Mr Carl Villis
Conservator of European Paintings before 1800, National Gallery of Victoria

Carl Villis is the Acting Senior Conservator of Paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria. Since receiving his degree in Paintings Conservation from the University of Canberra in 1991, he has worked in Washington D.C. (National Gallery of Art), in New York City, and in Italy for the Cooperativa C.B.C, based in Rome.

He has worked at the National Gallery of Victoria for 11 years. Having lived in Italy for many years, he has a special interest in the study and treatment of Italian paintings, and has restored numerous Italian paintings in the collection.

Professor Graziella Parati
Chair of Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College

Graziella Parati holds a 'laurea' in English and Scandinavian languages and literatures from the Universita' Statale in Milan. She holds a Ph.D in Italian Literature from Northwestern University.

At Dartmouth Professor Parati teaches nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italian culture in the department of French and Italian. She is chair of Comparative Literature, and has a joint title in Comparative literature in which she teaches Italian American Culture (Literature, History, and Film) and a joint title in Women's and Gender Studies.

Her books include Public History, Private Stories: Italian Women's Autobiography (1996), devoted to gender studies in Italian culture, and the interdisciplinary book entitled Migration Italy: The Art of Talking Back in a Destination Culture (University of Toronto Press, 2005), which is devoted to migration studies and contemporary Italian multiculturalism, and the interdisciplinary manuscript in progress entitled Minor Italy: The Art of Talking Back in a Destination Culture, which is devoted to migration studies and contemporary Italian multiculturalism. It deals with migrants' literature, film, and the relationship between artistic creation and the law. She has also edited the following volumes: Mediterranean Crossroads: Migration Literature in Italy, Italian Cultural Studies (co-edited with Ben Lawton), and Italian Feminist Theory and Practice: Equality and Sexual Difference (co-edited with Rebecca West). Recently she was awarded the Howard Marraro Prize offered by the Modern Language Association of America.

Professor Giuseppe Schiavone
Director, Institute of European Studies "Alcide de Gasperi", Rome

Giuseppe Schiavone is Professor of International Organization, University of Catania, and Head of the International and European Union Area at the Italian National School of Public Administration, Rome. He is President of the Institute of European Studies “Alcide De Gasperi”, Rome and of the Institut Robert Schuman pour l'Europe (IRSE), Scy-Chazelles, France.

Professor Schiavone's main field of interest is the analysis of the structure and activities of intergovernmental organizations, with a special focus on regional groupings in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. The enlargement and reform of the European Union and the adoption of a constitutional treaty are at present a major research area.

His publications include several monographs and numerous articles in scientific journals, mainly in English. He is author of International Organizations: A Dictionary and Directory (6th edition, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

Professor Bo Stråth
Joint Chair - RSCAS/History and Civilisation Department, Contemporary History, European University Institute, Florence

Bo Stråth has been Professor of Contemporary History at the European University Institute since 1997. He was Professor of History at Gothenburg University from 1990 to 1996.

Professor Stråth's research focuses on the issue of modernity of Europe in a comparative context and post-1945 European integration. He has published widely and directed several large research projects in this field. The question of contradictions and variety in modernity ('multiple/entangled modernities') is central to his research. His theoretical interest is in the question of the governability of modern societies, in particular the roles of language, symbols and interpretative frameworks for the construction of community, legitimacy and identities, not least the roles of religion and science, in particular social and economic sciences and professional historiography.

At the European University Institute, Professor Stråth's work has concerned, among other things, the specificity of a European modernity in comparison, transformation of labour markets since the 1960s, and the cultural construction of community in modernisation processes. Other projects have dealt with the question of a European identity and with the political economy of Europe.