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Biography

Amelia joined the Â鶹ÊÓƵ in January 2019 as Head of the Department of Politics, and Chair in European and International Affairs. Previously she worked as Director of the Centre for European Studies (CEFEUS), a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Canterbury Christ Church Uni (2013-2018), after positions in Brussels at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and the Institute for European Studies, where she directed the Euromaster degree, as well as the Educational Development (EDU). Amelia is a long-standing Jean Monnet Chair in European Foreign Affairs, allowing her to successfully obtain Erasmus+ funding for the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Centre for Britain and Europe (based in the Department of Politics), establishing it in 2020 as a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. Amelia’s researching, teaching, consulting & postgrad supervising covers a wide range of areas on EU foreign and security policy, as well as new forms of EU-UK relations. These include Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Security and Defence Policy, EU-US and EU-Canada relations,  EU-Russia relations, EU Neighbourhood Policy, EU Development policy (with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa), as well as Arctic & northern governance issues. Additional areas of interest include foreign policy analysis, international and diplomatic history, the role of sovereignty in political history, International Relations theory, international political economy, public policy analysis, the Commonwealth and EU education policy. Amelia is regularly called upon as a guest speaker, external supervisor, research partner, consultant and media pundit on areas of EU foreign affairs, and of late, EU-UK relations.  In January 2021, Amelia was appointed Dean International of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, leading the International Engagement Office in supporting the strategic goals of the university on partnership with other universities and networks world-wide, enhanced cutting-edge research cooperation, as well as staff/student mobility. From October 2023, Amelia was appointed Associate Vice-President of External Engagement, helping to deliver the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s international strategies, alongside community engagement, public affairs, and developing new partnerships at local, regional, national and international level. 

In December 2024, as a result of her work with UNITAR, the UN’s research and capacity building agency, and  complementing her role as Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence on Ageing (April 2023), Amelia was appointed inaugural Director of the CIFAL Surrey Centre, a knowledge exchange hub based within the Institute for Sustainability, dedicated to training and capacity building climate literacy, climate leadership and sustainability more broadly. 

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Tazeeb Rajwani is a Chaired Professor in International Business and Strategy and Former Head of the Department of Strategy and International Business at Surrey Business School (2019-2024).  He is also Visiting Professor at University of Michigan, Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management, Fellow at University of Edinburgh and Board Member of the University of St Andrews Executive Education Advisory Group. He was previously Professor of International Business and Strategy, Head of Executive Education and member of the Advisory Board at University of Essex.  Prior to joining Essex, he was an Associate Professor (Reader) in Strategic Management & Director of Executive MBA at Cranfield School of Management. He has held visiting faculty positions at London Business School, Kings College London, University of Warwick, University of Oxford, University of Notre Dame, University of Peking, Imperial College London, ESMT, Queens University and Hult International Business School.  He has been a Director of Strategy at a high-tech start-up. Prior to these roles he held a management position at , where he was an Innovation Champion and member of the Thought Leadership group at . His unique role at KPMG also included managing large complex projects globally with a particular focus on Corporate Finance.

An awarding winning researcher and leading global authority on geopolitics and business-government relations. He has written over 60 academic papers, 2 books, 5 book chapters, several reports and white papers on topics of strategic management, political risk, nonmarket strategy, corporate political activity, corporate social responsibility and business model innovation. His work appears in , Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Perspectives, Global Strategy Journal, Strategic Organization, Long Range Planning, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Groups & Organizations Management, British Journal of Management, International Business Review, Management International Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, and Journal of Business Research, to name a few outlets. His research has been reported in prominent media outlets, including the The Times, BBC, Financial Times, Irish Times, Forbes, Al Jazeera, and more. He has published a highly acclaimed book contracted by Oxford University Press on ' and a 'Routledge Companion to '. He is the Associate Editor at (ABS 4), Consulting Editor at (ABS 3*), Co-Editor-in-Chief at (ABS 3*), editorial board member of (ABS 4*),  (ABS 4),  (ABS 4), (ABS 4), (ABS 4), (ABS 3*), (2021-2023) and reviews regularly for Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science, Journal of World Business, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Organization, Business and Society, Journal of International Management, Long Range Planning, British Journal of Management, and other leading world class journals. He has also been involved in a £1.2M ESRC grant focused on AI and economic growth. His work also has some and he has given over 200 keynotes/seminars/workshops in over 30 countries. 

As a recipient of various teaching awards from highly respected universities, he has gained a broad range of executive teaching experience, e.g. IT, energy, casinos, consumer goods, insurance, automotives, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, banking, hospitality and several government bodies. He has taught and facilitated many discussions with executives from major organisations such as , KPMG, PwC, IBM, , EDF Energy, Royal Sun Alliance, Philips, Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum, HSBC, Coca Cola, Henkel, , , UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), EY, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), HP, Gulf bank, Co-operative Retail Bank, Telekom Malaysia, South African Airways, Adani Group, Ministry of Defence (MOD), Central Bank of Nigeria, Aditya Birla Group (ABG), Avon and Somerset Probation Trust, Actavis, Stanbic Bank, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Rank Group, , Quadrangle, Cisco Systems, Oxford Nanopore Technologies and others. He has facilitated senior management/board level workshops and has run executive programs on corporate strategy, strategic leadership and international business in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. 

He has previously studied at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, University of Nottingham, University of Cambridge (Visiting PhD scholar) and has a PhD from . He is also an active member of Strategic Management Society, Academy of International Business and Academy of Management. He is Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), Member of (WEF) Expert Network and Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA). When not knee deep in research papers, he enjoys running, watching football and a good cup of coffee. In all of the above, his passion is way ahead of his talents.

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Saori is an economist with over 20 years of experience in Japan, working across both the public and private sectors. She spent eight years as a consultant and economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research, a think tank affiliated with Japan's major investment banking group, Daiwa Securities. Prior to that, she contributed her expertise to the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan and Sumitomo Corporation.

Saori has also taught Japanese economy courses at Chuo and Oberlin Universities in Tokyo, engaging both Japanese and international students. Following her time in Japan, she spent eight years as a Senior Economist and Executive Director at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd. in the City of London.

She is the author of two books on Russia and has published numerous articles on emerging markets in major Japanese media. Fluent in Russian, Japanese, and English, Saori holds a PhD in Economics from Chuo University in Japan and is currently an Associate at the Møller Institute, Churchill College, University of Cambridge.

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Roberta Discetti is an interdisciplinary researcher in the field of business ethics and sustainability. Roberta's research interests lie at the intersection of socio-ecological transitions, sustainable food systems, ethical consumption, and market-based activism. 

Background. Roberta has a background in philosophy (BA and MA), environmental communication (MA), and business ethics (PhD). She has conducted her doctoral studies on food activism and fair trade at the University of Portsmouth. She then covered a post-doc position at Newcastle University working on food sustainability. Prior to joining the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Roberta was a lecturer in business ethics and management at Bournemouth University, with experience in teaching business ethics on the MBA and Senior Leaders Apprenticeship programmes. At the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Roberta is the Research and Training Manager at and the Programme Leader for the within Surrey Online Learning.

EU research projects. Roberta has worked on multiple EU-funded projects on sustainable food systems, such as (Strengthening European food chain sustainability by quality and procurement policy), (Local Food supply communicated through a transactional searchable Map-based Application), and (Geographical Indications’ contribution to smart territorial development and sustainability). She has also worked on British Council-funded project (Supporting University Network for Research in Sustainability Engagement). Her recent work in the field has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Rural Studies, Urban Studies, and Journal of Business Research. 

Engagement. Roberta is co-founder and co-lead of (Socio-ecological Transition Seminars) in collaboration with the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento (Italy) and the Environmental Sociology Section at the University of Orebro (Sweden). Being keen on academia-practice synergies, Roberta collaborates with several NGOs in the UK and abroad, including the Fairtrade Foundation (UK), the Fairtrade Society (UK) and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (Belgium). Since 2017, she has been an active member of the and has contributed to the organisation of the symposium in 2018, 2021, 2023, and upcoming in 2026.

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