,

Aoife Beville

Aoife Beville is a post-doctoral researcher in English Linguistics at the University of Naples L’Orientale. Her main research interests include: pragmatics; stylistics; language and deception.

She has been involved with IFES (GBU) since her time as a student leader in Ireland and Italy. After her Erasmus she moved to Italy to serve with IFES InterAction, and never left! Now as a lecturer she is pleased to support and help students. She began to serve on the board in 2024.

With her husband Luca, who she met through the GBU, she is a member of the Chiesa Evangelica Neapolis in Naples city centre.

,

Luca Abatini

Born in 1987 in Genzano di Roma. He starts participating in the life of GBU Roma as a student and then student leader from 2011 to 2016, when he graduates from the University of Roma Tor Vergata in Electronic Physics.
He was raised in an Evangelical environment and decided to follow Christ as a teenager. He is now an active member of the “Alfa Omega Christian Church” and is involved in the worship ministry.
In 2017 he started working for an important Informatic Consultant Company and now lives between Pavia and Milano.
He always remained connected to the GBU movement and since 2018 he is on the board.
,

Barbara Buccinnà

Born in Rivoli in 1977, Barbara lives in Turin with her husband Mario and their two children. Barbara and her family attend the Azione Biblica church in Turin.

Having graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology and completed a PhD in Biochemistry and Cellular Biotechnology, Barbara works in the research laboratory of the Department of Oncology at the University of Turin.

Barbara was part of GBU whilst studying at university and has been a member of the National Board since 2014.

,

Carmelo Nei

He was born in Ragusa in 1987 and lived in Sicily until 2011. On that year, he moved to Siena to finish his studies in Economics and Managements. In Siena, he regularly attended activities of the local GBU and when he attended the Oxford Brookes University, he joined the activities organized by the English UCCF (Oxford Brookes CU).

His faith journey started in Vittoria, the city where he came from, where he accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour at the age of 18. The following places where he travelled for study and work have been fundamental for his spiritual growth and helped him understand the importance of sharing the Gospel among students. At the beginning of 2015, he starts to work in a software company as a costumer adviser, first in the management control area in Catania and, more recently, in the economic accounting of the branch in Bologna.

He started to work on GBU Board in 2015. For him this was a wish come true, since he has always wanted to be part of the organizations as a former student.

,

Emanuela Busatto

Emanuela was born in Alessandria in 1967, where she lived until 1999, the year she married Emanuele. They now live in Alpignano, near the city of Turin, and attend “Il Faro” church in Avigliana, together with their little daughter Alessandra.

Emanuela works as a nurse in the operating room at the Istituto per la Ricerca e la Cura del Cancro del Piemonte (Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Piedmont) in Candiolo, near Turin.

It’s impossible to pinpoint an exact moment in which she gave her life to Christ and likewise regarding her involvement in the GBU. Instead, it has been a journey characterised by growth and God-guided decisions, with the help and support of many friends she has met through GBU.

,

Davide Maglie

Davide is from the Italian region of Puglia, where he was born in 1970, but has spent more than half his life in Rome and so he also feels Roman by adoption.

His degree program involved the study of the relationship between faith, religion and culture from anethno-anthropological perspective. During his university years, Davide began to serve the GBU in Rome, subsequently becoming a Staff Worker and working with the GBU group at La Sapienza whilst overseeing the running of the Sala di Lettura GBU (the GBU Reading Room).

He has been part of the National Board since 2010, succeeding Giorgio Borla as Chairman in 2015.

Davide works for a multinational organization that produces medical and surgical equipment and software for the treatment of patients affected by neurological and heart diseases or other critical conditions. His job has made him more sensitive to people in this condition and expose him daily to pain and suffering and the treatments available.