Four directors of institutes at BAS participated in a press conference to present the first stage of implementation of the “Critical and Strategic Raw Materials for Green Transition and Sustainable Development” National Scientific Program: Prof. Irena Zareva from the Economic Research Institute, Prof. Svetoslav Georgiev, PhD, from the Geological Institute, Prof. Emilia Chengelova, DSc, from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, and Prof. Antoaneta Hristova, PhD, from the Institute for Population and Human Studies. The national program is implemented by 14 institutions, coordinated by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which is represented by eight institutes. The institutes in the “Man and Society” division are participating in Work Package 7: “Assessment of Socio-Economic Impact” within the framework of the program. Key points from the press conference: [...]

On February 13, Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov and Executive Director of Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) Valentin Nikolov visited the Geological Institute of BAS. The meeting was also attended by BAS Vice President Prof. Shtelian Shterionov. During the visit, they discussed Bulgaria's potential for exploring and extracting critical and strategic raw materials as well as energy resources, including through research under the current National Science Program “Critical and Strategic Raw Materials for Green Transition and Sustainable Development.” The main focus of the talks was the detailed study of critical raw materials in the Maritsa East coal basin which is being carried out under a recently concluded tripartite agreement between BEH, Maritsa East Mines EAD, and the Geological Institute of BAS. A key moment of the [...]

The President of BAS, Corr. Memb. Evelina Slavcheva, attended the opening of the “Bulgarian Archaeology 2025” exhibition organized by the National Archaeological Institute with Museum of BAS (NAIM-BAS). The exhibition showcases the most significant discoveries made by Bulgarian archaeologists over the past year and is traditionally held on the eve of Archaeologist's Day which is celebrated on February 14. NAIM Director Prof. Hristo Popov opened the exhibition and presented the exhibits that had been discovered and restored over the past two to three months. He recalled that Archaeologist's Day was first celebrated 55 years ago. “Archaeology is both a science and a craft. I have enormous respect for the people who practice this craft and who develop this wonderful science. I wish everyone to maintain [...]

Assoc. Prof. Vasiliy Chitanov took office as Director of the Central Laboratory of Applied Physics – Plovdiv (CLAP) on January 22 this year. He was elected by the Governing Council of BAS in a competition for director for the period 2026–2030. His research activity is mainly related to the development of technologies and the characterization of the physical and mechanical properties of multicomponent, multilayer, and nanostructured hard coatings obtained by the closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. In his development program for the CLAP, Assoc. Prof. Chitanov will strive to develop the Laboratory in the field of nanotechnologies and nanostructured materials for surface modification, high-efficiency energy elements and emitters, and innovative optical sensors, as well as researching new areas of application for the unit's topics, focused [...]