Alliance4Life Green Second Trigger Event was held at MU-Sofia

In the period 20-22.04.2023, the Alliance4Life Green Second Trigger Event Sofia was held at the Medical University – Sofia, part of the Event Calendar of the local trigger events within the framework of WP5 “Trigger Events” to the project A4L_ACTIONS (#964997) “ALLIANCE FOR LIFE SCIENCES: FROM STRATEGIES TO ACTIONS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE”, H2020-SC1-2020-SINGLE-STAGE-RTD, H2020, CSA, with implementation period: 01.05.2021 – 30.05.2024.

On the first day of the Alliance4Life Green Second Trigger Event, MU-Sofia hosts a Round table discussion with representatives of local and national authorities, representatives of higher medical educational institutions in Bulgaria, the private sector and companies in the field of medical and pharmaceutical products, as well as representatives of the Student Organization at the university. Some key weak points were outlined in the collaboration between individual stakeholders in the dialogue on sustainable development of science, and the fruitful discussion ended with prescriptions for reducing the gap between industry and the academic environment through green initiatives in the four medical universities in Bulgaria: Sofia, Varna, Pleven and Plovdiv.

On two consecutive days, in two thematic Workshops, the participants had the opportunity to present their green visions for the transformation of higher education, in the context of the started process of digital transition of their education systems. The coordinator of the local Alliance4Life team, Prof. Tsvetalina Tankova, Vice-rector for International Integration and Project Financing, presented the achievements of the members of Alliance4Life as her presentation was in interactive sessions with the participation of the representatives of different internal and external stakeholders in higher education.

During the organized “walking coffee breaks” between the working sessions, all participants in an informal context had the opportunity to exchange valuable experience in the form of networking, which gave a sharing of contacts and ideas in the project friendly ecosystem. Alongside the physical meetings in the conference room and working workshop spaces, there were also Microsoft Teams online discussion panels.

Guest speakers were:

• Prof. Todorka Kostadinova, the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Accreditation and Quality of Medical University – Varna
• Mr. Hristo Dochev, High Representative of Medical University – Pleven
• Associate Professor Angel Dzambov, professor at Medical University – Plovdiv
• Assoc. Dr. Boyan Zhekov, Chairman of the “Horizon Europe” programme for Bulgaria
• Mrs. Christina Eskenazi, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Health and Life Cluster, co-founder and board member of the Bulgarian Society for Biological Sciences.
• Some important representatives of the R&I policy makers community in Bulgaria.

Program

First A4L Trigger Event Day (20.04.2023)

• 13:00 p.m. (EEST) – Registration of the participants
• 13:30 p.m. (EEST) – Opening of the event by the Rector of MU-Sofia
• 14:00  p.m. (EEST) – “Green  policies and solutions for city of Sofia” – Mrs. Desislava Bileva, deputy mayor of Sofia Municipality for “Green system, ecology and land use”.
• 14:30 p.m. (EEST)  – Digitization in Bulgarian healthcare and the National Health Information System (NHIS) – Mr. Boris Kostadinov, Director of “Software Integration” at “Information Service” JSC.
• 15:00 – 15:30 p.m. (EEST) – Coffee break.
• 15:30 p.m. (EEST)  – “Health challenges of global climate change” and presentation of Student Network “Air for Health” – Prof. Anzhelika Velkova, Faculty of Public Health “Prof. Dr. Tsekomir Vodenicharov, PhD”.
• 16:00 p.m. (EEST)  – “In silico – approaches for green science and innovation, developed in the Laboratory of Drug Design and Bioinformatics of the Medical University – Sofia” – Prof. Ivan Dimitrov, Faculty of Pharmacy.
• 16:30 p.m. (EEST) – Alliance4Life National Trigger Event – round table on the topic “The relevance of regional divides for the green transition and challenges to universities futures” – Prof. Tsvetalina Tankova, Deputy Rector for International Integration and Project Financing, MU – Sofia, Magdalena Kasnakova, Simeon Manolov.

Second A4L Trigger Event Day (21.04.2023)

• 13:00 p.m. (EEST) – Registration of the participants
• 13:30 p.m. (EEST) – Presentation of the Alliance4Life project – Prof. Tsvetalina Tankova, Deputy Rector for International Integration and Project Financing, MU – Sofia, “Actions of the medical universities in Bulgaria to adapt the national high education to the global climate change”.
• 14:00 p.m. (EEST) – The chairman of the “Horizon Europe” program for Bulgaria, Prof. Dr. Boyan Zhekov – for the upcoming new projects’ calls of the program in the field of scientific research and innovation for the period 2021-2027.
• 15:00 – 15:30 p.m. (EEST) – Coffee break.
• 15:30 p.m. (EEST) – “Partnership between universities, municipalities and industry for adaptation to climate change” – Christina Eskenazi, Chair of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Health and Life Cluster, co-founder and board member of the Bulgarian Society for Biological Sciences.
• 16:00 p.m. (EEST) Workshop on the Alliance4Life National Trigger Event – “The relevance of regional divides for the green transition and challenges to universities futures” – Prof. Tsvetalina Tankova, Magdalena Kasnakova, Simeon Manolov.

​Third A4L Trigger Event Day (22.04.2023): Hike to Vitosha mountain – for professors, students and employees from MU – Sofia.