Valentina Sharlanova is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at BAS. She has a PhD in Ethnology. Her area of research expertise is the traditional spiritual culture of Bulgaria. Assoc. Prof. Valentina Sharlanova is the author of the monographs ‘Folk Meteorology’ (1999), ‘Bulgarian folk measures’ (2001), ‘Mount Athos Minor of Sofia’ (2007), ‘Traditional Bulgarian holidays and customs’ (2011), as well as of a large number of research articles and papers. She also researches into immigrant integration and identity issues in Western European countries.