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Bulgaria
BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOVERNANCE OF SCIENCE IN BULGARIA
The Law on Support to Research constitutes the basic framework document for research in
Bulgaria. (Published in the National newspaper, #15, 2003)
The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) coordinates the country's national research policy. The Research Department (RD) is a structural unit, implementing national and European scientific policy provisions. The Ministry of Education and Science makes use of this unit to implement research initiatives at the national, regional and international level, to provide support to research, to fund, on a competitive basis, fundamental and applied research and to assess its results. The Research Department manages the Research Fund established to provide competitive funding to national scientific projects.
The National Research Council includes prominent members of the academic and scientific community and acts as the authority contributing to the state policy of support to research conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science.
The National Assembly is expected to adopt Bulgaria's National Research Development Strategy until 2013 which will put in place legal framework for research and set out national research priorities.
The research institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (B AS), higher education institutions and the National Centre of Agrarian Sciences (NCAS) pursuing research in the areas of agriculture and food are amongst the organisations involved in research in Bulgaria.
SUMMARY REVIEW OF SCIENCE & RESEARCH COOPERATION WITH BELARUS
The Agreement on Scientific, Educational and Cultural Cooperation, concluded by Bulgaria and Belarus in 1993, constitutes the legal basis for S&T cooperation between two countries. Article 16 of the Agreement defines the necessity of the periodical adoption of intergovernmental programs of S&T cooperation. Based on this Agreement, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) in 2002 concluded Agreement on scientific cooperation. As annex to the Agreement the Protocol on currency-free equivalent scientists exchange was signed, that provides mutual scientific visits realization on terms of financing stay expenses by hosting Academy (the annual exchange quota is 50 man-day for each Academy).
A number of Agreements and Protocols on cooperation is signed on the level of scientific institutes and universities of two countries.
The existing normative base makes it possible for each Bulgarian higher education institution and research organisation to sign bilateral agreements on specific research tasks with any Belarusian research entity without approval or coordination by the Bulgaria's Ministry of Education and Science.
Since 2001 through the Calls of Belarusian Republican Fund on Fundamental Research (BRFFR) 10 Belarus- Bulgaria research projects bilaterally financed have been and are being fulfilled.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENCE & RESEARCH COOPERATION BULGARIA- BELARUS
Joint participation of Bulgarian and Belarusian research teams in the EU's Framework Programmes for Research & Technological Development, as well as participation of Belarusian researchers in Bulgaria's national programmes and calls for proposals, offer opportunities for broad scientific cooperation between the two countries. In this context it should be noted that, in accordance with Bulgarian legislation, foreign research teams, including those from Belarus, can in principle participate in competitions organized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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