Shaun Riordan is senior advisor on public diplomacy to UNDP Saudi Arabia. He is a research fellow of the Chahar Institute in China and a senior consultant on digital, cyber, and public diplomacy with UNITAR. He has been a visiting fellow of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ('Clingendael') and the London School of Economics. Shaun served for 16 years as a British diplomat with postings in New York, Taiwan, Beijing, and Madrid, as well as in the United Nations, Counter-Terrorism and Eastern Adriatic departments in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. He has taught at diplomatic academies in Romania, the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, and Spain.

Zhang Xiaotong is Professor of International Relations at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he also serves as Director of the university's China and Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC). Before entering academia, he spent 12 years in government service, including six years posted abroad in Brussels as Trade Attaché at the Mission of China to the European Union. After returning from Brussels, he worked at the U.S. Desk of China's Ministry of Commerce. Prior to joining KIMEP, he was Professor at Wuhan University and Fudan University, China. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journalEconomic Diplomacy.