Ecaterina Mațoi is program director at the Middle East Political and Economic Institute (MEPEI) in Bucharest, Romania. She teaches and delivers lectures on various topics related to the contemporary Arab-Muslim space at military and civilian institutions in Romania and abroad. As a specialist in state and nation-building, she conducts seminars for prospective specialists in post-conflict reconstruction and crisis management.

Marius Lazăr is lecturer at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and executive director of the Centre for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies at the same Faculty. He teaches International Relations, Regional Geopolitics, History of the Contemporary Middle East, Introduction to Islamology, and has carried out research internships and professional mobilities in France, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, and India.