Dr. Inwon Choue, the 13th President of Kyung Hee University, is a political scientist who has pioneered the study of what he calls the "Esthetic Space in Life and Politics." He wishes to reconstitute the "Real Politik" through creative union of reason and emotions, humans and institution, the reality and the romantic. The future society he envisages is centered on humans and to be achieved through discourses on "transcendental engagement." He seeks to transcend today's real politics where ideological confrontations and struggles prevail. As scholar cum social practitioner, Dr. Choue has provided numerous agenda and proposals to the government, mass media, civil society, and international organizations. He served as a member of the Transition Committee of the President of the Republic of Korea to Establish National Visions(1997), Head of the Planning Committee of the 1999 Seoul International Conference of NGOs(1999), and Chairman of the Committee for the Global NGO Complex(2000-). He is a man committed to the search of new ways for human societies in the 21st century.

A career diplomat, Mr. Sha Zukang became the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) on 1 July, 2007. He also chairs the United Nations Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs. Mr. Sha Zukang has varied experience with multilateral organizations and international conferences. He was Coordinator of the Like-Minded Group of the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council from 2004 to 2007, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee and Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 11th session from 2003 to 2004, President of the Trade and Development Board, 50th Session of UNCTAD, Chairperson of the Government group of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization from 2002 to 2003, and member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament matters from 1994 to 1999. In addition, he has served as president, vice president, chairperson, coordinator and expert in many international conferences in the field of arms control, trade, intellectual property, social affairs, and telecommunications, among others.

Professor Kawaguchi Kiyofumi is Chancellor of the Ritsumeikan Trust and President of Ritsumeikan University since 2007. He was Dean of College of Policy Science and Graduate School of Policy Science in Ritsumeikan University and Trustee of the Japan Society of Research and Information of Public and Co-operative Economy. He has been involved with the College of Policy Science and Graduate School of Policy Science since their establishment in the mid-1990s. He holds a Ph.D Degree in Economics from Kyoto University and specializes in Economic and Social Systems and Economic Conditions and Policy Science. Professor Kawaguchi is a Member of International Society for Third-Sector Research, Japan Society of Research and Information of Public and Co-operative Economy, The Japan Association for Social and Economic Systems Studies.

In November 2008, Dr. Zhou Qifeng was appointed to the President of Peking University. Prior to this, he was the President of Jilin University from 2004 to 2008. He also became a Standing Committee Member and Vice Chair of the Chemistry Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. President Zhou Qifeng’s research interests include polymer synthesis, liquid crystalline and specialty polymers. He has received many honors, for both teaching and research. He is an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the “National Outstanding Talent Returning from Overseas” from the State Education Commission and the Ministry of Personnel (1997), and was given the 1st Prize for Teaching Excellence by both Peking University and the Beijing Municipal Government. President Zhou Qifeng obtained his B.S. in Polymer Chemistry from Peking University and started to work as a faculty member of Peking University. He went to study in Department of Polymer Science & Engineering of University of Massachusetts Amherst in Massachusetts of the United States, where he received a Master degree of Science and a Ph.D. degree.

Dr. Hans D’Orville, born in 1949, a German national, is the Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning at UNESCO since October 2007. He also is the principle UNESCO representative for all matters relating to UN reform and interagency affairs. In addition to this, he directs two successful public-private partnership programmes: the UNESCO/Daimler Mondialogo Project and the UNESCO/SonyEricsson World Tennis Association Partnership for Gender Equality. D'Orville served as Director of Information Technologies (IT) for Development, in the Bureau for Development Policy of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), from 1996 to 2000. He has also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Africa Leadership Forum; an advisor to the Independent Commission of Population and Quality of Life and the Independent Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, and Senior Advisor to the Valencia Tercer Milenio Program. D'Orville holds a Ph.D and a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Konstanz, Germany.

Liberato Bautista is President of CONGO, the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, an international non-profit organization with secretariat offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna. He also concurrently serves as Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs for the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) of The United Methodist Church and serves as this organization’s main representative to the United Nations. He has extensive back ground in peace and human rights advocacy around the world. His previous human rights work was in the Philippines and Asia. Bautista studied political science, history and international studies in the Philippines. His doctoral studies in religion and society were done at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, focusing on Christian social and political ethics. He writes and lectures in a variety of fields, including international affairs and relations, UN and international organizations, social and political ethics, theology and religion, human rights and human dignity, and peace and conflict transformation.