site.btaSofia to Host 2028 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Conference

Sofia will host the 2028 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Conference, the world’s largest scientific forum dedicated to polar research, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) announced.

This year, the biannual forum was held in Oslo, Norway, where Bulgaria was symbolically handed the hosting responsibilities for the 13th edition of the conference by SCAR President Prof. Gary Wilson, BAI said. The Institute noted that 2028 will be a historic year for Bulgaria, as the country will mark 40 years of organized Bulgarian Antarctic activity.

The official bid to host the scientific forum and the 40th SCAR Delegates’ Meeting, backed by Sofia Municipality, proposes the National Palace of Culture as the main venue.

"The choice of Sofia is a tremendous recognition of the contribution of Bulgarian scientists and our many years of successful international partnerships in the polar region. The conference will take place in mid-summer and will last for 10 days. The number of participants grows with every edition, and our team expects nearly 2,000 scientists, young researchers and heads of national programs from around the world," Prof. Christo Pimpirev, Director of the National Center for Polar Studies at Sofia University, and founder and chairman of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, said at the Oslo forum.

Bulgaria has established itself as a regional hub for polar science in Southeast Europe and for several years has hosted scientists from Greece, Montenegro, Turkiye and Romania at its Antarctic base, with researchers from Bosnia and Herzegovina joining them this year, BAI said.

"At the upcoming COP31 global climate conference, which will be held in Antalya in November, the National Center for Polar Studies, as the leading institution, will propose bringing together the efforts of representatives of this Balkan community. Immediately after COP31, the first regional scientific conference will also be held in Aheloy, with more than 30 scientific papers already submitted," Pimpirev added.

At this year’s conference in Oslo, Bulgarian scientists presented key reports and poster presentations reflecting the latest discoveries and research carried out at the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island and the research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metorii (RSV 421).

Bulgaria was represented by a delegation composed of scientists and experts from the National Center for Polar Studies at St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University and from BAI. The delegation, headed by Pimpirev, included Assoc. Prof. Borislav Alexandrov, Assoc. Prof. Marina Stefanova, Assoc. Prof. Lyubomir Kenderov, Dr. Gergana Georgieva, Assoc. Prof. Vessela Evtimova, Dragomir Mateev, Dr. Rositsa Yaneva, Dr. Petar Sapundzhiev.