This weekend I attended the three-day Fulbright International Seminar 2021, entitled “Strategies for Strengthening Democracy: The Crisis of Representation”. It is not my research area, but the topics are thought-provoking on various aspects of democracy and journalism with examples in Bulgaria, U.S., Hungary and Ukraine. Quite a few speakers also shared many historical stories of Sofia, which helped me to get to know the city better.
Many speakers and attendees are Fulbrighters themselves having participated in the bilateral exchange programs, including several prolific and influential scholars, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria in charge of managing of the European funds, Atanas Pekanov.
The Fulbright Commission staff members have worked very hard to prepare for and run this event flawlessly in a hybrid format to allow both on-site (after checking vaccination certificate, COVID test result, or recovery proof) and remote participation. The seminar venue is inside the TZUM building with a long history in the town center. The room is equipped with the latest technology to be able to broadcast from various angles and switch between multiple screens. This seminar is a new initiative with the first seminar happening in 2019 in person and this year’s event is the second one. Due to COVID, there was no seminar last year. I am glad that we could have the opportunity to enjoy this event this year.
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