Tom Trier is the Senior Research Associate for the European Centre for Minority Issues and has been the Regional Director of ECMI Caucasus since 2005. With a background in social anthropology, he specializes in ethno-politics and migration issues in Eastern Europe and the CIS, particularly in the Caucasus region. For more than a decade, Tom Trier has worked extensively in the Caucasus region, including the North Caucasus (Ingushetia and Chechnya), Azerbaijan, and Georgia. He is the author of a wide range of publications and articles on ethno-political issues. He has recently edited a major study (with Andrei Khanzhin) on the deported Meskhetians, The Meskhetian Turks at a Crossroads: Integration, Repatriation or Resettlement? (Berlin: LIT, 2007), as well as written a book on ethno-politics in Abkhazia (with Hedvig Lohm and David Szakonyi) titled Under Siege: Inter-Ethnic Relations in Abkhazia (London: Hurst & Co., 2010).

Shorena Kobaidze is ECMI Caucasus' Project Manager and has joined the team in July 2008. She has an extensive background in project management and development within several international organizations. Her current duty at ECMI is to ensure the overall implementation of the ECMI Programme on strengthening the state capacity in approaching and managing minority issues. From late 2008, she has also been involved in ECMI activities related to the repatriation of Meskhetians.

Joined the ECMI Caucasus in January of 2011 as a repatriation and migration expert. Previously Konstantine had worked in several law firms in New York, US, his most recent assignment was with UNHCR Georgia in the capacity of head of field office in Akhmeta, specializing in protection of Chechen refugees from Russia Federation living in Pankisi valley. Konstantine has a masters degree in International and Comparative legal studies from School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK.

Prior to her assignment as a Project Assistant for ECMI Caucasus, Denola Chkhartishvili has been working for the Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations as a senior specialist, which oversees issues related to conflict resolutions and foreign policy. Ms. Chkhartishvili has a major in international affairs and has attended several courses and workshops devoted to the history of EU integration, EU institutions and crisis management. In 2007, Denola Chkhartishvili worked for the Centre of European Security Studies (CESS) in the Netherlands and focused on the Transdnistria conflict.

Prior to his assignment as a Project Assistant for ECMI Caucasus, Irakli Chedia was studying in the Czech Republic at the Masaryk University of Brno and afterwards working at Civic Integration Foundation in Tbilisi, where he dealt with issues concerning ethnic minority integration; human rights; and regional media development. He joined ECMI Caucasus in February 2010 and is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the ECMI Caucasus programme on civil society development throughout the regions.

Ekaterine Dolaberidze is ECMI Caucasus' Accountant and has joined the team in December 2008. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from the Tbilisi Bank-Business Institute and is currently working on her MA from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Her duties in ECMI is managing staff salaries and other appropriate tax liabilities, while providing monthly financial reports and annual reports to the Georgian tax department.

Bakar Lomsadze began working with ECMI Caucasus in 2008 as an intern. After the completion of his internship, he started to work with ECMI Caucasus as a Web Site Administrator. Bakar is a master's student in international relations at the Tbilisi Institute of Asia and Africa (TIAA) in Georgia. Previously he obtained a bachelor's degree in international relations, specializing in Arabic. In 2006 Bakar lived in Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic. He was studying in the Special University for Non-Arabic Students. While in Syria he obtained his bachelor's degree in international relations. From 2007 until 2008 Bakar was working in the non-governmental organization Amagdari as a project assistant.

Izabella Osipova is the Executive Secretary of the Council of National Minorities (CNM) under auspices of the Public Defenders Office of Georgia, which has been supported by ECMI Caucasus since January 2009. From September 2007 onwards she has acted as the executive secretary of CNM. Prior to this position, she was a correspondent for the Russian news TV program (First Channel) at the Georgian Public Broadcasting from March 1998 to September 2007.

Mrs. Seda Melkumyan joined ECMI Caucasus in May 2005 and is currently employed as a Regional Consultant based in Akhalkalaki, Samtskhe-Javakheti region. She has an extensive experience of working in different projects of international organizations, such as the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV) and the European Association of History Educators. She is responsible for assisting in implementing ECMI Caucasus' initiatives in Samtskhe-Javakheti as well as liaising with local government and non-governmental organizations working throughout the region.

Levan Kakhishvili has joined ECMI as a local intern in January 2010. Levan is in his fourth year at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, majoring in international relations. Coming from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region he has a strong interest in resolving the problems existing throughout the area. Levan was a teaching assistant to Associate Professor Mr. Kornely Kakachia for the course on World Politics during the autumn semester of the academic year 2009-2010. He has also completed a semester at Vilnius University as an exchange student in Lithuania and participated in a number of research conferences. Since April 2010, Levan has been employed as a Project Assistant upon successful completion of his internship.

As recent graduate of the Erasmus Mundus Master's Course Global Studies - A European Perspective, with his detailed thesis titled The War of Laws: South Ossetia's Movement for Self-Determination Between the Russian and Georgian Fronts, Forrest decided to join ECMI Caucasus' team in April 2010 as an intern to apply his knowledge to the activities pertaining to the secessionist conflicts in the region. Following his internship, he has continued employment as the primary editor of ECMI Caucasus' publications and website content, while conducting research for several projects concerning minority-majority relations. Forrest has undertaken extensive schooling in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Japan and the United States, where he received his bachelor of arts in global studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Suitably, with Forrest's experience working for the Willy Brandt Centre for German and European Studies, he has focused on pan-European issues, including Central and Eastern Europe as well as the former Soviet Union.