Raphael Bossong is lecturer in European Studies at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/O. and researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, Hamburg. He holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, and a MA and PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. His research, which contributed to several EU-funded research projects, focuses on the intersection between EU crisis management, internal and external security policy and public administration. He has published in leading international peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding and European Security, while he also authored a monographic study on the historical evolution of EU security policy since 9-11 (2012).

Helena Carrapico joined Aston University in September 2014 as a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations. Her research focuses on European Union Justice and Home Affairs, in particular organised crime policies. Prior to her current position, Helena Carrapico was a Newton International Fellow at the University of Dundee, where she worked on the Justice and home Affairs opt-in and opt-out strategies of the United Kingdom. Previous academic positions were also held at James Madison University (Lecturer), the University of Coimbra (Post- doctoral fellow) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Researcher). She holds a doctoral degree in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (Florence). Helena Carrapico has published in the area of internal security in journals such as the European Foreign Affairs Review, European Security, the Journal of Information Technology and Politics and Global Crime. In addition, she has considerable experience editing journal special issues.