Neda Moayerian is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran School of Urban Planning and a Non-resident Research Associate at the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance.

Max O. Stephenson, Jr. serves as a Professor of Public and International Affairs and the Director of the Institute for Policy and Governance at Virginia Tech (VTIPG). His research and teaching interests include human rights and refugees; civil society and democratic theory, especially as pertaining to conceptions of political agency and social change processes; NGOs and international development; and peacebuilding. He is the author or editor of 11 books and more than 80 refereed articles and book chapters.