Cees J. Hamelink is Athena Professor of Globalisation, Public Health and Human Rights at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is Emeritus Professor of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam and Emeritus Professor of Theology and Communication at the VU Amsterdam. He has published 21 academic monographs, and his most recent book (2023) is on communication and human rights.

Dirk R. Essink is Assistant Professor of Global Health at the Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, focusing on health systems and transdisciplinarity. His research, concentrated in Vietnam, Lao PDR, Ethiopia and South Sudan, explores the integration of knowledge for public health policy and transformations. Dirk's work emphasises social justice, covering quality of care in humanitarian settings, infectious disease control and sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and research agenda setting. He is skilled in transdisciplinary, mixed methods research.

Marlies J. Visser is a researcher and lecturer at the Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is an experienced qualitative researcher and in that capacity has coordinated and contributed to various research projects addressing social determinants of health and access to health care, with a particular emphasis on stigma and discrimination in relation to both physical and mental health conditions and sexual and reproductive health.