Professor Thomas Garavan 
Thomas Garavan is Professor of Leadership Practice in CUBS, University College Cork. He has published 230 journal articles, 19 books, 34 book chapters and 6 monographs. He has published extensively in the leading HRD/HRM journals including HRDQ, HRDR, HRM (US) HRMJ, Personnel Review, IJHRM, International Journal of Management Reviews. European Management Review, Journal of Business Research, Tourism Management, Information Technology and People, International Small Business Journal, Thunderbird International Review, Journal of Travel Research and Journal of Management Research. He is Editor-in Chief of Human Resource Development Review, co-editor of European Journal of Training and Development and AE of Personnel Review. He has extensive teaching experience with undergraduate, post-graduate and post experience students in talent management and leadership development. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of the AHRD USA in 2021 and has won numerous awards for publication, including the Alan Moon Prize from UFHRD in 2023.
Professor Fida Afiouni 
Fida Afiouni is Professor of Human Resource Management at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Her research focuses on careers, gender, and inclusive HR practices, with particular attention to the Middle East and North Africa. Drawing on critical and feminist perspectives, her work examines how organizational and societal contexts shape women’s careers and explores relationality and ethics of care in organizations, particularly in contexts of crisis and precarity. Professor Afiouni has published extensively in leading international journals and was Section Editor for Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development at the Journal of Business Ethics. She has also held significant academic leadership roles at AUB, most recently serving as Associate Provost, where her portfolio included faculty advancement and development, institutional effectiveness, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is frequently invited to speak on HRM, gender, and inclusion and has delivered keynote addresses at international academic and professional events. Her scholarship and institutional work bridge academic research and practice, with a particular interest in rethinking HRM from and for contexts of uncertainty and crisis.