site.btaINSAIT Hosts ERC President Maria Leptin in Sofia

The Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) at St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia hosted a key official visit by Professor Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council, on Friday. The university said the visit underscored INSAIT’s growing role in European science and innovation.

ERC is Europe’s leading organization for funding fundamental scientific research, with a budget of over EUR 16 billion for 2021–2027 directed at supporting ground-breaking and high-risk research across disciplines. Its grants, often described as the Champions League of fundamental science, are the continent’s most prestigious individual research awards. Fifteen ERC grant holders have later won Nobel Prizes, a record the university noted as evidence of ERC’s central role in supporting the world’s top researchers.

During her visit, Professor Leptin met leading INSAIT researchers, including ERC grant holders. They included Professor Martin Vechev, INSAIT’s scientific director and the only Bulgarian to hold two ERC grants, Dr Bernhard Haeupler, who holds one ERC grant, and Professor Luc Van Gool, a globally recognized scientist and ERC grantee. Their talks covered key themes such as the challenges facing research in Europe and INSAIT’s expanding position in the continent’s scientific and innovation landscape.

Professor Leptin is an internationally recognized developmental biologist, immunologist and has led the ERC since 2021, overseeing some of Europe’s most ambitious research programmes. She previously headed the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, an intergovernmental scientific organisation with more than 110 research groups. She is a member of EMBO, Academia Europaea, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences. She also holds honorary doctorates from institutions such as EPFL, ETH Zurich and the University of Cambridge, as well as international awards for her scientific achievements.

The university said that Professor Leptin’s visit marks an important sign of INSAIT’s rising international recognition and its accelerating contribution to Europe’s position as a global leader in AI, deep tech and fundamental science.