The moment of truth: the Middle East

Pejman Abdolmohammadi (PhD) is Associate Professor in International Relations of the Middle East at the University of Trento and Visiting Professor at Berkeley. Associate Researcher at ISPI, he was a Research Fellow at LSE (2015-2018) and a lecturer at John Cabot. He directs the NAMEPES Summer School. He collaborates with The Economist and other media. He is the author of the "Geopolitica con Pejman" podcast on Spotify.

Lucia Goracci, former correspondent and head of RAI's Istanbul office, now a correspondent at Tg3, has been following the main Middle Eastern wars for 20 years. And more recently covered the conflict fronts against ISIS. Her work as a war correspondent has earned her several awards, including the Antonio Russo, Ilaria Alpi, Luigi Barzini , Maria Grazia Cutuli, Luchetta, Biagio Agnes, Mario Francese, Premiolino and Scalfari prizes.

Chairman of the ISPI Scientific Committee and professor of International Relations at Bocconi University. He is a Member of the Strategic Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; of the Europe Policy Group of the World Economic Forum (Davos); of the Board of Directors of LUISS. He edited, among others, "L’ora della verità" (2025), "L’Europa nella età dell’insicurezza" (2024) with A. Colombo and “Il Conflitto senza fine” (2024).

Valeria Talbot is head of the Middle East and North Africa Centre at the Italian Institute of International Political Studies (ISPI). She also is a lecturer at the Master in Middle Eastern Studies at Alta Scuola di Economia e Relazioni Internazionali (ASERI) of the Catholic University of Milan.