Vice President Iotova Opens 23rd National Scientific Conference “The Knowledge Society and Humanism of the 21st Century”

Metodi Yordanov, Emanuel Smarkov

Vice President Iliana Iotova during the conference (BTA Photo/Nikola Uzunov)

Sofia,

31.10.2025 14:17

(BTA)

“The national culture of every people is the key to understanding the world around them,” said Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova, who opened the 23rd National Scientific Conference titled “The Knowledge Society and Humanism of the 21st Century”, held here Friday at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius National Library. The forum is organized by the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (UniBIT).

Iotova noted that one of the main topics of the conference is knowledge. “It is the foundation of progress and advancement — and that’s not a cliché. It’s a conscious human necessity. The nations and societies that invest in knowledge are the successful ones. I mean knowledge of the past, knowledge of the present we live in, and the link to future knowledge,” the Vice President explained.

She added that “without identity, no one — even in a global world — can truly feel at home.”

“A paradox can be observed. We have so many sources of information, and yet, we are often not well or deeply informed. We are misled — if not outright deceived. This is also a defect of our media system today. There’s plenty of information, plenty of social media. But the kind of journalistic work that digs deeper, that looks back to explain logical connections, to seek out arguments and outline what should come next — that’s becoming rarer,” Iotova remarked.

“Also, in this age of fast communication reforms, we often give up reading long texts. I’ll admit — when a news report is too long, I sometimes don’t have the energy to watch until the end. One becomes deformed in this sense. But that doesn’t eliminate the spark of consciousness — that moment when a person becomes thirsty again for something objective, something of value and substance,” she commented.

“The Presidency also provides a platform for the research and ideas of Bulgarian and international Slavic scholars through the International forum for the Cyrillic alphabet, which we’ve organized twice already. We need to speak about Cyrillic in this era of challenges brought by technology, artificial intelligence, and the simplification of languages. For objective reasons, Cyrillic is retreating — and on a large scale. Some countries that once used Cyrillic are switching rapidly to Latin script, driven by the internet, social media, and technology. Unless specific measures are taken, we will become part of the forces accelerating this process,” Iotova warned.

The following honorary titles were awarded as part of the conference's official opening ceremony: folk singer Valya Balkanska received an honorary doctorate degree, and longtime bagpipe instructor Petar Yanev was named honorary professor, both recognized for their contributions to promoting Bulgarian cultural heritage.

The academic community of UniBIT also presented the Acad. Blagovest Sendov Awards for outstanding contributions to education and science. This year’s recipients were Elka Bozhikova, Director of the “Yane Sandanski” High School of Mathematics and Science in Gotse Delchev (Southwest Bulgaria), and Prof. Dr. Nikolay Vitanov.

/RY/