Susan Dalgety is a columnist for the Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News. Her first book The Spirit of Malawi (2021) is a study of one of the world's poorest countries. She is also an adviser to the McConnell International Foundation.

Lucy Hunter Blackburn is a freelance researcher specialising in aspects of public policy and is also part of the Murray Blackburn Mackenzie policy analysis collective. She was previously a senior civil servant in the Scottish Government.