Dr Yasmina Jraissati is a Lebanese philosopher of cognitive sciences and book lover. She graduated in Paris (Institut Jean Nicod, EHESS, CNRS) in 2009, where she studied the relationship of culture and cognition in sensory categorization applied to the case of color. After a post-doctoral fellowship in London (Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2010-2011), Yasmina moved back to Beirut where she taught philosophy and cognitive sciences at the American University of Beirut. Yasmina is committed to the transmission of knowledge, and in 2011, she initiated and co-founded the Association for the Study of Mind, which hosted monthly talks at AUB, and organized the first Lebanese Computation Neuroscience winter school.

Yasmina is also passionate about books and publishing, and she created her own literary agency, RAYA, in 2004, the first and today largest literary agency for Arabic literature. As a literary agent, Yasmina was shortlisted twice to the London Book Fair International Award of Excellence, and won the Sharjah Book Fair “Rights connection” award, in 2023, for fostering cross-cultural publishing. Yasmina also works as a publisher within the Storytel company, where she manages the Arabic and English audiobooks.

Prof. Ophelia Deroy is a Caribbean-raised French philosopher of cognitive science. She graduated from Paris, and held visiting and temporary positions at the University of Paris, NYU, and Rio de Janeiro. She was the Associate Director of the Institute of Philosophy, University of London and now holds a professorship at the LMU Munich. She is a leading researcher in perception and social cognition, and actively involved in science communication, exhibition curation and multisensory audience engagement. She originated and organised the mediterranean-based Aegina Summer School for 8 years, gathering a total of 100 speakers, and 600 participants on topics related to social cognitive science. She has worked with artists, policy-makers and cultural institutions such as Tate Galleries (London), Alte Pinakotek and Biotopia museums (Munich) and Museum of Tomorrow (Rio).

Dr Bahador Bahrami is from Tehran, Iran. He got his MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2003 and did a PhD in cognitive neuroscience of consciousness in the human brain in London in 2008. Since then he has worked in Aarhus, Denmark (2008-10) and London, UK (2010-2017) and Munich Germany (2019 to present). Bahador's research focuses on the cognitive and neurobiological basis of interactive decision making between human-human and more recently, human-AI agents. His research has been supported by two European Council Research (ERC) grants (2012 to 2024). Bahador has trained many students and researchers from Middle East including Iran, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. For a decade, he has convened an international online journal club focusing on social cognitive neuroscience for Farsi speaking participants from iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan. 

Dr. Marwa El-Zein is a Lebanese cognitive scientist. After graduating from the ENS in Paris, she held prestigious fellowships at UCL, London and the Max Planck Institute of Human Development in Berlin. She worked on behavioural and cognitive strategies for public interests and institutions, and is now working as a professional for innovative bridges between cognitive science and real world policy applications.