• Born: November 26, 1978, Plzeň
• Education: Graduate of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň (now the Faculty of Arts) and the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague. In 2006, he earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň.
• Professional career: Author and co-author of several books and academic texts. Until September 2009, he served as the scientific secretary of the Czech Political Science Association.Since 2003, he has been lecturing at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia in Plzeň , and since 2008 also at the Metropolitan University in Prague.Between 2007 and 2013, he worked at the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic, from 2008 as Deputy Minister. From 2013 to 2017, he was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic for the Plzeň Region, and since 2021 he has been a Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He also serves as a representative of the Plzeň Region.

• Born: 1977
• Education: She studied International Relations at Miami University in Ohio and Political Science and European Studies at Palacký University in Olomouc.
• Professional career: She spent ten years working at Fatih University in Istanbul. She is currently Head of Research at the TOPAZ think tank, a member of the Academic Council of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, and teaches European politics and international relations at the Faculty of Law, Palacký University. Her work focuses on European integration, particularly Europeanization, democratization, EU economic policies, decision-making processes, migration, and identity issues in the post-factual era. She also studies the political situation in Turkey and its neighboring regions.

• Hynek Jeřábek After graduating in Sociology from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, he worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Since 1990, he has been active at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, where he first became an associate professor and later a full professor, and for six years headed the Institute of Sociological Studies. His academic work focuses on the methodology and history of sociological research, communication research, and solidarity-based assistance. He is the author of dozens of studies and projects, such as Citizen and City Hall – Conflict or Partnership, Care for the Elderly in the Family,and September 11 – International Internet Communication Research.

• Jakub Lepš is since year 2010 členem TOP 09, v současnosti je místopředsedou krajské organizace TOP 09 Praha a členem republikového předsednictva TOP 09. V letech 2014 – 2021 byl uvolněným místostarostou Prahy 11, v současnosti je zastupitelem Prahy 11 i zastupitelem hl. m. Praha. 
  Vyučuje několik přednášek na University of New York in Prague (UNYP), které se zabývají globalizací a americkým politickým systémem. V minulosti na UNYP též přednášel o Číně a jihovýchodní Asii. Je absolventem Univerzity Karlovy, kde získal titul Bc. na Institutu ekonomických studií 
  a následně titul Mgr. na Katedře amerických studiích. Na Univerzitě Karlově přednášel 15 let o čínsko-amerických vztazích. 
  Kromě toho studoval na středoevropské univerzitě v Budapešti (M.A. z politologie) a strávil jeden rok na Georgia Institute of Technology (Sam Nunn School) 
  jako výzkumný pracovník díky Fulbrightovu stipendiu. Domácí dění v USA i americkou zahraniční politiku pravidelně komentuje v českých a slovenských médiích. 

• Zdeněk Tůma absolvoval Vysokou školu ekonomickou v Praze, postgraduální studium dokončil na Československé akademii věd. Nadále přednáší na IES FSV UK, soustředí se především na oblast měnové politiky a finanční regulace. Začátkem roku 1999 byl jmenován viceguvernérem České národní banky, od roku 2000 do 2010 pak zastával pozici guvernéra. Po ukončení mandátu v ČNB se stal partnerem ve společnosti KPMG Česká republika. V současné době je předsedou dozorčí rady ČSOB. Je místopředsedou správní rady gymnázia English College in Prague, členem dozorčí rady Výboru dobré vůle Olgy Havlové, členem Vědecké rady Jihočeské univerzity a členem akademické rady politického institutu TOPAZ.  

• Michael Romancov studied teaching (Civics) at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, and Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. Since 1998, he has been working at the Institute of Political Studies, FSV UK, where he focuses on political geography, geopolitics, and Russia. From 2001 to 2007, he also taught at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Arts, University of West Bohemia in Plzeň, and from 2007 to 2023 at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Metropolitan University Prague. He has long collaborated with Czech Television, Czech Radio, and Deník N.

  He is active on the social network X (formerly Twitter) as @MichaelRomancov, and all his media appearances can be found at [www.romancov.cz](http://www.romancov.cz)

• • Born: February 24, 1962
  • Education: Graduated from the University of Economics in Prague in 1984, later pursued studies in International Relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
  • Professional career: He is an economic consultant who, in 2009, served as a member and later as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Czech Airlines. As a member of the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV), he contributed to anti-crisis measures. Since 2001, he has worked as a consultant specializing in financial restructuring and reorganization of insolvent companies, as well as corporate mergers and acquisitions. His second area of expertise is healthcare systems, financing, and health economics. He also lectures on these topics in postgraduate educational programs (Judicial Academy, Czech Management Center) and gives lectures both in the Czech Republic and abroad. In the past, he served as Head of the Center for Economic Analysis at the Office of President Václav Havel, a negotiator for the Central European Free Trade Agreement, the Czech Republic’s representative at the World Bank, and Deputy Director of the Consolidation Bank.

• • Ladislav Cabada is a Professor of Political Science at the Metropolitan University Prague, where he also serves as Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Quality, and Development, and as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Since May 2021, he has been a member of the twelve-member Executive Committee of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). His research focuses primarily on comparative politics of Central and Eastern Europe, regionalism and development studies, Europeanization, Euroscepticism, and political anthropology. 

• • Economist and university lecturer, living primarily in the USA since 2008. Since 2021, Lead Economist for Sub-Saharan Africa at the IFC and Head of the Macro-Financial Modeling Team in emerging economies. Experience from universities in Europe, the USA, and Asia. Associate Professor at Charles University since 2006. Collaborator with the World Bank and OECD, specializing in international economics, public finance, and pension systems. Former editor-in-chief and currently editor of CJEF, a peer-reviewed economic journal.

• • Since graduating from the Faculty of Science at Charles University, he has worked as a natural scientist and university professor researching the impact of human activity on soils, water, and forests. He began by studying the effects of acid rain on forests, soils, and waters in northern border regions and now focuses mainly on changes caused by climate change and long-term unsustainable forest management. He is a member of the Council of the Šumava National Park, the Krkonoše National Park, the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences, and numerous other expert bodies.

• • She graduated from Chapman University of California with an MBA in Business and Economics. Since 2006, she has been active in adult and student education, focusing primarily on the practical application of soft skills theory. She has delivered training at institutions such as the Technical University of Ostrava and the University of South Bohemia. In the commercial sector, she worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Czech Republic, where she designed specialized training for consultants and international external clients. She is the founder of the educational company Core Education, s.r.o., which focuses on soft skills training and coaching, developing customized training programs. In recent years, her work has centered on media literacy and enhancing adults’ critical thinking through case-based training aimed at raising awareness of disinformation in the media.

• • He is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on the political economy of Europe. He is also a Research Fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels and a Senior Research Fellow in Politics and International Relations at the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom. He is the author of three books, including his latest, Governing the EU in an Age of Division (Edward Elgar Publishing, November 2022). His first book, Towards an Imperfect Union: A Conservative Case for the EU (Rowman and Littlefield), was listed by Foreign Affairs magazine among the best books of 2016. Roháč has written on European affairs for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and many others. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, published in academic journals, and appeared on news programs including BBC, Bloomberg Television, Fox News, and Fox Business. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy from King’s College London.

• • He was born in Přerov. He graduated from Mendel University in Brno and was appointed Professor of Management and Economics in 2016. Since 1992, he has been working at the Institute of Finance of Mendel University in Brno. His research focuses on monetary integration, the EU budget, and the Czech Republic’s membership in the European Union. In 2009, he was awarded the title of Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Studies. Since 2014, he has served as Director of the Mendel European Centre think tank. He is the author of numerous policy papers offering proposals for further economic and political integration within the EU.

Since graduating from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, where he studied Mass Communication, he has been continuously active in political marketing and strategic communication. He entered politics in 2001 as a member of the national campaign team of the so-called Four-Coalition. Since then, he has served as campaign manager for numerous national and regional campaigns. In 2009, he led KDU-ČSL’s campaign for the European Parliament elections, and a year later, as campaign manager for the newly founded TOP 09 party, he helped secure its success in the parliamentary elections. Within TOP 09, he continued to lead regional and senatorial campaigns until 2017. In addition to managing campaign teams and communication strategies, he has contributed to innovations in the use of artificial intelligence in campaigns as the founder of **PRodukujeme**, one of the pioneering agencies in this field in the Czech Republic. He regularly contributes to professional publications and lectures at universities on political marketing. Throughout his career, he has also participated in international seminars and election observation missions in several European countries. His work is frequently cited by media and experts in the fields of strategic communication and electoral campaigns.

• • In addition to graduating from the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno, he also studied at the Faculty of Law of the Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany and at the Faculty of Law of the Universität Wien in Austria, where he focused mainly on legal methodology and private law. In 2002, he completed postgraduate studies (Magister legum, LL.M.) at the Universität Passau in Germany. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Law from the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in 2004. He works at the Department of Civil and Labour Law at the Faculty of Law, Palacký University in Olomouc. In the past, he served as an assistant to a judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, as a trainee lawyer, and later as an assistant to a judge of the Constitutional Court. In 2006, he passed the bar exam and has been registered as an attorney with the Czech Bar Association. From 2010 to 2012, he served as Deputy Minister of Justice for the judiciary and was involved in leading legislative work on the recodification of private law. Since 2012, he has been first the head and later a member of the Commission for the Application of New Civil Legislation at the Ministry of Justice, which aims to assist practitioners in implementing the recodified private law. He also lectures for the Judicial Academy of the Czech Republic, training judges in the field of new private law. He regularly publishes in professional journals and is the author of the textbook *Methodology of Law-Finding: Basics of Legal Reasoning* (C. H. Beck, 2nd edition, 2011). He is one of the main editors of the *Grand Commentary on the Civil Code* (Leges, C. H. Beck).

RNDr. Jindřich Duras, Ph.D., vystudoval obor Ochrana přírodního prostředí na Přírodovědecké fakultě Univerzity Karlovy v Praze. Více než 30 let působí v podniku Povodí Vltavy, kde se věnuje především hydrobiologii, problematice fosforu a eutrofizace, acidifikaci vod, chování a fungování vodních nádrží, transportu živin v povodích či problematice rybníků a jejich využívání. Dlouhodobě se zabývá také kvalitou povrchových vod a vztahy mezi hospodařením v krajině a stavem vodních ekosystémů. Aktuálně věnuje hodně energie dopadu špatného nakládání se srážkovými vodami ve městech na řeky a potoky.

Je členem několika mezinárodních komisí a odborných pracovních skupin zaměřených na problematiku živin a ochrany vod. Své zkušenosti pravidelně předává také studentům, přednáší na Fakultě rybářství a ochrany vod na JČU v Českých Budějovicích. Ve své odborné činnosti propojuje dlouholeté praktické zkušenosti z oblasti vodního hospodářství s hydrobiologickým výzkumem a snahou hledat konkrétní cesty ke zlepšování stavu našich vod.

Specializuje se na problematiku mezinárodní bezpečnosti a řešení konfliktů. V roce 2024 získal titul Ph.D. v oboru mezinárodní vztahy na Západočeské univerzitě v Plzni. Absolvoval také studijní pobyty na univerzitách v Lublani a Budapešti a na European Security and Defence College v Bruselu. Působí rovněž jako odborný asistent na CEVRO Univerzitě a na Vysoké škole ekonomické v Praze. Dále působí jako hostující vědecký pracovník v John Lukacs Institute for Strategy and Politics na University of Public Service v Budapešti. Dříve pracoval na Ministerstvu obrany ČR. Publikoval řadu studií v odborných časopisech a knihách vydaných předními nakladatelstvími, mezi něž patří Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Routledge a Palgrave Macmillan. Jeho komentáře byly publikovány také v prestižních médiích, jako jsou RAND Corporation, SAIS Review of International Affairs, Defence News či The Diplomat. Je pravidelným účastníkem mezinárodních vědeckých konferencí a aktivně se podílí na tuzemských (GAČR, TAČR) i mezinárodních (COST Action, Visegrad Grants etc.) výzkumných projektech a aktivitách.

• My name is Matěj Havel, and I was born and raised in Hradec Králové. My life typically revolves around education, politics, history, music, and scouting. From 2018 to 2023, I served as the principal of J. K. Tyl Grammar School in Hradec Králové. Since 2021, I have been a member of parliament, and since last autumn, I have held the position of Vice-Chairman of TOP 09.
• I have been involved in scouting since childhood, and I now serve as an instructor at a forest school, helping to train new scout leaders. In addition to scouting, I am also devoted to music—I play the organ and actively participate in the life of the Pouchov parish in Hradec Králové.
• My alma mater is the University of Hradec Králové, where I studied teaching and choral conducting. Then I decided I wasn’t done yet, so I pursued a doctoral degree in history at Charles University. I began my professional career at the Bishop’s Grammar School in Hradec Králové, where I founded the school choir and helped establish an elementary art school.
• I entered active politics in 2021, when preferential votes brought me into the Chamber of Deputies. Since 2023, I have served as Vice-Chairman of TOP 09, and in July 2024, I took over as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports.

Political scientist, currently working at CEVRO University in Prague. His professional focus includes civil society, democracy, the public sphere, political culture, lobbying, and European identity. He is active in local politics and involved in several non-governmental organizations. He is the author or co-author of numerous monographs and scholarly articles. He has extensive experience in empirical research, leading research teams, political consulting, disseminating expert knowledge, and active participation in local politics.

Thibault Muzergues currently serves as political director of Shared Ground, a think tank dedicated to reconciling conservatism and center-right politics with environmental protection. An experienced expert on European, Mediterranean, and transatlantic politics, he began his career in 2000 as a political adviser and campaign consultant in the United Kingdom and France. He then spent nearly 15 years working for the International Republican Institute, where he was engaged in promoting democracy worldwide, particularly in Europe. He is a public intellectual and research fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels and at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome. He is also the author of four books, as well as numerous publications and commentaries in French, English, and Italian media.