Alessandra Baldacchino

Alessandra is an Associate at Global Counsel, a political risk consultancy in London, where she specialises in technology policy. She has a background in European studies and public policy, having graduated from UCL with a Masters’ degree. Alessandra has experience working in government, private sector and European organisations. She joined Global Counsel from the European Asylum Support Office, where she supported the Executive Office, and has previously worked at the Malta High Commission in London during Malta’s first Presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as the European Parliament Information Office in Valletta, Malta.
Hillary Briffa

Hillary Briffa is reading for a PhD in War Studies at King’s College London, asking whether small states can have a Grand Strategy. She teaches at Birkbeck College and King’s College London, where she also runs the KCL-University of Texas annual Maymester programme on World Order. She is also a Teaching Fellow at the Royal College of Defence Studies (Belgravia), and teaches at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (Swindon), both part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. Previously, she served as Youth Ambassador for Malta to the OSCE for three years and interned at the Malta High Commission to the UK during Malta’s tenure as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. In 2015 she was appointed an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and in 2016 became a recipient of the U.S. State Department’s inaugural Emerging Young Leaders award.
Sue Vella

Sue Vella is a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Malta, where she lectures in the origins and development of welfare states in European and global context; social policy analysis; governance and administration; and project management. Prior to joining University, Sue worked in the public sector for almost twenty years, occupying top management positions at the Employment and Training Corporation and Malta Enterprise before leaving to join University. She also formed part of the EU’s Employment Committee for seven years, serving as Vice-President in her final two years as well as Chair of the Committee’s technical group. Sue has been a member of various public sector committees and boards, covering areas such as welfare reform, housing, vocational education and substance abuse. Sue is also currently a member of the National Centre for Family Research.