Anna Khakee is Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Malta and EMA (European MA in Human Rights and Democratisation) Director. Prior to her appointment, she worked as a Senior Researcher at IHEID in Geneva and as a consultant to CSOs, think tanks and IOs, including FRIDE, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre, and the UNDP. She has been a consultant to several Swedish parliamentary and government committees and has served the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various capacities. Prof. Khakee has published widely, including in Democratization, International Spectator, Journal of North African Studies, Mediterranean Politics, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, and East European Politics and Societies. Sarah Wolff is Professor in International Studies and Global Politics at Leiden University. She previously was Professor in European Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), where she also led the Centre for European Research (2017-2023). She has researched extensively EU-Middle East and North Africa, EU-Islam as well as the EU’s policies on migration, gender and religion abroad. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Mediterranean Politics. Before joining academia, she worked at the European Commission and the European Parliament. Her book Secular Power Europe and Islam: Identity and Foreign Policy (Michigan University Press, 2021) received the 2023 Best Book Award from the European Union Studies Association.