Dr Eric Lilford is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the field of Mineral Economics, within the Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) in the Faculty of Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering at Curtin University. His interests lie in the analysis and quantification of the impacts that regulations and policies have on the development and sustainability of resources developments. Prior to his recent academic appointment at Curtin, Dr Lilford has held roles including being CEO or Executive of mining companies where he has negotiated, evaluated and managed the structuring and development of many different mining and exploration projects, for a variety of commodities, mostly across Africa. His engineering and mineral economics expertise are combined with his intimate understanding of the emerging market resources industry, from both the political and business viewpoints.

Dr Pietro Guj is a Research Professor at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, at the University of Western Australia and an Adjunct Professor in Mineral Economics at Curtin University's Graduate School of Business. These academic roles were preceded by a distinguished career in the exploration and mining industry, in Asia, Africa and Australia both in industry and Government. He held the role of Deputy Director General of the Department of Minerals and Energy and Executive Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia after a few years as a finance executive for the Water Authority of WA. Dr Guj's main interests are in project evaluation, risk and decision analysis as applied to the mineral industry and in the formulation and administration of internationally competitive resources regulatory and fiscal regimes; fields in which he has lectured, published and consulted widely internationally. In recent years, Dr Guj has been retained by the World Bank to direct research and capacity building programs designed to improve mining taxation policy and administration frameworks. The most recent of these projects addressed the fiscal challenge of transfer pricing in the context of mineral-rich developing countries, with particular emphasis on Africa.

Dr Lilford and Dr Guj are also members of a team that recently won the Australia Award - Africa for the delivery of comprehensive intensive training programmes in Mineral and Energy Economics over the period 2018 - 2022.