Imogen is a south Londoner born and bred, who loves exploring her home city and is amazed that despite 33 years of running around town, it can still offer up unexpected surprises and unknown spots. A graduate in Italian literature from Oxford University, she lived in Rome for a few years where she met the Context Team. She now works in magazine publishing as an editor on a variety of projects, including the London tourist boards Official Visit London Guide to London which makes her well-qualified to recommend great places to visit, be it the latest hot restaurant or a long-standing hidden gem.

Originally from Rome, Adriano graduated in History of Art at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" with a thesis on the later artistic production of Paolo Veronese. He spent almost two years in Venice conducting his research in various public and religious archives of the town. He then moved to London where he obtained a Master's degree at the Warburg Institute with a research on one of the most famous magical-philosphical treatise of the Renaissance: the De Occulta Philosphia by Cornelius Agrippa. He is currently living in London where he's writing his PhD thesis on the English patronage and collecting activities of the XVIII century, with a particular interest on the Grand Tour and the Anglo-Italian relations.

Caroline is back at Kings College London finishing an MA in Classics. The main focus of her work is on two modules that combine to make a very interesting project. They are Mystery Cults in the Graeco-Roman Worlds and The Late Roman City. Her choice to take both modules was massively influenced by her time with Context Rome in 2006; she reports that it's absolutely down to her experiences over the last year that she has developed such an interest in the cityscape. Caroline is combining the two modules in her thesis, which is going to be something along the lines of how religious buildings are used as Roman propaganda in the provinces.

Born and raised in London, Andrew Campbell is currently doing a PhD in Renaissance history and philosophy at University College London. He combines his research with teaching English to Italian Erasmus students and giving seminars on Renaissance texts. Despite having lived in London for nearly all of his life, Andrew has still not found a view to beat that from the upper deck of a bus crossing Waterloo Bridge.

Sarah Ciacci has lived and worked in London all her life, but pops over to Rome fairly often. After completing her MA in History of Art at University College London, specialising in late 19th Century French Painting and mid 20th Century Art, she has worked in the contemporary art world in both London and Rome. Sarah is passionate about London, a fabulously rich, diverse and multi-layered city and for the past three years has been learning the skill of guiding London and telling its 2,000 year old story - spanning its history, culture, and the famous personalities who have lived here.

Following in the footsteps of numerous nineteenth-century, English watercolourists, London-born artist Charles Foster-Hall has traveled widely to observe and paint the natural world. In the course of a long journey through Asia and the Far East he stopped in Japan for an extended period to paint and study Noh Theatre. Then, after 10 years in Paris, he moved to New York, where he received many mural commissions, public art commissions and worked with the New York artist, Jeff Koons. On return to London in 2005 he was awarded the St Cuthbert's Mill Prize by the Royal Watercolour Society and has exhibited in their Open Exhibitions. Foster-Hall received a degree in Microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Bristol, UK, after which he decided to devote himself more fully to painting. His desire to reconcile scientific interests with artistic practice led to his involvement in a project to create a 10-foot-tall boiled egg originally proposed by Salvador Dali. Although he considers his original inspiration to come from early memories of the English landscape, he is now taking great pleasure in rediscovering the gardens and country houses of his native land. His work can be viewed at www.charlesfoster-hall.com

Mariana Giovino specialises in the art of the ancient Middle East, particularly ancient Iraq. She is also interested in the history of excavation and museum collecting. She wrote about the meaning of ancient Iraqi symbols for her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she also wrote about the meaning of the Parthenon friezes for her M.A. She has published on ancient Iraqi and Iranian art, and lectures at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Loukas has studied Architecture, History of Architecture and History of Art in the United States and in the UK, and has taught undergraduate courses for a number of years at Cambridge and Princeton. He was part of Context Rome for two years while conducting research in Rome. Currently living in the UK, he is completing his Ph.D. dissertation on a group of 16th c. Italian villas and their political significance, while freelancing in the architecture/construction and property industries.

Alessandro Lorenzetti, gained his degree in History of Art from the University of Parma, where he specialised in the History of Illuminated Manuscripts. He currently lives in London and is completing his MA in “Cultural and Intellectual History, 1300-1650” at the Warburg Institute, with a dissertation on History of Renaissance Architecture.

As a postgraduate researcher at Oxford and Birkbeck, London, Joe Luscombe studied the early pamphlets that purported to warn visitors to London about the crime and dangers of the city. He became a journalist, and wrote about housing, television, books and food. He was on staff at Waitrose Food Illustrated, the world’s most beautiful food magazine, for three years, and became a contributing editor on going freelance. He is now writing a book about the biggest seed in the world. His interests are London, food, and the history of ideas.

Following a two-year stint at the British Museum, Susanne has returned for a post-doctoral fellowship to the Warburg Institute, where she also completed her PhD in art history in 2005. She specializes in 16th and 17th century art, focusing on the links between Italy and the North. Although based in London, she has spent every minute of her free time in Rome since meeting her partner, a Roman, in 2001.

Michael Mulryan has just completed his PhD thesis at UCL and has lived in London for seven years. He has taught at Royal Holloway and University College London. Michael specialises in late antique Rome but is interested in ancient and medieval urbanism in general, and the transition between the two. As part of his research he studied at the British School at Rome. Michael thinks London is one of the greatest cities in the world, but thinks the Luftwaffe and post-war architects have a lot to answer for.