Mark Muller Stuart KC is the Founder of Beyond Borders Scotland. In addition, he is a Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics, and currently acts as a Senior Mediation Advisor to the UN Department of Political Affairs and the UN Special Envoy to Syria in the Syrian peace talks. Prior to taking the UN post he advised numerous international bodies on conflict resolution, mediation, confidence-building, ceasefires, power-sharing, humanitarian law, constitution-making and dialogue processes and acted as a Senior Advisor to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Geneva), Beyond Conflict (Boston) and Inter-Mediate (London). He has first-hand experience of Track 1 and 2 negotiations between governments and armed groups and has worked in a number of conflict zones including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Gerogia, Ukraine and southern Africa. He is also co-founder of the Delfina Foundation.

As a senior advocate he has brought numerous human rights and rule of law test cases before the UK courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice. Between 2006-12 he acted as Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee and then Chair of the Rule of Law Group (2012-15) for the Bar Council of England and Wales. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, a fellow of Harvard Law School and member of the Scottish Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh and Doughty Street Chambers in London. His most recent book Storm in the Desert: Britain’s Intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring, published by Birlinn, is available on Amazon. Information is also at: www.birlinn.co.uk/Storm-in-the-Desert.html .

mmuller@beyondborderscotland.com

Jessica Forsythe is Deputy Director of Beyond Borders Scotland, a role she has held for 10 years. Jessica is responsible for implementing all Beyond Borders’ international projects, namely the Rule of Law and International Dialogue workstreams. Over the years this has included work across the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Prior to setting up Beyond Borders Scotland Edinburgh team, Jessica was Operations Manager of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, where she worked for almost 5 years. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

jforsythe@beyondbordersscotland.com

Catherine Muller Stuart is the Director of Heritage at Beyond Borders Scotland. She is currently the 21st Lady of Traquair. She lives at Traquair House where she was born and brought up. Over the past 20 years she has been actively involved in tourism, the arts, heritage and business both locally and nationally. She has been a board member of the Scottish Enterprise Borders, the Broadcasting Council for Scotland and non-Exec director of Border TV. She also sat on the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Records and Archives and currently is Chair of the Scottish Borders Area Tourism Partnership.

Julianna Kubik is a Projects Officer at Beyond Borders. Her primary background is in global conflict resolution and security studies with additional experience in the arts, psychology, and environment. Prior to working for Beyond Borders, Julianna worked at the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and conducted a research project with the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki Finland. Julianna is also currently a volunteer with Girl Scouts of Northern California and Sigma Delta Tau National Sorority. She holds a BA in International Studies and Psychology from American University and a MSc in Global Crime, Justice and Security from the  University of Edinburgh.

jkubik@beyondbordersconsulting.com

Paul Doubleday has been working in the Middle East for over 25 years as the Director of the British Council in Sudan, Syria, South Caucasus and Oman. During his time with the British Council he focussed on rule of law projects working with the Judiciary, Public Prosecution and the legal profession to develop understanding of the international normative frameworks as well as creating links between the legal profession in the UK and the Middle East. He joined Beyond Borders Scotland as a Project Consultant in 2016 while at the same time working on a Master’s degree in Comparative Criminal Justice at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. There he has specialised in human trafficking and modern slavery. He also has a strong interest in the influence of European and international legislation on national criminal justice systems and the changing nature and impact of cross-border crime. A further area of specialization has been in diversion and disposal of criminal cases by the public prosecution and police.

Charlotte Muller Stuart is the Outreach and Communications intern at Beyond Borders Scotland. Previously, she organised the Beyond Borders Youth Climate Summit in 2021 which showcased the ways the Beyond Borders International Festival can enable youth action and support youth-led projects. She also helped to establish the festival’s annual poetry walk as well as organise a re-wilding exhibition in 2022. This year, she will be focusing on enhancing the festival’s engagement with youth people from the local area through establishing a partnership with Peebles High School and curating a dedicated youth programme. Currently, Charlotte is studying International Relations and Sustainable Development at the University of St. Andrews.

cmullerstuart@beyondbordersscotland.com

Allan Little is a former BBC Special Correspondent and a Beyond Borders Scotland Advisor. After graduating from Edinburgh University, he joined BBC Scotland as a news and current affairs researcher before moving to London to train as a radio reporter. He specialized in foreign reporting for BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme including the Revolutions of 1989 in Easter Europe. He then worked as a reported for BBC News reporting from, among others, the 1991 Gulf War, Kuwait, former Yugoslavia, South Africa, Rwanda and Zaire. Mr Little also worked as the BBC Moscow correspondent and reported on the 1995 Afghanistan earthquakes before becoming the BBC’s Africa and then Paris correspondent. In his current role as a BBC Special correspondent he has reported widely on devolution and the questions around Scottish independence. He has won a number of awards, including the Bayeux War Correspondent of the Year, and three Gold Sony Radio Awards. In 2012 he won both the Thomson Reuters prize for Reporting Europe, for his Radio 4 Documentary “Europe’s Choice”, and the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcast Journalism.

Paul has been working in the Middle East for over 25 years as the Director of the British Council in Sudan, Syria, South Caucasus and Oman. During his time with the British Council he focussed on rule of law projects working with the Judiciary, Public Prosecution and the legal profession to develop understanding of the international normative frameworks as well as creating links between the legal profession in the UK and the Middle East. He joined Beyond Borders Scotland as a Project Consultant in 2016 while at the same time working on a Master’s degree in Comparative Criminal Justice at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. There he has specialised in human trafficking and modern slavery. He also has a strong interest in the influence of European and international legislation on national criminal justice systems and the changing nature and impact of cross-border crime. A further area of specialization has been in diversion and disposal of criminal cases by the public prosecution and police.

Stephen Gethins is a Professor of Practice within the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews and former Member of Parliament for North East Fife, where he also sat on the House of Commons Select Committee for Foreign Affairs. Prior to this, he worked across the political and NGO sectors after having graduated from the University of Dundee with a Law Degree and subsequently obtaining a Research Masters from the University of Kent. He has worked in peace-building, arms control and democratisation in the Caucasus and Balkans. He worked with the NGO Links, based in Tbilisi, with a focus on the conflicts surrounding the breakaway entities in the South Caucasus such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. He worked for Saferworld on arms control and peace-building in the former Soviet Union and Balkans. He has also been involved in a range of democratisation projects across the former Soviet Union and Western Balkans.Stephen was until recently a Special Adviser to Scotland’s First Minister, advising on European and International Affairs as well as Rural Affairs, Energy and Climate Change. He was also a Political Advisor with the Committee of the Regions in the European Union, a position which saw him working with local authorities from across Europe. He also worked at Scotland Europa, helping Scottish organisations gain influence and funding in the EU.