Guinean born and Italian citizen, now retired from the UN, curates an online forum for “Association des victimes du Camp Boiro” for the 50 000 innocent Guinean and foreigners, victims of dictator Sékou Touré. Also a volunteer translator for Global Voices en français. Spoken languages: French, Italian, English, Spanish, Serb/Croatian, German, Fulani (mother tongue).

Abel Polese is a researcher, development worker, writer, trainer and fundraiser. He has been training and designing capacity-building programmes for NGOs and higher education institutions in the Balkans, the former USSR region, Southeast Asia and Latin America. His most recent book “The SCOPUS Diaries and the (il)logics of Academic Survival: A Short Guide to Design Your Own Strategy and Survive Bibliometrics, Conferences, and Unreal Expectations in Academia” is both an attempt to guide researchers through their career choices and a critique of what the academic world has become.

I'm a writer and a researcher who has studied Brazilian culture for over a decade, creating several Brazil-themed blogs going back to 2008 (ie., Eyes on Brazil, Eyes on Recife, RioThen, etc). Having taught myself Portuguese, I put it to practical use by spending three years doing Brazil on a budget (and living in favelas), from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon. I now reside in Lisbon, working for a startup and dreaming about having a beachside B&B in the Northeast of Brazil.