Two projects led by lecturers from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski” have been approved for funding in the 2026 calls for proposals organised by the Scientific Research Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science. The project proposals have been classified under the ‘Social Sciences’ research area, with the total value of the approved funding amounting to 163,000 euros.

In the 2026 call for proposals for funding fundamental scientific research, the project ‘Democracy and Digitalisation: Media Freedom, Sustainability and Trust’ has been approved, with a team comprising Prof. Dr Nikolay Mihaylov (principal investigator), Prof. Dr Veselina Vulkanova, Prof. Dr Simeon Vasilev, Senior Assistant Professor Dr Yordan Karapenchev, Dr Yotka Pancheva, Dr Iva Ivanova, and student Petar Zhelev.

The project proposal received a high overall score of 96 points and funding of 140,000 euros. The research focuses on the interrelationships between democratic processes, digitalisation, media freedom, sustainability and trust. Its subject matter reflects the need for an in-depth academic analysis of the transformations in the contemporary media and communications environment and the challenges facing democratic societies.

The project ‘Synthetic Content, Media Authority and Trust in Public Communication: European Regulatory Approaches and Adaptation Processes in the Western Balkan Countries’, led by Senior Assistant Professor Dr Desislava Sotirova, has been approved as part of the 2026 call for funding for fundamental scientific research by early-career researchers and postdoctoral researchers.

The project proposal ranked second in the ‘Social Sciences’ category, with an overall score of 92 points and approved funding of 23,000 euros. The research focuses on the current challenges facing media authority and trust in public communication in the context of the spread of synthetic content, European regulatory approaches and adaptation processes in the Western Balkan countries.

The project team for “Education versus Work in the Digital Age: (A)typical Trajectories of Working Students and Pupils in Contemporary Bulgarian Society,” led by Prof. Svetla Koleva, DSc, and based at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, also includes representatives from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication: Assoc. Prof. DSc. Vyara Angelova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhana Popova, As. Lora Tarkoleva, as well as doctoral students Martina Mateva, Diana Bancheva-Hristozova, and Rosen Tsvetkov.

The successful selection of the projects is a recognition of the research potential of the academic staff at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication and of the significance of the topics they are exploring. This funding creates new opportunities for the development of research activities at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication and for the further advancement of academic research in the fields of media, communications and social processes.

The Faculty congratulates the project leaders and research teams of the projects and wishes them every success in carrying out their forthcoming research!