Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, trained as a molecular biologist before moving to Nepal to study Buddhism. He is the author (with his father, Jean-François Revel) of The Monk and the Philosopher, The Quantum and the Lotus (with Trinh Thuan), Happiness, The Art of Meditation, Altruism: The Power of Compassion,A Plea for the Animals, and (with Wolf Singer) Beyond the Self: Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience. He has published several books of photography, including Motionless Journey and Tibet: An Inner Journey, and is the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.

Wolf Singer, a neuroscientist, is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and Founding Director of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in cooperation with Max Planck Society, and the Ernst Strüngmann Forum.