Mark Evans is professor of governance at the University of Canberra and Director of the Democracy 2025: Bridging the Trust Divide initiative at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Mark was formerly Director of the Institute for Governance at the University of Canberra and the Worldwide Universities Public Policy Network and Head of Politics at the University of York in the UK. His most recent books include Evidence-based Policymaking in the Social Sciences and Ten Ways to Save Democracy (both with Gerry Stoker). He has been the senior editor of the international journal Policy Studies since 2004.

Simon Murray CBE was born in Leicester in 1940 and joined the French Foreign Legion at age nineteen, serving in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment for five years. He fought in the Algerian War against the Front de Liberation National and left the Legion in 1965.

He subsequently moved to Hong Kong where he pursued a career as a businessman. In 2004, Murray joined Pen Hadow to trek to the South Pole and became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported. He is married and has three children and six grandchildren. Legionnaire is his first book.