Dr. Ron Herrmann is an international consultant for and researcher on democracy support, electoral processes, human rights and international relations. In this capacity, he also lectures as an Associate Professor of political sciences and is a trainer on domestic and international election observation for various organisations. He was awarded a PhD for his research on African Affairs. Most recently, he has acted as an election/legal expert for the EU election observation missions to Aceh (Indonesia) 2006/07, Zambia 2006, West Bank and Gaza 2004/05 and 2005/06 and to Lebanon in 2005. As Head of the Permanent Monitoring Mission of the EU in Serbia-Montenegro, he was the EUMM’s chief observer for all elections in the State-Union from 2002-2004. He has also worked as a senior electoral advisor for the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe, GTZ and NDI in Southern Africa, South East Europe, the Middle East and Central and South East Asia.

Tania Marques holds a Master of Laws in International Peace Support Operations from the National University of Ireland and studied International Relations at the University of Lusiada in Portugal. She also has been awarded certificates in Human Rights Law, Conflict Analysis and Legal Analysis of Electoral Processes. Tania has been involved in election observation for the past three years and has participated in several EU election observation missions in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Mirella works as researcher at the Osservatorio di Pavia where she is involved in research related to media studies, political and social communication, training and teaching activities both at national and international level. Since 2001, she has been working, as media expert for international organisations, Italian institutions and non-governmental organisations. She has been a media analyst in a number of election observation and assessment missions for OSCE/ODIHR.

Jarek studied international relations in Warsaw, Moscow and Paris (MA). He also graduated from the College of Europe and worked for the European Commission as well the Brussels based think tank, the European Policy Centre. As a PhD candidate he was a lecturer at several European and Latin American universities. Jarek has participated in various EU and OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Commonwealth of Independent States of the former Soviet Union.

Alberto Huidobro has an interdisciplinary background in history with postgraduate degrees in European Studies (Aachen, Germany) and international relations (Madrid, Spain). He has been working for several years as an adviser to diplomatic missions in Germany and Spain. Alberto has also completed courses in development cooperation and peacekeeping operations and has experience in election observation with the OSCE/ODIHR and the European Union. Since 2006, he has participated in election observation missions in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kazakhstan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Venezuela and most recently for the EU election observation mission to Pakistan.