Michael Mann has been EU Ambassador at Large for the Arctic since April 1.Prior to that, he spent two and a half years as the EU’s Ambassador to Iceland. Between 2011 and 2017, he was head of Strategic Communications at the European External Action Service, doubling up as Chief Spokesperson to High Representative/Vice President Catherine Ashton from 2011 to 2014. Mr. Mann worked as a European Commission Spokesperson between 2002 and 2011, covering a wide range of portfolios. He began his career in Brussels as a journalist, working for the Financial Times, Reuters and Bloomberg News, among other media.

Rachael Lorna Johnstone is Professor of law at the University of Akureyri and at Ilisimatusarfik (the University of Greenland). Professor Johnstone specialises in Polar law: the governance of the Arctic and the Antarctic under international and domestic law. She has published widely on the rights of indigenous peoples; international human rights law; governance of extractive industries in the Arctic; international environmental law; due diligence; state responsibility; and Arctic strategies. She runs the Polar Law Masters Programmes at the University of Akureyri.