Prof. Antoaneta Hristova, DSc, has been appointed Director of the Institute for Population and Human Studies at BAS, having built her career at BAS, starting as a research fellow at the Institute of Psychology. She is a political psychologist whose research interests focus on the formation of political image, democratic processes, political discourse, crisis management, decision-making processes and political leadership. She graduated from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” with a degree in psychology and obtained her PhD at the Institute of Psychology at BAS. She undertook specialised studies in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in political psychology at Ohio University, USA, through the ISPP. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal “Psychological Research (in the Balkans)”.
The priorities proposed by Prof. Hristova for the 2026–2030 term can be summarised as follows:
- To combine even more successfully the three key elements of research activity: 1. European and national research priorities in the social sciences, 2. funding, and 3. the research interests of the scholars working at IPHS;
- To improve the success rate of submitted projects through a more focused selection of partners and topics for participation;
- Improving the quality of the papers published in the Proceedings of the School of Social Sciences and preparing them for inclusion in authoritative databases. The future development of the two journals involves the inclusion of “Psychological Research (in the Balkans)” in Scopus and preparing “Population” for the inclusion process;
- Strengthening links with local authorities regarding their need for expertise in demography;
- Increasing media visibility of research findings;
- Continuing the process of improving working conditions.
