Richard Porter's name is synonymous with conservation in the Middle East. He has been involved with birds in the region since 1966, and is an adviser on bird conservation for BirdLife International. He is the author or co-author of several books on the Middle East and the groundbreaking Flight Identification of European Raptors.

AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan is a Kuwaiti birder, ornithologist and photographer. His passion for birds began at the age of 7, and he later set up a photography blog which featured his photos of birds in the region. AbdulRahman now leads guided bird tours in Kuwait and was also involved in the translation of the Helm Field Guide Birds of the Middle East into Arabic.

Oscar Campbell is a naturalist, bird conservationist and chemistry teacher. For more than a decade, he has been chairman of the Emirates Bird Records Committee. In 2013, he was awarded the Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Prize for Natural History.