Francesca C. Villata is a Full professor of International Law at the University of Milan, Italy. She is a member of the Group Européen de Droit International Privé. Furthermore, she has participated in several legislative panels, including the Expert Group on Conflict of Laws regarding Securities and Claims (European Commission, DG Justice), the DLT Governing Law and Jurisdiction Working Group (Financial Market Law Committee, London), and the Working Group for the implementation of Private International Law Rules on Civil Partnerships (Italian Ministry of Justice). She serves as the managing editor of the Rivista di Diritto Internazionale Privato e Processuale and has been involved in several DG Justice funded projects in the area of EU Private International Law, both as a coordinator and/or member (EFFORTS, IC2BE, EUFam’s I, EUFam’s II, EUPillar, Insolvency, Suxreg). Additionally, she is a member of the EU Law Committee of the Bar Council of Milan

Mirela Župan (PhD, LLM) is a Full Professor with a permanent position and the head of the Department of Private International Law at the University of Osijek, Croatia. Her research interests include family, child, succession, and personal status in private international law; global and private animal law; and ICT in law and digitalization. Much of her work focuses on the intersection of domestic PIL, unified EU/HCCH PIL, EU law principles, and general international human rights standards. She has been a visiting researcher and lecturer at prestigious institutes and universities and has participated in various scientific projects and collaborations within several research groups. Župan has published many scientific papers and monographs and has (co)organized and participated in numerous international and national conferences, seminars, and workshops. It all speaks of her ongoing dialogue with academia, practitioners, judges, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Katarina Trimmings is a Professor of Law at the University of Aberdeen and former Director of the Aberdeen Centre for Private International Law & Transnational Governance. Her research focuses on Private International Law, particularly international parental child abduction and the interface with Assisted Reproductive Technologies. She has published extensively on parental child abduction and cross-border surrogacy and is a co-author of the 15th edition of Cheshire’s Private International Law (Oxford University Press, 2017). She has led or co-led various collaborative research projects, including the POAM project, funded by the European Commission (2019-2021). For more details, please see here.

Giulia Gabrielli obtained a PhD in International Law from the University of Milan with a thesis on conflict-related sexual violence. Since January 2022, she has been a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the same University on various EU- and nationally funded projects and, since 2023, she has been working within the extended partnership SEcurity and RIghts in the CyberSpace (SERICS). Her research interests lie in public international law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, especially cybersecurity governance, gender-based violence, and digital means and methods of warfare. She is a member of the Italian Society of International law and serves as a teaching assistant in the International Law, International Law of Armed Conflict, and International Human Rights Law courses at the same University.