Luca Pes B.Sc. in History and Government (LSE), Laurea in History (Ca' Foscari), Ph.D. in Italian Studies (Reading). Teaches "History of the City and of Urban Government" and "History of Science and Technology" at the Faculty of Regional Planning of IUAV. Assistant dean at VIU, where he teaches "Italian Contemporary History" since 1997. Has been Research Fellow (assegnista) at the Department of Historical Studies of Ca' Foscari and Visiting Lecturer at Duke. Published mostly on Venetian XIXth-XXth Century History (e.g. Le classi popolari, Il fascismo adriatico and Gli ultimi quarant'anni in Storia di Venezia. L'Ottocento e il Novecento, edited by M.Isnenghi and S.Woolf, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 2002; Politica e società nella Venezia del XIX secolo in Ottocento Veneto. Il trionfo del colore, G.Pavanello and N.Stringa editors, Canova, Treviso 2004) and on issues related to Local and Urban History (e.g. Descrivere il territorio: il punto di vista storico, "I viaggi di Erodoto", a.XII, n.34 January-April 1998). Edited Il sistema maggioritario italiano (1860-1918). Collegi e deputati nel Veneto liberale , Cierre, Verona 1992 and with P. Brunello Identici a chi? Contro l'Assessorato alle politiche per la cultura e l'identità veneta , "Quaderno dell'Osservatorio veneto", n.4, 2002 . He is also author of Lewis Mumford. The City in History, printed in Riletture di classici dell'urbanistica , edited by P. Di Biagi, Donzelli, Roma 2002.

Massimo Brunzin Laurea in Foreign Languages and Literature (Ca' Foscari), dottorato in Francophone Literature (Bologna). Specialized in Language Teaching with Advanced Technology (Ca' Foscari), he is a member of the management staff of the Venice Institute, an Italian language center for foreigners. Was Teaching Assistant in Francophone Literature at Ca' Foscari, with special interest in Black Africa, and instructor of Italian for foreigners at the Venice Institute. Coordinates the Italian as a Foreign language courses at VIU since Fall 2001. Published L'oralità narrativa ovvero la simulazione del Conteur nell'opera di Ahmadou Kourouma, in "Asia, Africa, America, Australia", n. 21, 1998 and Il sincretismo linguistico nei romanzi di Ahmadou Kourouma , in "Annali di Ca' Foscari", 1998. Forthcoming book, with A.P. Mossetto: La letteratura senegalese, published by the Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche.

Paola Modesti Laurea in Architecture (IUAV), Diploma di Specializzazione in History of Art (Università Cattolica, Milan), Dottorato in History of Architecture (IUAV). Was research fellow (assegnista) at the Department of History of Architecture, IUAV, where she is collaboratrice alla didattica. Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke in Fall 2003. Teaches at VIU since 2000. Main fields of study deal with Late Medieval and Early Modern Architecture in Italy, with current research project on the relationship between sacred liturgy and architecture, and on the reception and social use of churches. Among her publications are "Il tiburio di Santa Maria della Passione e Giovan Francesco Gadio," Archivio Storico Lombardo V, 1998-99, 113-54; "Sotto il tiburio. Ricerche sulle origini della tribuna di Santa Maria della Passione," Annali di architettura , 10, 1998,103-30; "I cori nelle chiese veneziane e la visita apostolica del 1581. Il 'barco' di Santa Maria della Carità," Arte Veneta 58/59, 2003, 38-65). Forthcoming essays: "Recinzioni con colonne nelle chiese veneziane. Tradizioni, revival, sopravivvenze," in Lo spazio e il culto. Relazioni tra l'edificio ecclesiale e il suo uso liturgico dal XV al XVII secolo, ed. Jörg Stabenow; "Le trasformazioni storico-costruttive del complesso della Carità," in a book on the Accademia Galleries ed. by Renata Codello. Forthcoming book: Santa Maria della Carità e Andrea Palladio a Venezia.

Avi Gottlieb B.A. in Psychology and Sociology (Hebrew University , Jerusalem), M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Sociology (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at TAU, where he co-chairs the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Ecology and Society. Taught and did research at Indiana University-Bloomington, Free University-Berlin, Max-Planck Institute for Education and Human Development, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California-Santa Barbara . Editor of "Environmental Politics" and Associate Editor of "Society and Natural Resources". Chair of the High School Curriculum Committee for the Social Sciences by appointment of Israel 's Minister of Education. Research and teaching subjects include Sustainable Development, Globalization, Social Psychology, Public opinion and Environmentalism, Survey Research, Environmental and Medical Sociology. Author of a great number of monographs and research reports. Edited (with E. Yuchtman-Yaar and B. Strümpel) Socioeconomic change and individual adaptation: comparing East and West, Jai Press, Greenwich, Conn., 1994. Latest books in English include Sustainable society: toward the reconciliation of societal affluence and human survival, Routledge, London / New York, 1999. Main work in progress: Environmentalism and Environmental Awareness in International Context.

Antonio Rigopoulos Laurea in History (Ca' Foscari), MA and PhD in Religious Studies (California, Santa Barbara). Professor in Indology at the Department of Euro-Asian Studies of Ca' Foscari University . Publications include: The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi (New York: State University of New York Press, 1993; indian edition that same year); Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara. A Study of the Transformative and Inclusive Character of a Multi-Faceted Hindu Deity (New York: State University of New York Press, 1998; published in India in 2000). Edited (with Romano Mastromattei), Shamanic Cosmos: From India to the North Pole Star (New Delhi: Venetian Academy of Indian Studies and D. K. Printworld (P)Ltd. - Venetian Academy of Indian Studies Series No. 1, 1999) and Dattalahari: L'onda di Datta by Daladanamuni (Venezia: Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 1999).

Francesc Muñoz Degree in Geography and MA in Urban Geography (UAB). Professor of 'Urban Geography', 'Cities and Networks' and 'Urban and Metropolitan Planning' at UAB. Also teaches in international master programs such as "Metropolis" (based in Barcelona, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya) and the program in "Management of the European Metropolitan Regions" (centered at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam). Professional experience includes both research and consulting in urban demography, strategic planning and specific assessment in urban and cultural projects for institutions like the International Olympic Committee. Published numerous articles in reviews on Urban Studies and Architecture (e.g. "Urban Sprawl mediterráneo: vestidos para sonreir". En IN SI(s)TU, Revista de Cultura Urbana , num.3-4, Oporto 2002 and "Por razones de seguridad. Paisajes urbanos de la Tolerancia Cero" in Transversal, revista de cultura contemporanea ). Participated in several collective books in Spain , Portugal , Italy , Slovenia or US (e.g. "The Multiplied city. Metropolis of territoriants" in F.Musco (ed.) City, Architecture, Landscape , IUAV-SdS, Venice 2002; "Lock Living" in Cities, International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, volume 20, issue 6, december 2003; with Saskia Sassen, "Arqueologías del espacio urbano. Un discurso hacia la arquitectura de la metrópolis" in Memorial Ignasi de Solà-Morales , ETSAB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 2003). Forthcoming work includes his first book in English urBANALization: Common Landscapes, Global Places .

Geri Gereffi B.A. in Sociology (Notre Dame), M.A., M.Phil and Ph.D. in Sociology (Yale). Professor, Department of Sociology, at Duke where he was director of the Markets & Management Studies Program. Interested in Sociology of Development; Organization Theory and Multinational Corporations; Economic Sociology; Political Economy; Research Methods in Macrosociology; Social Change; Latin America; East Asia. Fluent in Spanish. Co-director of the Global Value Chains Initiative, an international research workshop supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Sociology . Has conducted and still conducts consulting activities for UN agencies and other international institutions such as the World Bank and the WHO. Recent books include: Manufacturing Miracles: Paths of Industrialization in Latin America and East Asia (Princeton University Press, 1990), co-edited with Donald Wyman; Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (Praeger Publishers, 1994), co-edited with Miguel Korzeniewicz; The Value of Value Chains: Spreading the Gains from Globalisation (special issue of the IDS Bulletin, vol. 32, no. 3, July 2001), co-edited with Raphael Kaplinsky; Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA , (Temple University Press, 2002), co-edited with David Spener and Jennifer Bair; Latin America in the 21st Century: Toward a New Sociopolitical Matrix (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003), co-edited with Manuel Antonio Garretón, Marcelo Cavarozzi, Peter S. Cleaves, and Jonathan Hartlyn.

Ren Hirayama B. A. in Economics (Keio University, Tokyo), M. A. in Geology and Mineralogy (Kyoto), Doctor of Science (Kagoshima). Professor of Paleontology and Life History at the School of International Liberal Studies of Waseda. Taught at Teikyo University. Most recent publications include: (with Brinkman, D.B. and Danilov, I.G) "Distribution and biogeography of non-marine Cretaceous turtles", Russian Journal of Herpetology , 2000 (7):. 181-198, 12 figs.; (with R., Sakurai, K., Chitoku, T., Kawakami, G., and Kito, N.), "Anomalochelys angulata, an unusual land turtle of Family Nanhsiungchelyidae (Superfamily Trionychoidea; Order Testudines) from the Upper Cretaceous of Hokkaido, North Japan", Russian Journal of Herpetology , 2001 (8):127-138; (with Tong, H.), "A new species of Tasbacka (Testudines: Cryptodira: Cheloniidae) from the Paleocene of the Ouled Abdoun phoaphate basin, Morocco ", Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatschefte , 2002 (5): 277-294; (with Tong, H), " Osteopygis (Testudines: Cheloniidae) from the Lower Tertiary of the Ouled Abdoun Phosphate Basin, Morocco", Palaeontology 2003 (46): 845-856.

Ken Kawan Soetanto B.E.& M.S. in Electronic Engineering (Tokyo University of A & T), Dr. Eng. in A lied Electronic Engineering (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Dr. Med in Medical Science (Tohoku), Dr. Phrm.Sci (Science University of Tokyo), and Dr. Edu. (Waseda). Professor at the School of International Liberal Studies and Associate Dean of International Affairs, at Waseda where he is also director of the Clinical Education and Science Research Institute. Founder of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and of the Center for Advanced Research of Biomedical Engineering. Also taught at the School Medicine of the Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, at the Toin University of Yokohama and at the University of Northern California . Received various awards, authored or co-authored publications and proceedings mainly in Bio-acoustics, Medical imaging and instrumentation, Tissue characterization, Pharmaceutical engineering, Drug Delivery System, Nanotechnology; Education and Psychology, Education technology, Motivation mechanisms and Field study on Higher education. Among his publications: My reborn by Soetanto's Effect, the infinite human potential educational system. (H. Watarai) Boundary Vol.15-1, 1999; Human Resource Development and Education: Japan and the World. Challenges and Prospects for Economic and Industrial Policy in the 21st Century: Building a Competitive, Participatory Society, The Industrial Structure Council, METI Secretary Office, 2000; Field study on the higher education in the turbulent phases, Part 7: Spiral effects and kansei education gained from class by the interactive communication method . Toin Research Bulletin Vol.8, 2001

Wilhelm Vossenkuhl Professor of Philosophy at LMU. Taught at the University of Bayreuth . Has been visiting professor at the universities of Fribourg (Switzerland), Lodsz and Krakow ( Poland ) and at the Academy of the Performing Arts in Stuttgart . His emphasis in research and teaching lie in ethics, theory of rationality, collective action and decision theory and the philosophy of the social sciences. He is author of Anatomie des Sprachgebrauchs. Über die Regeln, Intentionen und Konventionen menschlicher Verständigung (Stuttgart 1982), Reading Kant. New Perspectives on Transcendental Arguments and Critical Philosophy (Oxford 1989) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (Muenchen 1996, second edition 2003). Edited (with Martin Hollis) Moralische Entscheidung und rationale Wahl (Muenchen 1992); (with David Bell) Wissenschaft und Subjektivität. Der Wiener Kreis und die Philosophie des 20. Jahrhunderts (Berlin 1992); (with J. Nida-Ruemelin) Etische und Politische Freiheit (Berlin 1997). Apart from his membership in the Boards of several magazines he is the publisher of the series Edition Philosophie of the Akademie Verlag in Berlin and co-editor of the Philosophisches Jahrbuch. He also belongs to a series of committees and institutions furthering research. In 1998 he received the international prize of the Dr. Margrit Egnér foundation (Meilen/Zurich) for philosophy.