Alexandra Milanova holds a BA in Southeast European Studies, an MA in International Relations, and a PhD in Modern and Contemporary History from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.” She has pursued additional training in Greece, Türkiye, France, Switzerland, Kenya, and the United States, reflecting a sustained engagement with comparative and international perspectives.

She is currently an Assistant Professor and Scientific Coordinator at the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is also a lecturer at Osaka University and Sofia University, where she teaches cultural diplomacy in contemporary Europe and in the Francophone world. Prior to her academic career, she worked in international project and event management in the private sector.

Alexandra has authored more than 50 scholarly publications, including two monographs, three edited volumes, and three albums. She has also co-curated several exhibitions, which have received great acclaim both in Bulgaria and abroad. Her research interests focus on international relations, cultural and science diplomacy, urban culture, and cultural heritage. Alexandra successfully launched and coordinates several international projects, including “Cultural diplomacy in the Balkans in the 20th and 21st centuries: Achievements, challenges, and the way forward.” She is deeply involved in science communication and cultural diplomacy initiatives in more than 30 countries across five continents. She has been repeatedly awarded for her outstanding achievements in the fields of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Culture.

Alexandra is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a councillor of the Europeana Network Association, and a member of the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU). She is also the first and only representative of Bulgaria in the Global Youth Academy (GYA).

Prof. Roumiana Il. Preshlenova, PhD, Dr.h.c., is Director of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (2018–2026).

She graduated in History (with a specialization in History and Theory of Culture) and German Philology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. She holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary history, Ordre des Palmes académiques de la République française, and Doctor honoris causa award from the Democritus University of Thrace in Komotini. She lectured at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski and the Foreign Studies School of Osaka University (online). Her scholarly interests are in the field of modern history and the contemporary development of the Balkans, international relations, the socialization of cultural heritage, and digital humanities. She specialized in Austria, England, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, France, and the Czech Republic. She is the author of the monographs “On the Paths of Europeanism. Higher Education in Austria-Hungary and the Bulgarians (1879–1918)” (in Bulgarian, 2008) and “Austria-Hungary and the Balkans, 1878–1912” (in Bulgarian, 2017). She is the editor of the collected volumes “Cities in the Balkans: Spaces, Faces, Memories” (2021); “Masks Down! Nationalism in the Balkans in the 20th Century” (in Bulgarian, 2018); “Looking West, Feeling East. Impacts, Values and Loyalties in South-Eastern Europe” (2015); “Öffentlichkeit ohne Tradition. Bulgariens Aufbruch in die Moderne” (with H. Heppner, 2003); “Die Bulgaren und Europa von der Nationalen Wiedergeburt bis zur Gegenwart” (with H. Heppner, 1999), and others. She translated from German into Bulgarian the collective monograph “Geschichte Südosteuropas. Vom frühen Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart” (2024). She is also the author of over 100 studies, articles, and reviews, as well as a co-author of five poster and three digital exhibitions. She participated in more than 30 research projects and programs, leading 11 of them. She has presented papers at over 80 international forums in Bulgaria, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Romania, the USA, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.

Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu is a Romanian historian, diplomat, and professor of modern and contemporary history at the University of Bucharest. He holds a PhD in History from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași and pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. He began his academic career at the University of Iași and subsequently held teaching and research positions at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest, the NATO School in Oberammergau, the George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies in Germany, and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, where he has been a lecturing professor since 2018. That same year, he was also appointed senior research fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna. Since 2020, he has been a lecturer at the Research & Development Centre on Law and Society (CEDIS) at the Faculty of Law of NOVA University Lisbon. Since 2019, he has been a senior research fellow and project leader at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) in Vienna. He teaches courses and delivers lectures at universities and academic institutions around the world. In 2012, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Pécs, Hungary.

His academic research and teaching focus on modern and contemporary European history, international relations, Romanian and Eastern European history, security and strategic studies, as well as questions of identity, nationalism, and state formation. He is the author and editor of numerous scholarly works addressing Romanian and European history and the political, cultural, and social dynamics of the region.

Alongside his academic career, Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu has extensive experience in diplomacy and regional cooperation in Southeast Europe. He has held several senior positions within the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Regional Envoy and National Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, as well as Deputy Coordinator of the South-East European Cooperation Initiative (SECI) in Vienna. He subsequently served as Romania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004–2007) and Prime Minister (2012). He also served as Director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service on two occasions, from 2007 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2016.

Assoc. Prof. Albena Taneva, PhD, is the Head of the Department of Public Administration at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She holds a Master's degree in Sociology and a PhD in Political Science from Sofia University, with a doctoral dissertation titled “Leadership Social Model: The Case of the Rescue of Bulgarian Jews in Political Discourse.” She has specialized in the United States and the Netherlands on topics related to leadership, political science, public management, and civic engagement.

Her academic and research work focuses on leadership as a social phenomenon, its applied methodology and digital transformation, the role of civil society in liberal democracy, and memory policies in contemporary Bulgaria. She has extensive experience in conducting empirical, documentary-historical, and expert research. Assoc. Prof. Taneva actively teaches, publishes, and conducts specialized training sessions in the fields of public management, leadership, civil society, and political perspectives on the Holocaust.

In the field of cultural diplomacy and historical memory policies, she is the author of the global exhibition “The Power of Civil Society”, which has been presented in over 90 countries. Since 2014, Assoc. Prof. Taneva has been a member of the Bulgarian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and a representative in its Academic Working Group. As an established lecturer on the fate of Jews in Bulgaria during World War II, she is a two-time recipient of the prestigious “Shofar” Award (2017 and 2022, following a first nomination in 2010) for her contributions to the fight against antisemitism, xenophobia, and hate speech.

A graduate of the University of Chicago (BA, 1996) and Columbia University in New York (PhD, 2006), Benjamin G. Martin is a senior lecturer in the Department of History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is currently at work on a book manuscript tentatively entitled “Defining Culture, Debating World Order: An International History of the Culture Concept, 1935–1990.” Earlier publications include his 2016 book “The Nazi-Fascist New Order for European Culture” (Harvard University Press), as well as articles in Contemporary European History, International Politics, and International History Review. More about his work can be found at www.benjamingmartin.com.

Boris Stoyanov was born in Sofia in 1976. He graduated from the National High School of Ancient Languages and Cultures, specializing in Latin and Roman Culture, and obtained his degree in History from Sofia University, with a specialization in Contemporary History and a profile in Arab Studies. He received his PhD in History in 2006 and has been a full-time lecturer since 2007. In 2022, he was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Faculty of History of Sofia University.

Boris is the author of the monograph Europe before Europe: The Projects for a Third Force, a European Federation and a United States of Europe and Their Fate, 1945–1949 (Sofia University Press, 2022), as well as more than twenty scholarly studies and articles on the history of European integration, U.S. foreign policy, and the Cold War. He is also a co-author of History and Civilization textbooks for 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th grades.

His research and teaching interests include Modern European history, the history of European integration, international relations in the first half of the twentieth century, political ideas and systems, the social and economic development of the Atlantic world after 1945, Cold War history, and civic education. He teaches undergraduate and specialized courses on these subjects to students from several faculties at Sofia University. From 2008 to 2025, he served successively as Administrative Secretary and Head of the Master’s Programme "Crises, Conflicts and Diplomacy in World Politics" at the Faculty of History.

Boris has undertaken academic specializations and delivered lectures on Contemporary History at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (Sofia), Jindal Global University (New Delhi), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Humboldt University of Berlin, and other institutions.

He has participated in a number of major European- and nationally funded research and educational projects, including MODERN-A: Modernization through Partnership via the Digitalization of the Academic Ecosystem; EURASIA: European Studies Revitalized across Asian Universities; “Alma Mater” University Humanities Complex; Collegium Historicum; SUDigital; Dialogue Europe Institute for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Research, etc.

Assoc. Prof. Georgi Yordanov Peev, PhD, graduated in History from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 1986, after which he began working at the State Historical Archives. In 1989, he became a doctoral student at the Institute of History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), where in 2001 he successfully defended his dissertation and was awarded a PhD in History.

In 1994, he obtained a DEA (Diplôme d’études approfondies) from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris, after which he pursued doctoral studies at the École pratique des hautes études – La Sorbonne. From 1997 to 2001, he served as an Adviser to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria. Since 2001, he has been a full-time faculty member at New Bulgarian University.

He is the author of more than 50 scholarly articles and studies in the field of history. His works have been published in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Austria, Türkiye, Russia, Greece, and Lebanon.

Fabien Bellat holds a PhD in Art History from Paris Nanterre University (Paris-X). He has taught at architecture schools in France, including those in Lille and Versailles, as well as in Canada and Russia.

He was an Associate Professor at the Paris-Val de Seine National School of Architecture, where he continues to work as a researcher at EVCAU (EnVironnements numériques, Cultures Architecturales et Urbaines / Digital Environments, Architectural and Urban Cultures).

His research on Stalinist parks led to his participation in the scientific team of the André Le Nôtre exhibition at the Palace of Versailles. His scholarly work includes the essays “Americas–USSR: Architectures of Challenge” (“Amériques URSS : Architectures du défi”) and “A New Town in the USSR: Togliatti” (“Une ville neuve en URSS : Togliatti”). Fabien also curated an exhibition devoted to Togliatti, which was presented at the Shchusev Museum in Moscow and at the Paris-Val de Seine School of Architecture.

His most recent publications are the monographs “French 20th-Century Embassies” (“Ambassades Françaises du XXe siècle”) and “Soviet Architecture: In Bishkek, the Capital of Kyrgyzstan” (“Architectures soviétiques : A Bichkek, capitale du Kirghizstan”). His current research focuses, among other topics, on the future reconstruction of Ukraine and the architectural and urban challenges it entails.

Fabien has participated in numerous international symposia, conferences, and academic events at leading academic and professional institutions such as Sorbonne University in France, Princeton University in the United States, Moscow State University in Russia, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Charlotte Faucher is a Senior Lecturer in Modern French History at the University of Bristol and a University Research Fellow (2026-2027). Her research focuses on international cultural policy in contemporary Europe. She is the author of “Propaganda, Gender and Cultural Power” (Oxford University Press, 2022), and the co-editor of “Soft Power Beyond the Nation” (Georgetown University Press, 2024) and “Histoire(s) de la diplomatie culturelle française: du rayonnement à l'influence” (Editions de l'Attribut, 2024).

Victoria Lekova holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Her academic interests and analyses are focused on cultural and academic diplomacy on the Bulgarian–French axis. She has specialised in Romania, France and Poland, and has participated in various research projects. Victoria is currently a researcher at the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Alongside her academic work, she is also a writer and a traveller.