Jorge Tavares da Silva is an invited professor at the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and associate researcher at the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP). He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), in the specific field of International Politics and Conflict Resolution. He is a founder member of the Observatory of China in Portugal. His research interests include the Chinese political economy, China foreign policy and Cross-Strait relations.
Zélia Breda holds a Ph.D. in Tourism, a Master's degree in Chinese Studies (Business and International Relations) and a degree in Tourism Management and Planning from the University of Aveiro, where she is Assistant Professor, at the Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering, and Tourism, holding the position of Director of the Master in Tourism Management and Planning. She is a full member of the Research Unit ‘Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies’ of the University of Aveiro; a founding member and vice-president of the Observatory of China (www.idtour.pt). She is also a member of the editorial and scientific boards of a few academic national and international journals, as well as a member of the organizing and scientific committees of international tourism conferences. She has authored and co-authored several national and international papers and communications on tourism, and has been taking part in several research projects in the tourism field, both as a member of the team and as a consultant.
Fabio Carbone is a Lecturer in International Tourism Management at Coventry University, and associate researcher at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (Coventry University, UK). His research focuses mainly on the relations between cultural heritage management and tourism for the promotion of intercultural dialogue, global understanding and peace. He is Ambassador-at-large of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT), and IIPT Special Envoy to Iran, where he founded the IIPT-Iran Chapter. His strong humanistic background is complemented by studies in the field of management and tourism development (PhD, University of Aveiro) and others such as International Relations & Cultural Diplomacy (Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin); Religion, Conflict and Peace; Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disaster and Environmental Security; Sustaining Peace (EdX, Harvard University). Author of several academic and non-academic articles, he is also a practitioner and member of several boards and scientific committees worldwide. He belongs to the international UN Volunteers database, to serve in UN missions of Humanitarian Assistance and UN peacekeeping operation.