Adeleh is a multidisciplinary professional with over a decade of experience in international affairs, diplomacy, art, and innovation, shaping strategic engagement and systems-level initiatives across the United Nations and the private sector, with a practice rooted in cultural dialogue.

Alongside her work in international development, Adeleh has a strong artistic background. She has trained under renowned painting masters in Iran and Switzerland and has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions. Her artistic practice explores cultural narratives, spirituality, and the human dimensions of transformation.

She has also worked across photography, film, and immersive media, including leading the ITU Technology for Good Photo Competition and contributing to the Geneva International Film Festival.

Adeleh holds a Master of Science in Project Management, with a specialization in sustainable transformation. She currently serves as Lead, UN & Strategic Engagement at Giga (ITU).

Ala Kheir is a Sudanese photographer, curator, and educator working in documentary photography and visual storytelling. His practice explores themes of memory, displacement, and belonging, rooted in long-term engagement with Khartoum, Nyala in South Darfur, and the Nile region. Through intimate and place-based narratives, he documents everyday life and personal histories that reflect the broader social and political realities of Sudan.

Since the outbreak of the war in Sudan in 2023, Kheir has been actively documenting its human impact, with a strong focus on displacement, survival, and resilience among civilians. 

His work gives particular attention to Darfur, where he records testimonies of violence, forced migration, and life in exile, contributing to an important visual and historical record of a region that has long been underrepresented. His photography seeks to amplify marginalized voices and preserve visual evidence of the realities faced by Sudanese communities.

Alongside his artistic practice, Kheir is deeply committed to photography education and mentorship. He leads and contributes to workshops and long-term programs that support emerging photographers, especially self-taught practitioners around Africa, in developing strong visual narratives, ethical documentary practices, and critical thinking. Through education, archiving, and curatorial work, he continues to strengthen Sudan’s photographic culture and support a new generation of visual storytellers.

Samantha Clark is a managing photo editor at National Geographic. She leads teams of photo editors who commission and curate photography for digital, print, and social, and oversees photography for the publication’s daily stories, short features, and multi-platform storytelling. 

In addition, she produces and edits feature stories for the magazine, collaborating with both emerging and established photographers around the world. That work has been recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors, National Press Photographer’s Association, Pictures of the Year International, and the Edward R. Murrow Awards. 

For many years, she worked on the environment and science desks, bringing complex stories to life through in-depth research and collaboration with not only photographers, but designers, graphics editors, and cartographers.

Before joining National Geographic, Samantha worked as a docent at Pier 24 Photography, which was the largest space dedicated to photography in North America, and in public media for NPR and KQED as a visuals editor and reporter.

She’s written about photography for publications such as NPR, The Washington Post, and Broccoli Magazine. She holds a masters degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. 

Tessa Asamoah is a Photo Editor for UNHCR based in Madrid and has worked with the Photo Unit since 2009, supporting the strategic and ethical use of photography across the organisation.

She oversees UNHCR’s photo collection, working closely with photographers and communications teams to edit, curate, and contextualise imagery for advocacy and public engagement.

Her work focuses on visual storytelling in humanitarian contexts, with particular attention to representation, consent, and narrative integrity, ensuring images reflect dignity and lived experience.

 Drawing on long‑term experience in international and multicultural environments, she brings a considered and critical perspective to the role of photography in shaping public understanding of displacement.

Veejay Villafranca  is a Visual Journalist who explores the intersection of socio-political issues, public health, and Filipino spirituality.

He began his career as a staff photographer for the Philippines Graphic, a national news magazine, covering socio-political events and in-depth stories across the Philippines.

In 2006, he shifted into independent documentary work focusing on displacement as a result of extreme weather occurrences and access to health services for those who have a critical illness. He also became a correspondent for international news wire agencies, covering news and human-interest stories in the Philippines and selected countries in Southeast Asia.

Veejay’s work has earned international recognition. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Ian Parry Scholarship and completed a residency at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, for his project on the lives of former gang members in Manila. In 2013, he was selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass by the World Press Photo Foundation, where he developed a body of work exploring illness and spirituality in the Philippines.

His first photobook, SIGNOS, co-published with MAPA Books, won the 2018 Invisible Photographer Asia First Photobook Award. More recently, in 2024, Veejay served as the Southeast Asia jury chair for the World Press Photo competition. That same year, he was part of a collective of artists at both the Philippine Pavilion of the Gwangju Biennale and the Jeju Biennale. His is also part of a group exhibition of Filipino photographers - New Beginnings: Philippine Photographic Art, shown at the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt in Germany.

An alumnus of the 2005 Angkor Photo Festival’s Documentary Photographer Workshop and the Diploma in Visual Journalism Program at the Asian Center for Journalism, Veejay remains deeply involved in visual storytelling education. He currently lectures in visual language and documentary photography at the Diploma in Visual Journalism program at the Asian Center for Journalism and at the College of Saint Benilde’s Bachelor of Photography program.

Veejay continues to pursue long-term documentary projects focused on public health, displacement, spirituality, and Filipino identity while contributing regularly to international publications and news agencies.