Dr. Gerald Mako studied History at Cambridge where now he is working on his PhD in Development Studies; trained as a specialist in Central Asian history his research focuses on conversion to Islam/Christianity/Judaism and Soviet/Russian policymaking. Aside from publishing two dozen articles and presenting more than 25 papers across the globe he has also been teaching extensively at the University and is now in the process of setting up his own firm in the education&tech industry.

James Harris is in the final year of his doctorate in History at Lincoln College, Oxford. Within the University of Oxford, he has taught undergraduates on literature and politics in early modern England, and lectured on the English Civil War and seventeenth-century print culture. His current research project explores the intersections of politics, religion, and identity in Cornwall and south-west Wales in the later Stuart period.

Marc Howard is a DPhil student in International Development at Exeter College, University of Oxford. He previously graduated from St Antony’s College, University Oxford with an MSc in African Studies (with Distinction), for which he won the Terence Ranger Prize for Outstanding Dissertation Performance. His doctoral research explores the histories of war veterans in Zimbabwe, and their role is forging its fledgling security institutions. He has recently presented his research in the UK and abroad, and his wider academic interests include development theory and practice, Cold War history, and war studies.

Mirela Ivanova is a DPhil student in History at Balliol College, Oxford. She joined Balliol for an MSt in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies after completing an undergraduate degree in History at Wadham College, Oxford. Her research looks into the implications of writing and literacy in early medieval communities and religious and political thought, focusing especially on the Balkans. Additionally she is interested in the processes of religious conversion in medieval societies, and the dynamics therein for the formalisation of ‘heresy’. To this end she teaches a course on comparative conversions for Oxford Summer Courses. Outside of her academic research she has lived, worked, and studied in Bulgaria, England, the States, and Russia, and written on politics, socialism, medieval literacy, culture, social mobility and feminism for a range of publications including the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Oxford Left Review, the London Progressive Journal, and ISIS Magazine amongst others.

Oliver Ford is an independent tutor, writer and researcher. He previously studied at the University of Oxford – firstly at New College where he read for a BA (Hons) in Ancient & Modern History and a Masters in History, before moving on to St Cross College, from where he will shortly receive his doctorate in seventeenth century Spanish History. He has worked for several years as a private tutor, helping school students prepare for GCSEs and A-levels in London and Oxford, and has also taught undergraduates in History within Oxford University itself. He is currently working on articles for publication based on chapters from his doctoral thesis, and is planning new long-term book projects.