeping spectrum. Ms. Sherif has also worked as an Adjunct Professor responsible for the Masters Programme on the United Nations, humanitarian assistance, and human rights at Long Island University (LIU), and has published on international humanitarian and development issues, as well as international law. She is the author of the book, The Case for Humanity: An Extraordinary Session, which was launched at the United Nations in New York in 2015. She is also a Huffington Post blogger, and has appeared in the media in Scandinavia, the US and Canada. In 2017, she received the annual award “Sweden’s UN Friend of the Year.

Dr Becky Telford, Chief of UNHCR’s Education Section, is an education specialist with 20 years’ experience in supporting children whose lives are affected by crisis and conflict. She has a diverse background working on issues of human development, humanitarian responses and working with partner governments to strengthen systems. Working at headquarters and in the field, Becky has spent more than 10 years based in sub-Saharan Africa. She joined UNHCR in 2019 from the UK’s Department for International Development following a career with UNICEF, NGOs and corporate foundations. Becky was awarded a doctorate from the UK’s Leicester University in 2018 with a thesis that sought to understand the local realities of teaching with technology in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp. As Chief of the Education Section, she sets strategic direction for UNHCR, and works to ensure refugee needs and voices are reflected in global policy, planning and programming as well as building and leveraging partnerships which both ensure access to quality education for refugees as well as work toward inclusion into strengthened national systems.