On March 31, 2023, in Meeting Hall No. 1 of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" an awarding ceremony was held for the candidates who received funding within the second competition session "Small research grants in support of local communities" ("Community Research Awards"). The competition was held entirely remotely as a key activity of the international UniverCity project, in which Sofia University is "St. Kliment Ohridski" is a leading partner of organizations from Romania, Italy and Bulgaria.
Prof. Dr. Albena Vutsova presented the UniverCity project, supported by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union under contract No. 2020-1-BG01-KA203-079271-KA203-HE-33-15.10.2020, the upcoming steps and the sustainability perspectives of the initiative Community Research Awards. She pointed out that additional funding has already been secured, which shows the possibilities for developing the idea and turning it into a regular competition.
The Rector of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Prof. Anastas Gerdzhikov personally congratulated the participants. He shared that he is monitoring the development of the UniverCity project and the approach of the Community Research Awards and is pleased with the constant upgrading of the activities started a few years ago.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgi Valchev, Deputy Rector of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and head of the UniverCity project, spoke in more detail about the possibilities for new partnerships of the Community Research Awards initiative with local authorities, as well as in the search for contact points between the science and the private sector.
The ceremony ended with the awarding of certificates to those funded within the framework of this competition. Dr. Nikolay Yanev encouraged the representatives of the award-winning projects to briefly acquaint the attendees with their ideas and the activities they are about to carry out, as well as with their significance for the development of local communities. At the end of the event, short video presentations of the Community Research Awards funded initiatives were also recorded.
