Carole M. Cusack is professor of religious studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. Trained as a medievalist, Cusack has taught about contemporary religious trends, publishing on pilgrimage and tourism, modern pagan religions, new religious movements, the interface between religion and politics, and religion and popular culture since the 1990s.

Stephen Gregg is senior lecturer in religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton and the honorable secretary of the British Association for the Study of Religions. His background is in 19th-century Hindu philosophy, but in recent years he has specialized in minority religious movements. Contact via the University of Wolverhampton’s experts portal.

George D. Chryssides is a visiting research fellow in theology and religious studies, York St. John University, U.K. His research has focused on New Religious Movements, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was formerly head of religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton.

Edham Reza Shah is joint managing partner at Abdul Rahman and Partners in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is a leading consultant and practitioner in banking and Islamic finance and takaful matters.

Mathew J. Guest is a sociologist of religion and head of the department of theology and religion at Durham University in the U.K. A pacifist and Quaker, he wrote the book Neoliberal Religion: Faith and Power in the 21st Century.     

Fred Krüger is full professor of geography at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen/Nuremberg, Germany. His research and teaching interests focus on development geography and on urban studies, including linkages between culture(s) and risk, with a focus on vulnerability, livelihood security, and disaster prevention and preparedness.

Lisa Schipper is an environmental social science research fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on what causes people to be vulnerable to climate change in developing countries, and the barriers and enablers for people to adapt to the changes in climate.

Jeanet Bentzen is associate professor in the department of economics at the University of Copenhagen. Bentzen’s research focuses on economic approaches to decision-making and culture and includes topics related to religion, institutions, economic growth, economic history and geographic confounders.

Philip Almond is emeritus professor of religious studies at the University of Queensland and is deputy director of the Centre for the History of European Discourses. He has written on religious reactions to natural disasters in European history.