Scientific Committee

Susan J. Palmer is a researcher, sociologist and writer in the area of new religious movements (popularly known as "cults"). She received her Ph.D. from Concordia University where she is an Affiliate Professor and Part-time Instructor and teaches courses, including "Cults and Religious Controversy." She is also a Member of the Religious Studies Faculty at McGill University. Her research area has always been in the field of New Religious Movements. Some of her books focus on themes in new religious studies, such as charisma, gender and family, millennialism, healing, anticult movement.

He is full professor at the University of Turin and a member of the Sociology of Religion section of the Italian Association of Sociology. He also works in cooperation with the School of Theology and the Rebaudengo University in Turin.

Since 2005 he is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Review "Studi di Sociologia" (Sociology Studies) published by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Since 1992 Prof. Berzano is the President of the CESNUR, Center for the Studies on New Religions based in Turin.

Since 2000 she is a researcher of ecclesiastical law and canon law at the University of Naples Federico II, confirmed on 2 November 2003.

Since 2012 she is Professor of Ecclesiastical Law and Ecclesiastical and Non-Profit Entities at the Degree Course, Master and Specialist, in Social Services, Department of Political Science, University Federico II, Naples.

She is an Attorney and member of the Paris Bar in France. She has a degree in public law from La Sorbonne University and specializes in international human rights law. She has defended the rights of minorities of religion or belief in domestic and international fora and before international institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Union and the United Nations.

Teacher of History of Religions and Cultural Anthropology at Urbino University, and teacher of Science of Religions at the Pastoral Liturgy Institute of S. Giustina, Padova. He taught also at the Catholic University of Milano.

He is a Catholic priest and is considered as one of the top experts on new religions in Europe. He wrote lot of essays and books on the subject of religion, and articles about the ongoing process of “secularization” in Europe.

He graduated in Law and specialized with honors in Criminal Law and Criminology at the La Sapienza University of Rome, he has worked at important motorway companies as manager of contracts and has also published four books in this field.

Journalist since 1996, he has collaborated on the "Encyclopedia of religions in Italy" (by Introvigne, Zoccatelli, Ippolito Macrina and Roldan), 2001.

Recently, as a columnist for an online magazine, he has published numerous articles on current affairs and legal information.

Orientalist and Turcologist. Speaker at international conferences in Turkey, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Since December 2012, Honorary Professor at the University M. Tynyshpayev of Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Rosita Šorytė was born on September 2, 1965 in Lithuania. In 1988, she graduated from the University of Vilnius in French Language and Literature. In 1994, she got her diploma in international relations from the Institut International d‘Administration Publique in Paris.