He holds a BA from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and an MA in Arab Studies on a Fulbright scholarship from Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. He completed his studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He specializes in international relations, political Islam, and transitions to democracy in the Arab world, where he has lived for over sixteen years.

He is currently associate professor at the Instituto de Empresa (IE), and has lectured at at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Georgetown University, Saint Louis University, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, and the Universitat de Barcelona.

Professor Amirah-Fernández has published numerous articles and is co-editor of the book North Africa: Politics, Region, and the Limits of Transformation (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). He is also co-editor of the book The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Assessing the First Decade (Madrid: Real Instituto Elcano and FRIDE, 2005). He is currently preparing a book on Iran and the stability of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.

He has worked for the United Nations in New York and for Human Rights Watch in Washington DC. He is a frequent commentator in the Spanish and international media. Professor Amirah-Fernández speaks Spanish, Arabic, English, and French.

A Doctor in Economics (with honours) from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, Pablo Bustelo is Professor of Applied Economics at the same university. He was Director of Economic Studies at the Instituto Complutense de Asia from 1993 to 1997 and Coordinator of Asian Studies at the Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales from 1998 to 2000. He is currently Director of the Grupo de Estudios Económicos de Asia Oriental (GEEAO) at the Universidad Complutense.

A specialist in the economies of East Asia, economic development and globalisation, he is the author, co-author or coordinator of 12 books and author of more than 70 articles. His recent publications include: El nuevo orden internacional en Asia-Pacífico (co-coordinadot with F. Delage, Pirámide, Madrid, 2002), La cuadratura del círculo: posibilidades y retos de la triangulación España – América Latina – Asia- Pacífico (co-coordinator with J. A. Sotillo, La Catarata, Madrid, 2002), Estructura económica de Asia oriental (con C. García e I. Olivié, Akal, Madrid, 2004) y La presencia española en países de fuerte crecimiento: China e India (con L. Cacho y J. J. Zaballa, Ediciones Círculo de Empresarios, Madrid, 2006).

Personal website / Blog ASIANA21: Asia en el Siglo XXI

Félix Arteaga has a doctorate in Political Science from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, is a graduate in Law from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), a graduate from the Academia General Militar (R.) and has a diploma in National Security Management from Washington’s National Defense University. He is currently Professor of European Security at the Instituto General Gutierrez Mellado (MoD-UNED, Madrid) and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Madrid’s Universidad Carlos III.

He has been NATO fellow, WEU-ISS visiting fellow and research fellow for the Instituto de Cuestiones Internacionales (INCI), the Instituto de Seguridad Interior (Guardia Civil) and the Centro Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional (Madrid). He was formerly the Director of the European Commission Security Sector Reform Programme in Paraguay.

He researches and lectures on international security, security and defence planning, European security and defence policies and national security management. His publications include El planeamiento estratégico de seguridad y defensa en España (IUGGM, Madrid, 2006) and La identidad europea de seguridad y defensa (Biblioteca Nueva, 1999).

A Doctor in Political Science and Sociology, Carmen González-Enríquez is currently a Professor at the UNED’s Department of Political Science and lectures on immigration in several academic institutions. She has been visiting scholar at Oxford University’s Centre on Migration Policy and Society and at the Hungarian Institute of Political Science in Budapest, and has directed a number of research projects on migration, including “Immigration and Representation of Workers’ Interests”, “Immigration and Political Parties System in Spain. A Comparative Perspective”, “Preventing Ethnic Conflict in Immigrants’ Neighbourhoods” and “The Challenge of Immigration in the Spain-Morocco Relationship”. She has also taken part in various research projects financed by the European Commission, such as POLITIS (Active Civic Participation of Third Country Immigrants), CLANDESTINO (Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable) and EURONAT (Representation of Europe and the Nation in the Current and Prospective Member-states).

Carlos Malamud has a Doctorate in History of America (with honours) from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense. He is currently Professor of Latin American History at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). From 1996 to 2002 he was head of the Latin American Programme and Deputy Director of the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset. Between 2000 and 2002 he was head of the Latin America Security and Defence Observatory based at the Ortega y Gasset Institute. He is deputy director of the Latin American Electoral Observatory. In 1992/93 he was Spanish Senior Visiting Fellow en el Saint Antony’s College, Oxford University.

His most recent publications include Sin marina, sin tesoro y casi sin soldados. La financiación de la reconquista de América, 1810–1826 (Centro de Estudios Bicentenario, Santiago de Chile, 2007) and Historia de América (Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 2005). He has edited, among others, The Financing of Politics: Latin American and European Perspectives (with Eduardo Posada-Carbó, Institute for the Study of the Americas, London, 2005) and Latin America and the Multinational Drug Trade (with Elizabeth Joyce, ILAS-Macmillan Press, London, 1998).

He is a regular contributor on international relations in the Spanish media (press, radio and TV).

Ignacio Molina is the Senior Analyst for Europe at the Elcano Royal Institute and an Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is a Doctor in Political Science from the same university, holds an MA in Social Sciences from the Juan March Institute (Madrid), a Master's in EU Law and two Degrees in Law and Political Science from the University of Granada. He has been visiting fellow at several universities (including Harvard and Oxford). He has lectured or presented papers in more than 30 graduate centres and policy institutes and has participated in more than 20 national and international research projects. He is also currently the coordinator, along with Iliana Olivié, of the project “Elcano Global Presence Index”.

His areas of interest and expertise include the Europeanisation of Spain's politics and government, the future of Europe, the analysis of the State’s institutional capacity and the quality of governance in Spain. He is the author of many publications, including books, chapters in comparative volumes and articles in journals.

A Doctor in Political Science and Sociology from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, he is currently Professor at the university’s Department of Sociology.

He has taken part in several research projects sponsored by the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, the Xunta de Galicia, the Instituto Madrileño de Formación y Empleo and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. He has published various monographs and contributed to a number of collective publications.

Iliana Olivié has a doctorate in Economics and Business from Madrid's Universidad Complutense (2002 Research Prize awarded by the Real Academia de Doctores). She was a technical assistant at the Planning and Evaluation Office under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Iberoamérica. She is currently a member of the Universidad Complutense's Grupo de Estudios Económicos de Asia Oriental (GEEAO).

She specialises in development economy, financial globalisation and the financial integration of middle-income countries and emerging economies, and international development cooperation. She has lectured for the Universidad Complutense's Masters in International Relations and Communications (East Asian module, from 1999 to 2001) and Masters in International Cooperation (Economic, Political and Social Structures of Asian Countries module, from 2000 to 2002). She is the author or co-author of a number of books and articles, including Economías de Asia Oriental (Akal, 2004) with P. Bustelo and C. García and Las Crisis de la Globalización (CES, 2005).

A graduate in Geography and History from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, Jaime Otero completed his studies at Madrid’s Diplomatic School, at the Institut d’Étude Politique in Paris and at the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset.

From 1990 to 1998 he was at the Instituto de Cuestiones Internacionales y Política Exterior (INCIPE) as Programme Coordinator and subsequently Deputy Director. Until September of 2003 he was head of the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht (The Netherlands).

As Coordinator and Editor of the INCIPE’s publications he has taken part in various research projects in the field of international affairs. He has written extensively on the Spanish language’s position in the world.

Professor and Chair in Political Science and Security Studies at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (King Juan Carlos University) in Madrid. He also teaches postgraduate courses at General Gutiérrez Mellado University Institute and Ortega y Gasset University Institute.

Member of the Council on Global Terrorism established by the Atlantic Monthly Foundation and of the academic committee of the Queen Sofía Center for the Study of Violence. Advisor to the Center for Global Counter Terrorism Cooperation, he belongs to the United Nations roster of experts on terrorism prevention and the terrorism studies programme board at the University of St Andrews. Is Academic Director of the Permanent Seminar on Terrorism Studies at Ortega y Gasset Foundation. Between 2004 and 2006 he served as Senior Adviser on Antiterrorist Policy to the Minister of Interior, Government of Spain. Chairman of the European Commission expert group on violent radicalization.

Contributing Editor of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, also belongs to the editorial boards of Terrorism and Political Violence, Democracy and Security, Cultures et Conflits and Sécurité Globale.

Author of a large number of articles and chapters on terrorism and counterterrorism, which appeared in six languages, his recent books include Terrorismo y Antiterrorismo [Terrorism and Antiterrorism] (Barcelona: Ediciones Paidós, 1998); European Democracies Against Terrorism. Governmental Policies and Intergovernmental Cooperation (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2000); the Spanish best-seller Patriotas de la Muerte. Quiénes han militado en ETA y por qué [Patriots of Death. Who Joined ETA and Why] (Madrid: Taurus, 2001); Terrorismo Global [Global Terrorism] (Madrid: Taurus, 2003); El Nuevo Terrorismo Islamista. Del 11-S al 11-M [The New Islamist Terrorism. From 9/11 to 3/11] (Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 2004); and Terrorismus Global (Aktionsfeld Europa, Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 2005). Also co-author de State of the Struggle. Report on the Battle against Global Terrorism (Maryland: Brookings Institution Press, 2006).

Alicia Sorroza has a degree in International Relations from the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of Argentina’s Universidad Católica de Córdoba and an MA in International Cooperation from the Universidad Complutense’s Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo y Cooperación. She is currently preparing for a Doctorate and Diploma in Advanced European Studies at the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset in Madrid.

In addition to having cooperated with the Centro Español de Relaciones Internacionales (Fundación Ortega y Gasset), Alicia Sorroza has taken part in various research projects on international and strategic affairs for both private and public organisations. She has published a number of papers and experience in teaching and research in both the university and business worlds.

Carlota García Encina holds a degree in Business Administration from Madrid’s Universidad Autónoma and an MA in Security and Defence from the Centro de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional (CESEDEN) and the Universidad Complutense. PhD student and Diploma in Advanced Studies in Economy and International Relations at the Universidad Autónoma and in Contemporary Latin America at the Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset. Scholarship from US Department of State for the US National Security Program, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) University of California San Diego (USCD).

She has published different analyses and working papers on security and defence, and Latin American issues. She has given lectures and attended workings groups on NATO´s future, defence transformation, and the Iraq war. She has worked at the Ministry of Defence’s press office and its review Revista Española de Defensa. She has experience in both teaching and research.