Prof. Ilona Tomova graduated Philosophy and Sociology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 1978 and defended her doctoral dissertation (1984). She specialized at the Institute of Cultural anthropology “Max Plack” - Halle,Yale University, Institute for Advanced study “Collegium Budapest”, Institute for Culture – Essen, and University of Monreal. She was the chairman of the scientific council of the Institute for Population Studies and Human at BAS. From September 1990 to January 1997 she was a senior expert on Ethnic and religious affairs in the office of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. From March 1997 to March 2009 she was a senior fellow and Deputy Director (2004-2007) at the Institute of Sociology. She has 3 monographs and 47 scientific papers and articles, 16 of them were published in international scientific journals (in Germany, Britain, Canada, USA, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Estonia, Hungary, Russia). She also participates as a leader and a member in more than 40 sociological studies and projects, twelve of which are international.