First Invitation

The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Bulgarian Geographical Society is undoubtedly an occasion for retrospection and analysis of the development of geography in Bulgaria. It is, however, also a reason for an attempt to look into the future and outline the prospects for geographic science, education and practice. Last, but not least, this conference is a way to pay a tribute and extend our gratitude in the first place to the founder of the Society, Academician Anastas Ishirkov, but also to all geographers who worked for it during the past century. We also want to widen the space for presenting new research in the different geographic disciplines and to discuss the changes that we need to undertake to address the challenges of the 21st century.

Global changes and particularly the development of information, including geo-information, technologies are radically changing the ways in which economic, social, and public systems function. Our conceptualizations of basic geographic notions, such as “place”, “space”, “environment”, “sustainability”, etc., are also constantly being amended. Access to the ever-increasing information flows becomes a key feature describing location, along with its situation, boundaries, and other characteristics. Geo-spatial databases, generated by the new technology, play an increasingly important role in the choice of policies for governing regions, as well as managing and adapting to the consequences of global change. It is the geographers, who can play a key role in the utilization of the “flood” of geospatial information to uncover processes and interconnections in geosystems, evaluate and predict their sustainability and future development. Research on ecosystems and their services has proven its value to environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources. In view of the intensive migration and urbanization processes in today’s world, cities are trying to offer “smart” solutions, in order to deal effectively with demographic and environmental pressures. The complex interdependence among these processes raises a number of geographic problems that require innovative approaches and solutions and contribute to the implementation of the EU Smart Specialization Strategies.

Geography of the 21st century is expected to facilitate the development of human capital and the knowledge society, offer place-specific solutions for sustainable regional development and utilization of the planet’s natural and human capital to improve social wellbeing. We entrust this conference to provoke a discussion on how to stimulate “smart” geographical thinking, as an aspect of the genius that has led mankind throughout the millennia to better understand and adapt to its beautiful planet. We believe that the participation of colleagues from all geographic and “sister” disciplines will make a real contribution to this process.

The Organizing Committee

Chairs
Stoyan Nedkov (NIGGG-BAS), Karl Donert (EUROGEO), Georgi Burdarov (Sofia University)

Members
Georgi Zhelezov (NIGGG-BAS), Mariyana Nikolova (NIGGG-BAS), Kliment Naydenov (Sofia University), Stelian Dimitrov (Sofia University), Boian Koulov (NIGGG-BAS), Tsvetan Kotsev (NIGGG-BAS), Nadezhda Ilieva (NIGGG-BAS), Alexander Kotsev (European Commission-JRS), Emil Gachev (SW University), Evgenia Sarafova (Sofia University), Dimitar Zhelev (Sofia University), Aleksandra Ravnachka (NIGGG-BAS)

Important dates

10 January 2018
Deadline for submission of session proposals

30 January 2018
Opening of abstract submission and registration

30 June 2018
Deadline for abstract submission

31 July 2018
Notification for abstracts acceptance

30 August 2018
Deadline for early bird registration

2-4 November 2018
Conference dates

Conference Fees (€)