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Board and Leadership

In October 2018, a group of members of Rome-based Associazione Luca Coscioni launched Science for Democracy to promote the affirmation of the “right to science” through a dialogue between the scientific community and decision-makers. Anyone who shares its goals can join Science for Democracy – scientists and academics are particularly welcome.

  • Laura Convertino

    President

    Laura Convertino is a PhD candidate in cognitive and theoretical neuroscience at UCL (University College London), awarded by the Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Training Programme for the Ecological study of the Brain. She studied Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pavia, with a parallel diploma in Biological Sciences at IUSS Pavia, and became a qualified MD in 2018. Proud member of Collegio Ghislieri, she had the opportunity to extend her studies in basic research and clinical training in different international leading institutions. She is particularly interested in issues related to minorities’ access to the benefits of science and scientific knowledge, and in promoting freedom of research and the right to science beyond cultural biases.

  • Cesare P.R. Romano

    Secretary General

    Cesare P.R. Romano is Professor of Law and W. Joseph Ford Fellow, at Loyola Law School Los Angeles. He holds a MA (Laurea) in Political Science, University of Milano (1992); D.E.S. (Diplôme des Études Superieures), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva (1995); LL.M., New York University Law School (1997); and PhD (Doctorat), Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva (1999). His expertise is in public international law, and in particular international human rights and international courts and tribunals. Between 1996 and 2006, he created, developed and managed the Project on International Courts and Tribunals (PiCT), a joint undertaking of the Center on International Cooperation, New York University, and the Centre for International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, becoming a world-renown authority in the field. In 2011, Professor Romano founded the International Human Rights Center at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Since then, he has led his students in the litigation of dozens of cases before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and specialized United Nations human rights bodies, including the first individual communication to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights dealing with restrictions on research in human embryos (SC and GP v. Italy, CESCR Comm. 22/2017). As a scholar, Professor Romano is the author of nine books and 62 articles and chapters in edited volumes. Amongst those most relevant for the activities of Science for Democracy, one should mention: Boggio A./ Romano C. /Almqvist J. (eds.), Human Germline Genome Modification and the Right to Science: A Comparative Study of National Laws and Policies, Cambridge University Press, 2020; Romano, C. / Boggio, A., “The Right to Benefit from Progress in Science and Technology”, in The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (MPECCoL), 2020 (forthcoming); Romano, C., “The Origins of the Right to Science: The American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man”, in Porsdam, H., and Porsdam Mann, S. (eds), The Right to Science: Then and Now (CUP 2021); Boggio, A. / Romano, C., “Freedom of Research and the Right to Science. From Theory to Advocacy” in Simona Giordano, Lucio Piccirillo, and John Harris (eds.), The Freedom of Scientific Research: Bridging the Gap between Science and Society, Manchester University Press, 2018, pp. 162-175; Boggio, A./ Knoppers, B. / Almqvist, J. / Romano, C., “The Human Right to Science and the Regulation of Human Germline Engineering”, The CRISPR Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2019, pp. 134-142. Personal website: http://cesareromano.com/

  • Claudia Basta

    Treasurer

    Claudia Basta is a researcher at the Dutch national research institute for the living environment in The Hague. Claudia Basta supports Science for Democracy in identifying and formulating political initiatives lying on the intersection of science, policy-making and society. Her background combines urban sustainability studies (MSc, University of Venice) with European risk governance (PhD, Delft University of Technology) and applied ethics studies (Post-Doc, 4TU Centre of Excellence in Ethics and Technology, Delft). Her main interests gravitate around the ethical theories and normative principles that inform the practices of human welfare and environmental sustainability assessment. Her relevant works are published in Planning Theory and Environmental Impact Assessment Review among other journals. Critical about the hypertrophic production of literature to which early-career scientists are forced to earn any academic positions, she is keen to promote a culture of quality and originality vs. quantity and conformism among PhD students. The ‘politics and policy’ of European research and of its evaluation is thus at the top of her professional interests together with the advancement of value-driven approaches to the assessment of the social impacts of science.

  • Marco Cappato

    Founder and Board Member

    Marco Cappato is the Coordinator of the “World Congress for freedom of scientific Research”, Treasurer of “Luca Coscioni Association”, founder of Eumans. Marco Cappato was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009, and an EP Rapporteur on: “privacy in electronic communication”; “human rights in the world for 2007”; “production of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan”; “public access to EU documents”. He was nominated for the “Politician of the year” award by “Wired” in 2003 and is the winner of the “European of the Year” award organised by “the European voice”.

  • Marco Perduca

    Founder and Board Member

    Marco Perduca, former Italian Senator (2008 to 2013) served on the Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights committees. For 20 years, he has coordinated the activities of the Nonviolent Radical Party at the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Vienna and has organized high-level meetings to abolish the death penalty in Africa and Central Asia. Marco Perduca is an expert on UN mechanisms with an emphasis on drug policy reform. Marco Perduca has collaborated with British law firms and American foundations on ending human rights violations in Italy. His letters and opinions have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and Nature Italy. When in Parliament, he was often a guest on the BBC as a commentator on Italian politics. He has published three books and curated three. He has a blog on HuffingtonPost.it and just published a memoir, Farnesina Radicale. In February 2021 he was appointed Sherpa of the Values 20 Group.

    Julia Mazina

    Project Officer

    Julia Mazina holds an MA in human rights from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Germany and a BA in international business from the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. Her background is in women’s rights, sexual and reproductive health rights, and health research. She wrote her master's thesis on racist and sexist discrimination in the healthcare field, with a focus on maternal health and sexual and reproductive care.

    Megan Mars

    Legal Fellow

    Megan Mars is a legal fellow with Science for Democracy and an attorney based in Colorado. She has a JD from LMU Loyola Law School where she worked at the International Human Rights Center engaging in advocacy efforts for sexual and reproductive health and rights. After law school, she was awarded the Loyola postgraduate public interest fellowship to pursue a project she created. The work she does with Science for Democracy focuses on the right to science and the utilization of human rights systems and mechanisms to hold States accountable for failing to fulfill human rights obligations. She received degrees in Sociology and Political and Governmental Affairs at Centenary University during her undergraduate years and has spent time working at Planned Parenthood and Elephant Circle, among others.