François CHARLES is an economist and expert in strategy, management and geopolitics, particularly in the defense, industry, energy and international relations sectors, with extensive global expertise in the general politics of organizations.

Following an experience in the private sector in auditing with Arthur Andersen and in strategy and management consulting, he resumed his career in the service of the French State as head of strategy, transformation and preparation for the future of the Aeronautical Maintenance Service, with significant advances in the economic models of the Tiger and A400M maintenance programs.

Since 2009, also trained in human resources, he has once again become a consultant, coach and trainer in strategy, economic intelligence and management for major groups, SMEs and local authorities, while remaining involved in strategic thinking circles and ideas action clubs and resuming some political leadership activities. He is Chairman of NOVIAL INSTITUTE & CONSULTING SAS and heads a team of consultants specializing in European project consulting.

After becoming familiar with European mechanisms from 1992 and working for the European Convention, he relaunched the Institut de Recherche et de Communication sur l’Europe (I.R.C.E.) in 2012 as an independent, generalist Think and Do Tank acting on public policy, but also on ecosystems on a wide range of subjects including governance, defense, security, international relations, economics, digital, energy and transport. It is registered as an authorized lobbyist in the transparency register of the European Institutions.

Martí Grau Segú holds a Ph.D. in History from Pompeu Fabra University. He graduated in both History and Political Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He pursued graduate studies in European Politics at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Bologna (Italy) and at the Pompeu Fabra University, where he obtained a Master’s degree in International Law / International Studies. After a research fellowship at the School for a Culture of Peace (UAB), he worked in the European Institute for the Mediterranean. In 2008-2009, he served as Member of the European Parliament, in the Foreign Policy and Internal Market Committees as well as the delegations for the relations with Japan, Canada, South Caucasus countries, and the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. In 2011, he joined the academic team that created the House of European History (Brussels). Since 2018, he is head of service and curator at the Jean Monnet House (Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France). Throughout his career, he has taught at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Indiana University, and the University of Versailles-Saint Quentin, and he has been affiliated researcher at KULeuven.