Talks on the day encouraged understanding and involvement of COST and COST Actions. Attendees learnt about the COST network, the rules of participation, as well as information regarding best practice and national procedures for participation.
Over 100participants from the Bulgarian academic sector attended the event, including many younger researchers, who are traditionally under-represented within scientific research.
Speakers on the day included Ivan Dimov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science for Bulgaria, Ms Zlatina Karova from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, who also acts as a member of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO), and Prof. Albena Vutsova from the University of Sofia “St Kliment Ohridski.” Representing COST were Science Officers, Katalin Alfoldi and Mickael Pero, and COST Director, Ronald de Bruin.
Yoanna Stancheva, a COST Action Management Committee member, gave an inspiring talk about her first hand experiences of positive changes within the Bulgarian midwifery service, through participation in COST Action IS1405 . The Action directly led to the introduction of better-adapted delivery practices, which expectant mothers are now able to benefit from.
“It is very simple. You only need to have one person with a strong motivation to strive for change. And it happened in midwifery thanks to COST.”
COST Director, Dr Ronald de Bruin said of the event, “Everyone benefits with COST. Today we heard about how a scientist from the UK working with Bulgarian midwifes led to positive changes. The scientist could work with real-life data, while the midwives became better educated and established a community of midwifery professionals in Bulgaria. This clearly demonstrates the power and potential of connecting researchers from across Europe. Excellence is everywhere, it has no borders”
A PDF copy of the PowerPoint presentation given by COST at the event can be downloaded below.