Institute for the Studies of the Recent Past and the Center for Advanced Study Sofia
Convenors: Prof. Dimitar Vatsov, Prof. Momchil Metodiev, Dr. Dimitar S. Dimov
The seminar and the associated research aim to launch and build a team for a large-scale interdisciplinary study titled “Bulgaria after Chernobyl.” It seeks to reconstruct the actions and inactions of the authorities following the Chernobyl accident; the types and degrees of radiation contamination and the resulting health impacts on the population, which are likely correlated with them; the moral and legal dimensions of the event and its public resonance; the institutional, political, and cultural environment that shapes the reactions and (in)actions of the party and state elite. To achieve these goals, the project participants rely on the full range of approaches and methods from the social sciences and humanities. We hope to involve radiologists and oncology specialists in the seminar’s work.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, the international conference will build upon the efforts of the group of scholars to fill this significant gap: the lack of professional research on what happened in Bulgaria following the Chernobyl accident and its consequences—radiological, medical-biological, political, and others.
The conference dates are April 17 and 18, 2026.
