Francesco Francioni (Dr Juris Florence and LL.M Harvard) is Professor Emeritus of International Law at the European University Institute and Professor of International Cultural Heritage Law at LUISS University, Rome. He has published extensively in the field of international law and held the Chair of International Law at the University of Siena from 1980 to 2003. He was a visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin, from 1987 to 2008 and has taught as a visiting professor at the Universities of Cornell, Oxford , Munich, and Columbia, NY. He is a legal consultant for UNESCO and has participated in the negotiation of the main treaties and protocols concerning the protection of cultural heritage of the past 25 years. In 1987 and 1988 he was President of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
Ana Filipa Vrdoljak is UNESCO Chair in International Law and Cultural Heritage and Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney. She is a member of the Advisory Board, International Journal of Cultural Property (Cambridge University Press) and President of the International Cultural Property Society (U.S.). She has been Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow, Marie Curie Fellow, and Jean Monnet Fellow, Law Department European University Institute, Florence, and taught as visiting professor at Renmin Law School, University of Parma and Central European University. She has served as a legal consultant to intergovernmental organisations (including UNESCO, European Commission and UNHCHR) and national governments. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (in Law), Bachelor of Law (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts (Hons)) from the University of Sydney.