CESNUR is a Center for the Study of New Religions. Every year it organizes in a different venue a conference that brings together religious leaders and academic scholars of religion from around the world, including many world-renowned ones.
One of the keynote speakers of CESNUR 2025 was Ján Figeľ, who served as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism between 2004 and 2009 and as European Commission Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion Outside the EU between 2016 and 2019.
SSAH's Stefano Bigliardi gave a talk on the sensitive topic of racism in a literary and cinematic genre that has inspired several religious movements: "ancient astronauts." Bigliardi spoke about the importance of identifying and criticizing the presence of racist ideas in this genre.
Dr. Bigliardi joined AUI in Fall 2016. He has taught several courses in the History of Ideas on the topic of New Religious Movements.