Mark Muller Stuart KC is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Borders Scotland. In addition, he is a Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics, and currently acts as a Senior Mediation Advisor to the UN Department of Political Affairs and the UN Special Envoy to Syria in the Syrian peace talks. Prior to taking the UN post he advised numerous international bodies on conflict resolution, mediation, confidence-building, ceasefires, power-sharing, humanitarian law, constitution-making and dialogue processes and acted as a Senior Advisor to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Geneva), Beyond Conflict (Boston) and Inter-Mediate (London). He has first-hand experience of Track 1 and 2 negotiations between governments and armed groups and has worked in a number of conflict zones including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Gerogia, Ukraine and southern Africa. He is also co-founder of the Delfina Foundation.

As a senior advocate he has brought numerous human rights and rule of law test cases before the UK courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice. Between 2006-12 he acted as Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee and then Chair of the Rule of Law Group (2012-15) for the Bar Council of England and Wales. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, a fellow of Harvard Law School and member of the Scottish Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh and Doughty Street Chambers in London. His most recent book Storm in the Desert: Britain’s Intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring, published by Birlinn, is available on Amazon. Information is also at: www.birlinn.co.uk/Storm-in-the-Desert.html .

Charlotte Muller Stuart is the Festival Director of the Beyond Borders International Festival. 

Having worked at Beyond Borders Scotland for five years, she has held roles including Outreach and Communications Officer and Junior Events Officer. She initiated and curated the festival’s youth programme, which began with the Youth Climate Summit in 2021, bringing together young climate activists from across the country. In 2022, she curated and designed a rewilding exhibition and established the festival’s annual poetry walk in 2021. This year, she is overseeing the full management of the festival, including site setup, marketing and promotion, and programme curation. She is responsible for organising and curating all festival walks, talks, workshops, and art exhibitions, as well as a range of activities for the youth programme.

Her interests lie in critical education, climate justice, and international politics as she has previously worked for 1.5 MAX Climate Education and interned at the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. She holds an MA (Hons) in International Relations and Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews.

cmullerstuart@beyondbordersscotland.com

Catherine Muller Stuart is the Director of Heritage for the Beyond Borders International Festival at Beyond Borders Scotland. She is currently the 21st Lady of Traquair. She lives at Traquair House where she was born and brought up. Over the past 20 years she has been actively involved in tourism, the arts, heritage and business both locally and nationally. She has been a board member of the Scottish Enterprise Borders, the Broadcasting Council for Scotland and non-Exec director of Border TV. She also sat on the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Records and Archives and currently is Chair of the Scottish Borders Area Tourism Partnership.

Rose Moncur is the Communications and Outreach Director for the Beyond Borders International Festival at Beyond Borders Scotland. She will also be directing the Youth Programme during the festival.

This year, her focus is on expanding and strengthening the Youth Programme activities and opportunities at the festival. She also continues to lead press and outreach and continues to maintain the growth of the festival’s social media.

In 2024 she was an intern for Beyond Borders Scotland, where she facilitated youth opportunities, contributed to the production and promotion of the Beyond Borders Podcast, handled press releases, and increased social media presence for the festival across multiple platforms. She also assisted in curating the “Rewilding the Mind” project in the Walled Garden.

In 2023 she interviewed Alistair Campbell as part of the first youth programme, an initiative with Peebles High School to provide opportunities for young people to engage in political and creative discussion during the festival. Rose has been involved with the festival for several years and was a previous weekend volunteer.

Outside of her role at Beyond Borders, Rose is an active member of the Traquair Poetry Club, having performed with the group at previous festivals as part of the Poetry Walk first launched in 2023.

Rose holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University. During her studies, she was as Co-Editor of the university’s political news platforms, contributing across online, radio, and podcast formats.

rmoncur@beyondbordersscotland.com

Julianna Kubik is a Projects Officer at Beyond Borders Scotland, working on the Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship Programme and additional projects.

Her primary background is in global conflict resolution and security studies with additional experience in the arts, psychology, and environment. Prior to working for Beyond Borders, Julianna worked at the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and conducted a research project with the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki Finland. Julianna is also currently a volunteer with Girl Scouts of Northern California and Sigma Delta Tau National Sorority. She holds a BA in International Studies and Psychology from American University and a MSc in Global Crime, Justice and Security from the University of Edinburgh.

Julianna works additionally on volunteers and Beyond Borders Scotland project coordination at the Beyond Borders International Festival.

jkubik@beyondbordersscotland.com

Shona McCallum is a Projects Officer at Beyond Borders Scotland, working on the Scottish Peace Platform as well as additional projects including the Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship.

She is interested in feminist-informed approaches to studying peace-building, political imprisonment, and sectarianism especially in the MENA region.

She holds an MA (Hons) in Arabic, Persian, and International Relations from the University of St Andrews, and is continuing to learn Arabic with a focus on the Levantine/ Shaami dialect. She was the co-president of Amnesty International St Andrews during her time at university, where she developed activism and organising skills. She has volunteered extensively with refugee-support organisations in Scotland, especially on language exchange.

Shona works additionally on Beyond Borders Scotland project coordination at the Beyond Borders International Festival.

smccallum@beyondbordersscotland.com