site.btaUPDATED Corresponding Member Evelina Slavcheva Elected Academy of Sciences President

Corresponding member Evelina Slavcheva was elected on Monday as President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) by its General Assembly. She won 81 votes as against 19 votes for the other candidate, microbiologist Hristo Naydensky.

Slavcheva is the first woman president in the 155-year history of the Academy.

Slavcheva is the founder and head of the Hydrogen Systems with Polymer Electrolyte section (2012-2020) at the Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems. Between 2012 and 2015, she was the Chair of the Scientific Council of the Institute and was its director from 2015 to 2023. She was also the Chair of the BAS General Assembly between 2016 and June 2024, Board member of the BAS Directors, as well as President and Chair of the BAS Board of Directors. Slavcheva is the author of 127 scientific publications and of one patent. She has led 23 research projects, among which is the "HITMOBIL Centre of Competence - Technologies and Systems for Clean Energy Generation, Storage and Consumption". 

Speaking to the BAS General Assembly members on Monday, Slavcheva thanked them for the support she has received and said that she knows that "the difficult time is just starting and only together we can continue the successful path of the Academy".

BAS President Julian Revalski also congratulated Slavcheva on her convincing election as his successor, and stressed that for the first time in the 155-year history of BAS a lady is occupying the post. "It is obvious that the General Assembly elected her not because she is a lady, but because of many other qualities that she demonstrates - both today and when she was the two-term President of the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences", Revalski said. "On behalf of my colleagues, I wish her only success, and on my own behalf, I will always be available to help the President or his deputies in any way I can," he underscored.

Slavcheva also answered journalists' questions related to the priorities in her management mandate of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and her expectations for the 2025 budget. "The priorities are not few, but what I would like to achieve is even greater integrity of the Academy and of all its institutes, so that we can truly be one community, one big team with its entire diversity in the service of knowledge and the Bulgarian state and society," Slavcheva said. Asked if this means that there is disunity, Slavcheva said that there is not, but rather the BAS institutes are diverse in terms of scientific activity, which puts the necessity of deepening the conversations between them. "We are working in the same direction, building on what we have at the moment. I said that my main principle is continuity and modernity, which means that nothing good from the past will be forgotten, but will be used and built upon", said the newly elected BAS head.

The mandate of the current BAS President expires on December 7. He was firstly elected on December 1, 2016, and on November 30, 2020 he was re-elected for a second term.