Dr Shirin Heidari is Senior Researcher at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and the founding president of GENDRO, an association with the mission to advance gender responsive research. She also serves as Senior Technical Consultant on Gender to the World Health Organization. Dr Heidari is the founding chair of the Gender Policy Committee of European Association of Science Editors. She led the development of the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines to help address the gender bias in research and scholarly communication. She has given a TEDx talk encouraging gender-sensitive research and scholarly communication. She is also a commissioner of the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer.
Dr. Cristina Dragomir is academic scholar and gender equality expert since 2008. She has socio-economic and technical educational background earning 2 PhDs in Mechanical Engineering and in Management, 2 MSc degrees in Cybersecurity and Risk Management and in Maritime and Port Management and 3 BSc titles in International Business, in Port Engineering and in Navigation. She has certification for programs related to gender expertise from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and from the Gender Equality Academy. Cristina is the founding member of the European Centre for Social Responsibility and of the professional association „Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association” – Romanian branch, having as recent accomplishment the development of the framework for the Romanian National Strategy for Women Empowerment in the Maritime.