Jörg Gertel (Prof. Dr.) is a professor of Arabic studies and economic geography at Universität Leipzig. His education took him to the universities of Damascus, Cairo and Khartoum. He also taught and conducted research at Universität Freiburg and several times in Seattle and Auckland. His research focuses on the wider Mediterranean region and questions of food security, mobility and market dynamics, and the situation of youth and young adults. Katharina Grüneisl (Dr.) is a postdoctoral research fellow in Geography at the University of Nottingham.

Her current research examines gendered relations of work in Jordan's industrial zones for export-oriented garment manufacturing. She completed a PhD in Human Geography at Durham University in 2021 and has since held postdoctoral positions at Universität Leipzig and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Her dissertation project examines urban change through the lens of the used clothing economy in Tunisia's capital city.