Scientific and Practical Conference on the Refugees and People Seeking Protection in Bulgaria

On 29 September 2026 Scientific and Practical Conference on the Refugees and People Seeking Protection in Bulgaria was held in the Large Conference Hall of UNWE. It brought together representatives of academia, state institutions, international and non-governmental organizations and experts with practical experience in the fields of migration, international protection and integration.

The Conference was opened by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yanko Hristozov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs, who welcomed the participants and emphasized the importance of the University’s consistent commitment to initiatives supporting refugees and people under temporary and international protection. Natalia Ilieva, Chairperson of the National Legal Aid Bureau, and Dr. Georgy Bogdanov, Executive Director of the National Network for Children, also took part in the opening. The Chairperson of the State Agency for Refugees at Council of Ministers Dimitar Ivanov sent a Greeting Address to the Forum participants.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yanko Hristozov, Natalia Ilieva, Dr. Georgy Bogdanov, Prof. D.Sc./Soc./ Elka Todorova from the UNWE Economic Sociology Department /from the right to the left/

In his welcoming speech Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristozov reminded that in response to the war in Ukraine the University took concrete measures to support Ukrainian students and their families, including providing accommodation in student residences and opportunities for flexible learning. In 2024 the UNWE signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the State Agency for Refugees at Council of Ministers, aimed at joint training, research, internships and initiatives in the field of protection and integration. “The UNWE`s participation in such initiatives is a natural continuation of our aspiration to connect the education and science with real societal challenges and to create sustainable opportunities for integration through education”, emphasized Assoc. Prof. Yanko Hristozov. As a continuation of this commitment he also presented the UNWE’s participation in the international SEED project - Supporting refugees’ Education pathways for Employment and Dignity, implemented under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund /AMIF/. The project is being carried out in Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Bulgaria and aims to create sustainable educational pathways for refugees toward higher education, professional development and social integration.

After the official opening the focus of the Conference shifted to the scientific research and its practical application. Prof. D.Sc./Soc./ Elka Todorova from the UNWE Economic Sociology Department presented the project No. KP-06-N75/15 - Study of Social Attitudes towards Refugees and People Seeking Protection: The Bulgarian Model funded by the Scientific Research Fund at Ministry of Education and Science, while Bella Damyanova from the National Network for Children presented the GUIDE project Support for Legal Representation of Unaccompanied Children.

The project Study of Sociological Attitudes towards Refugees and People Seeking Protection: The Bulgarian Model /KP-06-N75/15/ is focused on public attitudes towards refugees and people seeking protection in Bulgaria and their relationship with the public and media debate. The results of the research team’s work were among the main topics of the Conference and the academic perspective was combined with the practical experience of institutions and organizations working directly in the field of migration, international protection and integration.

A natural continuation of the scientific and practical aspects was the discussion panel entitled The Migration and Asylum Pact: Challenges and Solutions for Bulgaria which brought together experts and representatives of the Ombudsman Institution of the Republic of Bulgaria, the State Agency for Child Protection, the Social Assistance Agency, the Migration Directorate, the General Directorate of Border Police, UNICEF Bulgaria and UNHCR.

The Conference afternoon session continued with the topic Refugees in Bulgaria: Public Attitudes, Media, and Public Debate. Dr. Vasil Pavlov, researcher, part-time lecturer at the UNWE National and Regional Security Department, and a member of the research team, presented the topic of refugees in the media and social media networks, while Prof. D.Sc. /Soc./ Elka Todorova, Head of the research team, introduced the audience to the nationally representative survey of attitudes towards refugees and people seeking protection. The presentations were followed by questions and a discussion with the participants in the Forum.

The Conference concluded with Sharing Circles dedicated to the experience gained from working on the GUIDE project, moderated by Bella Damyanova from the National Network for Children.

The Scientific and Practical Conference on the Refugees and People Seeking Protection in Bulgaria created space for an exchange between teh academic research, the institutional expertise and the practical experience and provided an opportunity for the results of Project No. KP-06-N75/15 of 15 December 2023 - Study of Social Attitudes towards Refugees and People Seeking Protection: The Bulgarian Model to be placed in the context of the current challenges facing policies and practices in the fields of migration, protection and integration.