Bulgaria joined the European Researchers’ Night (27 September) for the 13^th consecutive year. What was new this year was that it involved more researchers in various spheres – from outer space to microbiology and the nanotechnologies of the future.

Events were held in over 50 towns and villages, among them Blagoevgrad, Bourgas, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Gabrovo, Dolna Mitropolia, Pleven etc. Being European Capital of Culture for 2019, Plovdiv played host to a number of events in which scientific knowledge interwoven with the cultural development of any nation. There were some unorthodox locations which, for the first time this year, played host to the European Researchers’ Night initiatives, like the Academic research ship, the Septemvri-Velingrad narrow-gauge railway line and the only research mini-sub in Bulgaria.

“Every year, on the last Friday of September we meet to mark European Researchers’ Night. Scientists deserve our attention because they work all the time. They are the people who are truly the role models of society,” says Lyubov Kostova, director of the British Council, Bulgaria. “All big goals the human race has set itself are part of the work scientists do every day. They all make their own contribution to the progress we make. Researchers in Bulgaria are part of this international process. We ought to be proud to know these researchers. It is not very often they come out and present their work to us though they themselves do not realize how interesting it is to the public.

So what have we done since last year in our Researchers’ Night? We have added to the locations where the events take place. In Sofia there are now 20 locations, and throughout the country – 50 locations in 13 towns and villages. We met the passengers on the narrow-gauge railway line which started out on Saturday from Septemvri railway station to Velingrad with scientists who explained all sorts of interesting things, such as, for example, about the bacteria which help sauerkraut ferment, or the scientists explaining the technologies of the future.”

Lyubov Kostova adds that the location of the research centres where there work Bulgarian researchers does not matter in the least because mobility of knowledge and of technologies in the world of today is now something quite natural.

“And the best thing is that Bulgarian scientists are entering into international agreements, working on international projects more and more often and presenting their work to the public,” she says.

Assoc. Prof. Rositsa Miteva from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research and Technologies Institute also took part in this year’s Researchers’ Night. Together with her coworkers from the Institute of Astronomy, she presented photographs from an expedition in Chile, where there was a solar eclipse on 2 July this year.

“There we watched the phenomenon from the Atacama desert for about two minutes. There will be an eclipse like this in Bulgaria in 70-80 years’ time, “ Dr. Miteva says. “These are unique phenomena which provide scientists with physical information, they are more than a spectacular sight. Because we study cosmic phenomena so that they can be of use to us here on Earth. It is my personal opinion that we all have a role to play in tackling global threats. We should all take an interest in the facts that have the most powerful effect on warming and climate change. As it turns out it is not just greenhouse gases that are affecting the climate because, surprising as it may be to some, the agro-industry and stockbreeding are also a source of pollution.”