The Fourth Interdisciplinary Doctoral Students Forum with International Participation was held from 16 to 19 May 2023 at the Spartak Hotel in Sandanski. The event was organised by the Training Center (TC) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Career Center of TC.

The Forum was officially opened by Prof. Julian Revalski, President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Full Member of BAS and Prof. Dr. Evdokiya Pasheva, Vice President of BAS and Director of the Training Centre – BAS.

For the first time, the traditional event of the Training Center – BAS brought together young scientists and lecturers from both home and abroad to exchange scientific ideas. In an atmosphere of scientific creativity over 90 PhD students from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy and Croatia shared the scientific problems they are working on, made new useful contacts and enjoyed the sunny and beautiful city of Sandanski.

The presentations in the fields of biomedicine, social sciences, technology transfer in business and communication of scientific knowledge presented by guest speakers from Bulgaria, USA, Lebanon, Belgium and the Netherlands were also inspiring.

Traditionally, at the end of this interdisciplinary forum, the best developments of the participants were awarded. Corresponding Member Evdokiya Pasheva, PhD, awarded diplomas to eleven participants with papers and nine participants with posters whose presentations were the most highly evaluated by the scientific jury, as follows:

Awarded participants with papers:

Ivaylo Georgiev, Institute of Robotics – BAS

Borislava Borisova, Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering – BAS

Vladislava Dishliyska, Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology – BAS

Eva Marinovska, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Ivo Hinov, Institute for State and Law – BAS

Iliya Elias, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Ina Anastasova, Institute of Polymers – BAS

Maria Pashinska-Gadzheva, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics – BAS

Nikola Ralchev, “Stephan Angeloff” Institute of Microbiology – BAS

Svenja Simon, University of Saarland, Germany

Stiliyana Stoyanova, Institute of Mechanics – BAS

Awarded participants with posters:

Veselina Chakarova, “Acad. Rostislaw Kaischew” Institute of Physical Chemistry – BAS

Dante Maria Aceti, Institute of Electronics – BAS

Irnik Dionisiev, “Acad. Jordan Malinowski” Institute of Optical Materials and Technologies – BAS

Ivan Tourtourikov, Medical University – Sofia

Kostadin Andonov, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research – BAS

Lazar Lazarov, Institute of Molecular Biology “Acad. Roumen Tsanev” – BAS

Liliya Angelova, Institute of Electronics – BAS

Mihaela Hristova, Forest Research Institute – BAS

Rosica Pehlivanova, Institute of Oceanology – BAS

The participants in the forum shared their professional and personal satisfaction with the event and pointed out that they were looking forward to the next interdisciplinary forums organised by the Training Center – BAS for PhD students and also for post-docs.