The first part of the joint doctoral school of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI) at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and the University of Aizu, Japan, took place in the period 24-30 August 2025 in Sofia in the new research complex - the Center of Excellence "Universities for Science, Informatics and Technology in e-Society" (UNITe), located behind the building of the FMI, on the Lozenets campus. The joint doctoral school is held in two parts - the last week of August in Sofia and from 21 to 27 September at the University of Aizu (Fukushima, Japan).
The first part was attended by over 30 doctoral students – early-career researchers who wanted to learn about and discuss key ideas in mathematical modeling, artificial intelligence, and data analysis – all core areas of essential importance for addressing complex real-world problems in science and technology.
The program of this first part of the doctoral school included lectures by leading business experts and university professors, as well as interactive sessions. Among the lecturers were Daniela Milanova – Principal Cloud Engineer of Oracle Database Platform, the lecturers at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics Prof. Maria Nisheva, Prof. Boyan Bonchev, Prof. Ivan Koychev, Prof. Nadya Zlateva, Prof. Milen Petrov, Assoc. Prof. Trifon Trifonov, Assoc. Prof. Ivan Georgiev, and others. On behalf of the Japanese partners, lectures were given by Prof. Konstantin Markov – Leader of Automatic AI System Design Research Cluster at the University of Aizu, Assoc. Prof. Rage Uday Kiran, Assoc. Prof. Julián Villegas, Dr. Raihan Kabir and others.
The participants also had the opportunity to present their own research through short presentations and posters, creating a collaborative environment for learning, feedback and networking.
At the end of this first part of the joint doctoral school, the Dean of FMI Prof. Maya Stoyanova awarded certificates of participation to the young researchers.
The doctoral school is supported by two projects related to Sofia University – SUMMIT (https://summit.uni-sofia.bg) and I-METODE (https://i-metode.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/).
For more photos from the event, visit our gallery.