Team
Plamen Mitev, Prof. PhD – Executive Director
Plamen Mitev is a Professor in Bulgarian history at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of History. His research expertise and academic publications treat a broad specter of research topics, related to the economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire during 18 and 19 centuries; different aspects of the history of the Bulgarian Renaissance and the development of the Bulgarian political question; the Eastern question and the role of the Bulgarians; the creation of the diplomatic missions and foreign propaganda in the Balkans, etc. Prof. Mitev was coordinator and participant in various scientific projects, funded by the Scientific Research Fund, Ministry of Education and Science, Bulgaria. His commitment to the activities of the Center for Regional Studies and Analyses dates from the beginning of the Center in 2014, when as a Dean of the Faculty of History he hailed the idea and actively supported it. Nowadays prof. Mitev is the managing director of the Center for Regional Studies and Analyses. Publications
Ivan Parvev, Prof. Dr. Habil. – Academic Director
Ivan Parvev is a Professor of Modern Balkan History at the Faculty of History of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". His research interests include studying European-Ottoman political relations (16th-18th century), the Balkans and the Eastern Question (17th-20th century), Habsburg-Ottoman Relations (18-20 century), the interrelations between Central Europe and the Balkans in the Early Modern period, and some aspects of international relations theory. Prof. Parvev participates in research projects funded by the Ministry of Education and Science. He was the head of the "Regional Program" at the University Complex of Humanities "Alma Mater" of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and served as the President of the Bulgarian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2009-2013). Prof. Parvev is one of the initiators of the establishment of the Centre for Regional Studies and Analyses. Publications
Grigor Boykov, Phd – Researcher
Grigor Boykov holds a PhD in Ottoman history from the Bileknt University, Ankara. His research interests and publications treat the various aspects of the social, demographic, urban and architectural history of Bulgaria and the Balkans during the Ottoman period. Boykov has been a researcher in Center for Regional Studies and Analyses since its establishment in early 2014. He is lecturing courses on the history of the Ottoman Empire and its presence on the Balkans, problems of the minorities in the region, spreading of Islam throughout the Balkans and the history of the Muslim communities in the BA and MA programs of the Faculty of History, Sofia University. Grigor Boykov has an underlined interest in digital humanities and participates in several digital projects like Historic and Geographic Informational System of Southeast Europe; Zografski Digital Archive at Sofia University; the platform – incubator of digital initiatives in the field of Ottoman history Open Ottoman; Gazetteer of Ottoman Bulgaria (GOB), etc.
Maria Kiprovska – Researcher
Maria Kiprovska has been a researcher at the Center for Regional Studies and Analyses since its establishment in early 2014. She is an expert in Ottoman history and her research interest is directed towards the processes of establishment of state structure of the early Ottoman Empire, as well as towards the role of the Ottoman and Balkan military elites in Ottoman expansion policy. Kiprovska also has an interest in studying the Ottoman architectural heritage as a means of expressing political power and mastering the space. In the focus of her previous publications are different aspects from the Ottoman social and political history. She has participated in various international and national research projects and has received prestigious scholarships in the field of Ottoman studies, including the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at ARIT and the Junior Residential Fellowship at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations in Istanbul.
Petar Stoilov - Researcher
Petar Stoilov is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of History of Sofia University. Kliment Ohridski", Department of History of Bulgaria with the dissertation topic "Relations between Bulgaria and Israel (1948-1990)". He was among the first graduates of the interdisciplinary program "Hebrew Studies", which deals with the study of Jewish society, history, and philosophy. His research interests include the history of the State of Israel and the Middle East conflict, Israeli-Bulgarian relations, Israeli politics in the Balkans, and geopolitics in the Asia Minor-Black Sea region. Petar Stoilov did postgraduate research at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a has a master’s degree in regional studies and analysis from St. Kliment Ohridski University. He speaks English, German, Russian, and Hebrew. He participates in national and international research projects. Publications
Nina Georgieva - Researcher
Nina Georgieva is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of History of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and a Research Fellow at the Center for Regional Studies and Analyses. Her dissertation explores the role of the Ottoman past in the Balkan politics of the Republic of Turkey between 1989 and 2019. Her academic interests focus on the history, foreign policy and transformations of the political system of the Republic of Turkey and their regional and global implications.
Collaborators of the Center for Regional Studies and Analyses
Hristo Hristozov, PhD
Hristo Hristozov defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of History of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski "in May 2017. His research interests are focused on the Ottoman social and economic history and the history of the environment. In his doctorate, he analyzes the interaction between environmental change and social transformations in the Rhodope Mountains in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Hristozov specialized in Leibniz Center Modern Orient, Berlin and was a Fellow of the American Research Center in Sofia and of the Sofia University's Center of Excellence in the Humanities "Alma Mater".
Georgi Burnaski
Georgi Burnaski has been a junior researcher in CRIA since mid-2014. He is also a PhD student at Sofia University, Faculty of History. His research work is concentrated on topics about the Turkish minority in the modern Bulgarian state, the social construction of the minority and the processes of transformation of the elites in the second half of 20 century. George has specialized in the Institute of East European History at the University of Vienna, Austria, and was a Fellow of the American Research Center in Sofia (ARCS). He participates in a number of research projects, including “State Security and Labour Unions in Socialistic Bulgaria”, and “The Fate of the Waqf Estates in the Transitional Period from Imperial to National State Governance”.
Mihail Simov, PhD
Mihail Simov works in the National History Museum. His scientific work covers different aspects of the Balkan policy of Russia and the Russian-Bulgarian relations during 19 century. His PhD dissertation treats the Russian intelligence in Southeast Europe during the 1856-1878 period.His scholarly interests center around various aspects of Russia's Balkan policy and Russian-Balkan relations in the 19th century.
