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H.E. Berenice Owen-Jones is the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana with non-resident accreditation to Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Berenice is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), she has previously served overseas as Australia’s Ambassador to Morocco and has had postings in Paris. In Canberra she served as Director, Diplomatic Academy and Director, Diplomatic Security Branch. She also was a strategic analyst at the Office of National Intelligence.

Berenice speaks French and holds a Bachelor of Economics (1984) and a Diploma of International Law (1987) from the Australian National University.

Dr Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, Analyst, GI-TOC – Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. He is a member of the GI-TOC extractives team and the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa. His work focuses on extractive industries, illicit economies, and organised crime.

Before joining GI-TOC, Dr Ofosu-Peasah was an expert panel member on the political economy analysis of Ghana’s extractive sector and a steering committee member of the Media Coalition against Galamsey.

Dr Ofosu-Peasah holds a Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Management (Energy Security and Climate Policy) from the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana. He has published over 20 working papers, academic journal articles, policy briefs and op-eds.

Peter Jenkins, Head of Political & Credit Risk Team – Brit Syndicates at Lloyd’s of London. Peter set up Brit’s Political & Credit Risks insurance underwriting operation in 2013 having been a Political Credit and Terrorism Risks underwriter in the companies’ and Lloyd’s insurance markets in both London and New York since 1998.

Prior to becoming an Underwriter, Peter worked as an Operational Analysis defence consultant with BAe and served with the British Army as a Military Intelligence officer, specialising in counter-terrorism and other low-intensity operations. He has continued to serve in the British Army Reserve.

Peter has a BA (Hons) and MA oxon. in Politics, Philosophy & Economics from Pembroke College, Oxford University and an Executive MBA from London Business School.

Jeffrey Houston Regional Consular Officer – Africa Region. Jeffrey has worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 1999.  Prior to his current assignment, he served as Consul and Deputy Head of Mission in Lima, Consul and Deputy Head of Post in Bali, First Secretary and Consul in Nairobi, Mexico City, and Brasilia.  He has also undertaken short term assignments in Addis Ababa and Istanbul. 

In Australia, his most recent role was in the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre.  Over his career, Jeffrey has managed many high-profile cases including kidnapping, murder, and drug-smuggling, including with death penalty implications.  He has managed our response to crisis incidents including terrorist attacks (Nairobi, Westgate), natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (Bali and Lombok), evacuations from armed conflict zone (South Sudan 2013), transport accidents, including aircraft, with Australian casualties (Cuba), pandemics (H1N1 Mexico and Covid-19 Peru), and also high-profile public events such as the Anzac Centenary (Turkey). 

Jeffrey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics from the University of Adelaide and a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of Wollongong. 

Lt Col Liam Morrissey, CEO of MS Risk Limited, a British security and crisis response consultancy.  He is a former combat arms officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and intelligence officer with the British Army.  Previously he was the Head of Risk Management and Security for the international division of Tesco plc. 

Liam formed MS Risk two decades ago and the company works in support of insurers, financiers and natural resources companies on an international basis.  MS Risk has worked continuously in the Sahel region for the last 18 years providing consulting, project management and crisis response services to clients. 

Liam is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and in 2023 he was awarded a Doctor of Science (hc) by Brunel University for his crisis negotiation doctrine.

Héni Nsaibia, Senior Analyst, West Africa, ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data). He leads the conflict data collection and analysis for the Sahel. He is also the director of Menastream, a research and risk consultancy that provides intelligence analysis and tailored services. Heni’s research interests and expertise center around insurgencies and their various dimensions, and non-state actors in Sahelian countries. In addition to his research activities, Héni is regularly consulted by the media, government agencies, and various organizations on security issues in the Sahel and North Africa.

Héni has over 15 years of experience in researching the broader MENA-region. He is the co-author of The Islamic State in Africa: The Emergence, Evolution, and Future of the Next Jihadist Battlefront (Hurst Publishers). His work and commentary have been published in the CTC Sentinel, African Affairs, ISPI, Le Monde, Jeune Afrique, The Guardian, TIME, and Al Jazeera, among others.

John Moller, Head of Security Crisis and Emergency Management, Perenti Group. John has established his credentials over a 35-year period which includes 20 years in the Australian Army and 15 years working for a range of commercial enterprises, primarily in the oil and gas and mining sectors.

Complementing his experience, John holds a Master’s in Emergency Management, a Post Graduate Diploma in Operations Management and a Bachelor of Science in Security.

Lt Col (ret’d) Nick Maroukis, Senior Consultant, MS Risk, with over two decades of international security experience and specializes in high-risk environments, large-scale security project design/implementation and critical incident response leadership for hijackings, kidnappings and disaster management.

Commissioned as an Armoured Officer in the Canadian Army, Nick graduated Command and Staff College and was promoted to senior operational and command positions.  With over 8 years’ experience in Afghanistan, Nick became advisor to the Ministry of Interior’s Chief of Counter-Terrorism (2005-2007) and later as Chief of Security for the Afghan Independent Election Commission during the 2009 Afghan presidential election (2008-2009).

Nick has also advised mineral and energy corporations operating in challenging environments since 1997 across Africa and South-Eastern Europe. He has been invited to speak on emerging security issues at the US Army/Marine Counter Insurgency Centre, the US National Defense University and the NATO Joint Warfare Centre.

Aboubakar Kouadio Coulibaly, Chairman of the Board of the Resilience for Peace Association (R4P) is a seasoned professional in natural resource management and conflict resilience. He has over 23 years of hands-on experience working in rural communities across Côte d’Ivoire and has led and coordinated development projects funded by major international donors such as USAID, the European Union, and the World Bank, operating across key regions including the central, western, southern, and northern border areas of the country.

Aboubakar’s expertise covers community development, environmental governance, social cohesion, conflict prevention and resolution, and agro-pastoral systems. He is recognized for his ability to coordinate projects, engage stakeholders, and build strategic partnerships tailored to the needs of local communities.

Gemma Huggins, Australian Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. Gemma commenced as Australia’s Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism on 16 February 2025. The Ambassador is responsible for leading Australia’s international engagement on counter-terrorism, including representing Australia at international forums. The Ambassador will work closely with domestic agencies on counter-terrorism issues and will sit on the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Ms Huggins is a career diplomat, most recently serving as the head of Australia’s Middle East Branch in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her previous diplomatic roles include Australian Deputy Head of Mission to Lebanon and a posting to Zimbabwe. Ms Huggins has also held several positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Home Affairs in roles covering national security and international relations, with a particular focus on counter-terrorism. Ms Huggins holds a Bachelor of Communications (Hons) from the University of Canberra.

Dr Kristian Gustafson is Reader in Intelligence & War. He is the Deputy Director, Brunel University London’s Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies. After an MA at the University of Alberta, Canada, he moved to the UK to take his PhD at Downing College, Cambridge. Before coming to Brunel, Dr. Gustafson was senior lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He has served in the Canadian Army and as a Reservist in the British Army as well as taught at the Joint Services Command and Staff College of the United Kingdom. He has deployed to Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Dr. Gustafson has conducted consultancy and advisory work for the MOD’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, including an integral role in developing UK Joint Intelligence Doctrine. He has provided other work for the UK Government and professional development courses to multiple Allied and partner organisations around the world. He has previously worked with the NGO Africa Parks, developing intelligence strategies to support counter-poaching across Africa. His publications focus on structured analysis and its application on a range of security topics.

Aneliese Bernard Founder and Director, Strategic Stabilization Advisors (SSA), consulting firm based in Washington, DC with operational teams across West Africa. She has over a decade of deep regional engagement in counterterrorism, stabilization, and security sector reform. Previously, Ms. Bernard served as the U.S. State Department’s Stabilization Advisor in Niger, where she orchestrated the Counter‑Boko Haram strategy and spearheaded regional defections and reintegration programs across the Lake Chad Basin and wider Sahel in close coordination with U.S. Special Operations Forces, USAID and the intelligence community.

An experienced researcher and author, she has led several field investigations into the spillover of violent extremism from the Sahel into Coastal West Africa, and the systemic causes of regional conflict, and contributed to policy‑shaping publications. Ms. Bernard continues to shape contemporary discourse on regional security dynamics, often being invited to speak with media and advise policy circles on security dynamics in the region. For example, in June 2025 she spoke with the Washington Post about how escalating instability in West Africa “directly impacts U.S. national security” amid the rise of extremist groups in the Sahel. She holds a Masters Degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School.

Vincent Rouget, Head of Political Risk, Africa – Control Risks heads Control Risks’ political and business risk analysis team for Sub-Saharan Africa, coordinating a team of country risk specialists based in six offices. He is a regular media commentator and public speaker on business implications of political and security dynamics on the continent. He regularly provides analysis and advice on the geopolitics of mining investments, political risk in key mining markets and sustainability issues. Vincent has worked extensively across West Africa, helping teams understand local dynamics, anticipate disruptions and make informed decisions. He was previously the lead analyst for Francophone Africa, tracking political and security developments and their impact on commercial activities in over 10 countries.

Dr Alex Vines, Africa Director, European Council on Foreign Relations. Previously he was Chatham House’s inaugural Africa programme director for 23 years. Dr Vines has chaired the UN Panel of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire from 2005 to 2007 and was a member of the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia from 2001 to 2003. He was a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Nigeria in 2023 (Mozambique in 2019, 2024 and Ghana in 2016) and a UN election officer in Mozambique (1994) and Angola (1992). He worked at Human Rights Watch as a senior researcher on its Africa, Arms and Business and Human Rights programmes, and has served as a consultant including for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); JICA, DFID, USAID, the EU and for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Dr Vines is also an assistant professor at Coventry University and sits on the editorial and advisory Boards for the South African Journal of International Affairs, Africa Review (journal of the African Studies of India). He is an honorary fellow of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos. Alex holds a PhD from Coventry University and was awarded an OBE in 2008 in recognition of his Africa work including founding and developing Chatham House’s Africa programme. He is co-author of Policy Response Options for West Africa’s Security and Democracy Crisis (IMVF, October 2024).

Lt Col Jim Muth, Former Canadian Defence Attaché. Jim is a forty year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, commanding groups of soldiers from thirty to three hundred in a variety of situations within Canada and during overseas deployments.

He has deployed overseas to Bosnia, twice to Afghanistan, and to the Sinai, Egypt where he was the head trainer and standards officer for a multi-national peacekeeping force.  From 2019 to 2021 and again from 2023 to 2024 he was appointed as Canada’s Defence Attaché to the countries of the African Sahel (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania) during periods of intense insecurity.  Now a Reservist, he is currently employed as a planner in the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University and a Master of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada.

Sylvain Savolainen Founding Partner, SAVOLAINEN Avocats, a law firm based in Geneva, Switzerland. He assists and defends clients in criminal, civil and administrative matters. His areas of expertise cover criminal law, international criminal law, white-collar crime and corporate liability; as well extensive knowledge in Business and Human Rights issues. His clients range from individuals to multinationals.

Sylvain is Vice-President of the International Criminal Defence Commission of the UIA (International Association of Lawyers), member of the Human Rights Committee of the ECBA (European Criminal Bar Association), member of the Advisory Committee of VOCAL (Victims of Crime Association of Lawyers), member of the Board of Prison Insider, and former member of the Human Rights Commission of the Geneva Bar Association. He has been consulted by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. He represents Abd Rahim al-Nashiri, who has been unlawfully detained at Guantánamo. In 2022, Sylvain submitted a Communication to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which found the eight countries responsible for torture, arbitrary detention, and grave violations of international law (Opinion No. 72/2022).

Before law, Sylvain was a photographer and an international reporter for ten years. In 2007, he received the Swiss Press Photo Award for his post-war work in Sierra Leone.

Alan Bobbett has spent over thirty years working, studying and living in Africa, with a work focus on the intersection of human rights, community development, and security.  His role as the Executive Director of Resilience for Peace comes after holding senior leadership roles with the International Organization for Migration, International Medical Corps, Samaritan’s Purse, Building Markets, Building Tomorrow, the Kaizen Company/Tetra Tech, and Equal Access International.  Nearly all his work has been in post-conflict or in active conflict conditions.  This intercultural and international experience has allowed him to apply a unique blend of local and historical knowledge to bear on the problem sets facing Coastal West Africa and the Sahel, as well as bring proven peace building and conflict resolution processes to bear.   He has worked in Libya, Tunisia, Uganda, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Niger, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as in Latin America and the United States. He holds graduate degrees in Psychology and International Relations and is considered an expert in countering violent extremism.