Prof. DSc Pepka Boyadjieva
Project LeaderPepka Boyadjieva is Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Honorary Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Nottingham. She is a member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Lifelong Education, Journal of Social Science Education, and of the Bulgarian journal Sociological problems. Boyadjieva was awarded the Andrew Mellon Fellowship twice – at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Edinburgh in 1999 and at the American Academy in Rome in 2003. In 2007 she was selected for Fulbright’s New Century Scholar Program. “Higher Education in the 21st Century: Access and Equity”. Her research interests are in the field of education with an emphasis on higher education, university development, educational inequalities and social justice, school to work transitions and lifelong learning. Currently, Boyadjieva is a member of the Network of Experts on the Social Aspects of Education and Training (NESET 2019-22) and principal investigator in the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” (2020-2024).
Prof. DSc Svetla Koleva
Team MemberSvetla Koleva is Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Brill’s Post-Western Social Sciences and Global Knowledge Series, Algerian Scientific Journal Platform, the Bulgarian academic journal Sociological Problems, and the Journal of the Quebec Political Science Society Politique et Sociétés. She has been a visiting professor in France, Canada, and Switzerland. Koleva was awarded the French Government Fellowship (1993-1994), the European Communities’ Commission Fellowship (1994), the Soros Foundation Fellowship, Prague (1999-2000), the Advanced Academia Fellowship of Center for Advanced Study, Sofia (2012-2013), the Foundation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Fellowship, Paris (2013), and the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship (2018-2019). Her research interests are in the fields of history of sociology, epistemology of social sciences, sociology of knowledge, and political sociology (new forms of civic action). Currently, Koleva is a senior researcher in project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” (2020-2024).
Assist. Prof. Dr. Petya Ilieva-Trichkova
Team MemberPetya Ilieva-Trichkova is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. In the period 2010 and 2014, she has been working as an early stage researcher in the Center for Public Policy Studies in Poznan in the EU funded Marie Curie ITN programme ‘Education as Welfare: Enhancing opportunities for socially vulnerable youth in Europe’ (EduWel). She has participated in several European and national projects in the field of education, lifelong learning and social justice. She has coordinated the project: “Social inequalities in education, human capital and opportunities for individual development: theoretical and methodological aspects” funded by the Programme for support of young researchers and doctoral students in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – 2017 (2017-2019) and has worked as a researcher in the Horizon’s 2020 project “ENLIVEN” (2016-2019). Her research interests include educational inequalities, social justice, higher education, adult education, and graduate employability. Currently, Ilieva-Trichkova is a post-doc in the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” (2020-2024).
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaloyan Haralampiev
Team MemberKaloyan Haralampiev is Associated Professor at the “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Bulgarian journals Statistics and Vanguard Scientific Instruments in Management. He was Chair of the Association for Social Investigations and Applied Research Practices (2009-2015). His research interests are in the fields of Bayesian statistics, demography and statistical software. His latest research projects and publications refer to creation of indexes – the first one is an index for expert evaluation of the rotating presidencies of the EU Council based on the Bulgarian case and the second one is urban development index. Currently, Haralampiev is a senior researcher in the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” (2020-2024).
Assist. Prof. Dr. Alexander Gerganov
Team MemberAlexander Gerganov is an Assistant professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria. He focuses on methodology, statistical analysis in social research and mathematical modelling of big data and complex processes in the social sciences. He has participated in many multidisciplinary international research projects since 2005 and has developed different innovative instruments for monitoring and assessment of anti-corruption policies, state capture and others. His research interests are in the fields of statistical analysis, data modeling, corruption measurement, adult education. Currently, Gerganov is a senior researcher in project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” (2020-2024).
Prof. DSc Rumiana Stoilova
Team MemberRumiana Stoilova is Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is former Director of the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (2010-2018). Prof. Stoilova is Chair of the Bulgarian Sociological Association (since 2018), Research Associate at Martens Centre for European Studies and Board Member of the Bulgarian Center of Women in Technology (since 2012). She was the Bulgarian team leader of the project “Social disparities and regional differences in school-to-work transitions in Bulgaria” (2012-2015), funded by the Swiss National Scientific Fond; and of the project“Negotiating early job-insecurity and labour market exclusion in Europe”, Horizon 2020 (2015-2018). She was member of the consortium of the project “Encouraging Lifelong Learning for an Inclusive and Vibrant Europe”, funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 (2016-2019). Her research interests are in the fields of stratification, inequalities and gender studies. Stoilova has written two monographs: Gender and Stratification (2012) and Inequalities and Community Integration (2001) and more than 90 articles.
Assist. Dr. Vesselina Kachakova
Team MemberVesselina Kachakova is Assistant at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Medicine and Organization of Health and Pharmacy from the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria. During the period 2007-2015 she has been working as a monitoring and evaluation assistant and a municipal program manager in the programs for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis at the Ministry of Health, funded by the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In 2016-2018, she has finished the Teacher Training Program of ‘Teach for Bulgaria’ Foundation with 2 years experience as a teacher. Her research interests are in the fields of sociology of education, social innovations, educational inequalities, civic education and social justice. Currently, Kachakova is a post-doc in the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective”.
Dr. Svetlomir Zdravkov
Team MemberSvetlomir Zdravkov holds a PhD in Sociology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In the period 2017 and 2020 he has been working as qualitative and quantitative researcher in the Research Center for Social Studies (Sofia University) research “Educational Inequalities and Social Chances – Strategic Goals of the Reform of Bulgarian Secondary Education and Practical Results”, funded by The Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF). He has participated in many multidisciplinary research projects as researcher and project coordinator and has developed different innovative instruments for big data analysis and statistical automation. His interests are in the field of educational inequalities, digital inequalities, internet and educational inequalities, knowledge economy and technological innovations, big data research. Currently, Zdravkov is a post-doc in the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective”.
Ralitsa Dimitrova
Team MemberRalitsa Dimitrova is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She holds a Master’s degree in Statistics and Econometrics and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She has worked as a sociologist since 2013, working with both qualitative and quantitative methods in research in education, vulnerability, poverty, civic rights and access to social care and healthcare. She has been part of the team developing and executing the Bulgarian University Ranking System and has been a recipient of the European, Russian and Eurasian Studies Scholarship grant from Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. Her interests are in researching education and educational policies, vulnerable communities, policy decision making and evaluation.
Raya Mihaylova
Team MemberRaya Mihaylova is a PhD student in Sociology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In the past 5 years she has worked as a research expert, educational researcher and evaluator in different multidisciplinary research projects and evaluations, among which evaluations for UNICEF and various Bulgarian and international NGOs, therefore she has in-depth experience in conducting sociological studies on a variety of themes. She is experienced in working with qualitative and quantitative data. Her interests are in the field of educational inequalities, digital educational technologies, inclusive education, social policy.
Asen Dimitrov
Team MemberAsen Dimitrov is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Dimitrov holds an MA in Comparative Education from the UCL Institute of Education, London, UK, and a double BA in Political Science and Journalism and Mass Communication from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. His professional experience to date includes work in higher education management as well as a period of teaching social sciences in secondary education. Dimitrov’s academic research and teaching interests focus on topics in the sociology and philosophy of higher education, including issues of equality in access to higher education, higher education governance and management, the academic profession, and academic freedom.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Raia Apostolova
Team MemberRaia Apostolova is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the Central European University, Budapest. Her academic interests are in the fields of international migration, labour, socialist political theory, and sociology of knowledge. Apostolova’s current research is dedicated to the understanding of the formation and the dissolution of socialist migration regimes. Raia Apostolova was a stipend-holder of the program “Young scientists and postdoctoral researchers” at the Ministry of Education and Science between 2020-2021 and a researcher for the project “Dynamics of inequalities in participation in higher and adult education: A comparative social justice perspective” between 2021-2022. Among her latest articles are: Apostolova, R. (2021). The Re(production) of Restless Bodies: Freedom of Movement and Social Reproduction. International Migration, 59(5), 166-179 and Apostolova, R. (2021). Towards a Critical Sociology of the “Demographic Crisis.” Sociological Problems, 53(2), 514-537.