The team

Professor Darina Zaimova PhD is Head of Department “Economic analyses and social research” at the Institute for sustainable transition and development, Vice Rector of Research and International Activities and Deputy Head of Department "Industrial business and entrepreneurship” at Faculty of Economics at Trakia University. She is a beneficiary of the Justus-von-Liebig Award - research fellow in the Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany; post-doctoral research fellow at the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises - EURICSE, Italy. Her teaching courses and research interests include eco-entrepreneurship, business planning, sustainable development, bioeconomy, local development and government policy. She was part of the team of Erasmus Intensive programme on Business 2.0. From 2014 she is a member of the Management Committee for the COST TARGETED NETWORK TN1302, appointed at national level for Bulgaria. She is the project coordinator and the scientist in charge under the project “Cooperative business and innovative rural development: Synergy between academia and business partners (C-BIRD)” - (http://c-bird.eu/). She is leading Bulgarian team in the project “A knowledge Alliance in Eco-Innovation Entrepreneurship to Boost SMEs Competitiveness - SMecoMP” and also coordinator of the Erasmus + “Strategic partnership for AGRI-entrepreneurship and EcoInnovation” – AgriEco. She is part of the team of the “BIObec - Preparing the creation of Bio-Based Education Centres to meet industry needs and boost the contribution of the bioeconomy to societal challenges”, funder under H2020.

Prof. Daria Vladikova is Head of Department “Hydrogen Technologies and Energy Systems” at the Institute of Sustainable Transition and Development towards Trakia University – Stara Zagora. She is also professor in Electrochemistry at the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems towards the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Vladikova has a PhD in Solid State Chemistry and a D.Sc. in Electrochemistry. She is working in the field of fuel cells, electrolyzers and deployment of hydrogen technologies. She is the author of more than 150 scientific publications with 1000 citations, co-author of 6 monographs and a chapter in Encyclopedia on Power Sources (Elsevier). She has been awarded with Herman Gӧhr Award by the European Fuel Cell Forum. Prof. Vladikova is Member of the Scientific Committee of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, President of the Bulgarian Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Energy Storage Association, Member of the Governing Board of the European Innovation Digital Hub Zagore, Member of the Clean Hydrogen Alliance Round Table for Green Hydrogen Production.

Assist. Prof. PhD Violetka Zheleva is a technical assistant at the Institute for Sustainable Transition and Development. She is currently a participant in two university projects and in the National Project "Young Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows". Active researcher in the Department of Regional Development at the Faculty of Economics since the beginning of his doctoral studies until now.