H.E. Dr KAMEL S. ABU JABER has been president of the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy since 1997. Formerly, he served as minister of the economy (1973), as a senator in the Jordan upper house of parliament (1993-1997), and as minister of foreign affairs for Jordan (1991-1993). Abu Jaber has held the posts of professor of political science (1971, 1979-1980, 1985), dean of the faculty of economics and commerce (1972-1979) and director of the Strategic Studies Centre at the University of Jordan; he also served as associate professor of political science at Smith College (USA, 1967-1969) and as visiting professor at Emory University, the Carter Centre (Atlanta, USA, 1989). Abu Jaber holds a PhD in political science from the University of Syracuse (USA, 1965). He is the author of numerous papers and publications, including The Palestinians: People of the Olive Tree (1993), Political Parties and Elections in Israel (1985), The Israeli Political System (1973), The United States of America and Israel (1971) and The Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party (1966).
 
RUBEN BORG is a research student of comparative literature; his research interests have been chiefly focused on the 20th century novel as well as on the history of Anglo-Italian literary relations. He has written on modernist narratology and on the later fiction of James Joyce, and is currently working on post-structuralist redefinitions of notions of narrative and memory.
 
Professor JOSEPH M. BRINCAT teaches Italian linguistics and medieval literature at the University of Malta. He holds degrees from the universities of Malta, London and Florence and has published five books in Italy and Malta and over fifty articles in various specialised journals and proceedings of conferences. He is a member of the Società di Linguistica Italiana (vice-president 1998-2000), Centro Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, Associazione per la Storia della Lingua Italiana, the Centro sul Plurilinguismo (Udine) and the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean.
 
Dr IVAN CALLUS lectures in English and literary theory at the University of Malta. He obtained his doctorate at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at the University of Cardiff in 1998, after researching the impact on poststructuralism and contemporary literature of the speculative writings of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. He has published papers on comparative literature and on the influence of hypermedia on contemporary narrative, and his current research interests involve interdisciplinary connections between deconstruction, philosophy and literature.
 
Professor RAYMOND COHEN lectures in the department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His most recent publication (edited with Ray Westbrook) is Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations. Cohen has a long-standing interest in diplomacy and cross-cultural communication. He has just completed a Lexicon of Middle Eastern Negotiating for the United States Institute of Peace and is working on a book on Language, Culture, and Conflict Resolution.
 
Dr VICKY ANN CREMONA obtained a Doctorat-ès-Lettres from the Université de Provence, France in 1980. She is currently senior lecturer in theatre studies and French at the University of Malta. She has been interpreting in international conferences since 1979. Her language combinations are English, Italian, French and Maltese.
 
Dr BENOIT GIRARDIN graduated from Geneva University with a PhD in theology. The subject of his thesis was "Rhetorical and Theological: Calvin's Commentary to the Romans' Epistle (1542)." After working with adult education activities in Switzerland, he indulged in academic teaching in Central Africa. Then he moved to development assistance and was posted for over fifteen years in Cameroon, Pakistan and Romania on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation. Girardin has a deep interest in language issues, intercultural interactions and institutional development.
 
Professor FRANCISCO GOMES DE MATOS teaches linguistics and languages at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, northeastern Brazil. He holds degrees in languages and law from UFPE and in linguistics from the University of Michigan and the Catholic University of São Paulo. He has served as a visiting professor at the Universities of Texas (Austin), Mexico, Ottawa, and Georgia (Athens, USA). Gomes de Matos is the author of two pioneering pleas: for a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (1984) and for "communicative peace" (1993). His current research interests include linguistic rights and responsibilities (of language users) and peace linguistics.
 
Dr KEITH HAMILTON is historian in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and senior editor of documents on British policy overseas, the latest volume of which, Detente in Europe, 1972-76 (London: Frank Cass, 2001), covers the early years of the MBFR talks in Vienna and Anglo-Soviet bilateral relations. His other publications include Bertie of Thame: Edwardian Ambassador (Royal Historical Society: Woodbridge, 1990) and (with Richard Langhorne) The Practice of Diplomacy: Its Evolution, Theory and Administration (London: Routledge, 1994). He is currently honorary visiting fellow in the University of Leicester's Centre for the Study of Diplomacy.
 
Professor PETER SERRACINO INGLOTT has lectured in philosophy at the University of Malta since 1971, and has served as chairman of the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta since 1987 and director of the International Ocean Institute - Malta Operational Center since 1998. He was the rector of the University of Malta from 1987 to 1988, and 1991 to 1996, and chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology from 1987 to 1996. He has lectured as a visiting professor in Paris, Ottawa, Cincinnati, Milan, Venice and Palermo. Inglott has served in various capacities with a number of organisations, including the Maltese Broadcasting Authority, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth of Learning, the Commonwealth Science Council, the Mediterranean Society of Philosophy, and UNESCO. He is the author of numerous books and articles mainly on the border area between philosophy and the human sciences.
 
Professor DIETRICH KAPPELER served as director of the Diplomatic Studies Programme of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva from 1993 to 1998. He was the founding director of the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Malta, 1990-1993. Kappeler has extensive experience in diplomacy and international relations, and lectures and writes on international law, diplomatic and consular law, law of international institutions, human rights and humanitarian law, diplomacy, and constitutional and administrative law of Switzerland.
 
JOVAN KURBALIJA is director of DiploProjects and a lecturer on diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, Malta. He has academic and professional background in diplomacy, international law and computer science. Along with academic research, Kurbalija has developed many applications in the field of diplomacy (knowledge management systems, databases, online learning courses, etc.). His major research interests focus on a multidisciplinary study of the influence of information technology on diplomacy and international relations.
 
HELENA MALLIA obtained a diploma in interpreting and translating from the Scuola Superiore Europea per Traduttori e Interpreti, Perugia, Italy, in 1985. She has since worked extensively both in Malta and abroad as a freelance conference interpreter and as a co-ordinator of interpretation services. Her language combinations are English, Italian, French and Maltese.
 
ALDO MATTEUCCI graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in agriculture, and from Berkeley in agricultural economics. He spent three years in East Africa doing research on land use, then in Maryland, working on rural development. In 1977 he joined the Swiss Federal Office of Economic Affairs. He was deputy director of the EUREKA Secretariat in Brussels, and from 1994 to 2000, deputy secretary general of EFTA. He obtained early retirement upon leaving EFTA.
 
H.E. Dr STANKO NICK is currently the Croatian ambassador in Hungary. He graduated from the faculty of law in Zagreb, and obtained his MA and PhD at the faculty of law in Belgrade. Nick has served in the diplomatic service since 1958, with posts in Paris, Canberra and Vienna, and experience in all areas of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. He has participated in more than 200 international conferences. In 1992 he was appointed chief legal adviser for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Croatia, and in February 2000, foreign policy adviser to the new president of the republic, Stjepan Mesic. Nick is the author of several books (Nonalignment and Anticolonialism, Diplomacy - Methods and Techniques, Diplomatic Lexicon) and numerous publications and articles and lectures at domestic and foreign universities. Nick is a member of the Danube Commission, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, current president of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River; and arbitrator of the European Tribunal for Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (within the OSCE).
 
Professor EDMOND PASCUAL, professor of French language and literature at the University of Perpignan, began his career as a primary school teacher, then served as a school inspector for seventeen years. He then lectured at the faculty of arts at the University of Perpignan for eight years. In 1988, he participated in the launch of the University of Perpignan's teaching program called "Français Langue Diplomatique" (French Diplomatic Language). Pascual has continued his pedagogical and research activities since retirement in 1993, and has dedicated eleven years (1988-1999) to considerations and teaching on this subject. He has been sent on several missions abroad by French cultural centres (Prague, Heidelberg, Fukuoka) and to seminars in Paris aimed at diplomatic personnel under the auspices of the ministry of foreign affairs. As he is currently retired, he is free to travel on missions in the field on request.
 
DRAZEN PEHAR is an independent researcher and an associate of International Forum-Bosnia, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He served as chief of staff to the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, and took part in the final series of 1996 negotiations on the establishment of the Federation institutions. Pehar acquired a Masters of Diplomacy from the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta in 1997 with summa cum laude. His theoretical interest is primarily in creative uses of language (metaphors, ambiguities, politeness figures, historical analogies) focusing on international politics, diplomacy, and conflict research.
 
Ambassador KISHAN S. RANA retired as ambassador to Germany in 1995, after 35 years in the Indian Foreign Service (serving as ambassador/high commissioner in Algiers, Prague, Nairobi, and Mauritius, and consul general in San Francisco). He was a joint secretary in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's office from 1981 to 1982. Rana specialised in economic diplomacy, and worked initially on Chinese affairs. Since 1995 he has worked as a business advisor, assisting international and Indian companies, and taught at the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi. He has written a study of the diplomatic process, Inside Diplomacy (October 1999), and is co-author of Managing Corporate Culture, a book on business culture in India (November 1999). Recently, Rana assisted the Namibian Foreign Ministry as a commonwealth advisor.
 
Professor NORMAN SCOTT has been director of Diplomatic Training Programmes, at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, since 1999 and was visiting professor in international economics at that faculty from 1963 to 1998. As director at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe from 1974 to 1993 he was much involved in multilateral commercial diplomacy and the negotiation of international agreements. He currently holds a number of other positions, including consultant senior economist, IMF (Geneva office) and serves as a member of the scientific council of the CRANS-MONTANA Forum on International Relations and the academic council of the University of the Black Sea, Bucharest. Scott has written extensively on international economics, covering such subjects as investment, commercial policies, planning, privatisation, comparative economic performance, and economic policies towards national minorities.
 
Professor PAUL SHARP is head of political science at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. He is also director of the Alworth Institute for International Studies. He has published two books on foreign policy and numerous articles on diplomacy. His latest, "Diplomacy in the Realm of Recurrence and Repetition" appears in the current issue of International Studies Review (2, 3, Fall 2000). His "Making Sense of Citizen Diplomats: the citizens of Duluth, Minnesota, as international actors" is forthcoming in International Studies Perspectives. Sharp is chair and a founding member of the Diplomatic Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
 
Dr DONALD F. SOLÁ, professor emeritus in modern languages and linguistics at Cornell University, graduated with a PhD in linguistics, with cultural anthropology and social psychology as minor fields, in 1958 from Cornell University. From 1958 to 1991 he held the position of professor at Cornell. During this time he has served as the director of the Cornell Quechua Language Program, the Latin American Studies Program, and the Language Policy Research Program. He has conducted research projects in educational policy with the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, USAID, and the Government of Peru. Solá was the co-founder and first executive secretary (1963-1966) of PILEI (Inter-American Program in Linguistics and Language Teaching). Solá is also involved in IT research: since 1988 he has been developing the "InterLex Lab" software design for language learning, and is currently president of InterLex Associates, Inc. ( http://www.interlexithaca.com ).