STI organizes and sponsors experts meetings of some dozen scholars from a variety of disciplines to study and debate specific issues of current social significance. The conferences are held over a two-and-a-half day period at any one of a number of prestigious universities around the world. They are developed under the oversight of an Academic Leader – a professor expert in the field under consideration. The Academic Leader defines the topic to be studied, poses the principal inquiries, identifies and invites the best thinkers on the issue – representing different disciplines and nationalities, directs contributions, leads discussion and oversees the resulting publication.