OPEN AND RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH IN BULGARIA: BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Perceptions of Key Bulgarian Stakeholders: Analysis and Lessons Learned from Co-creation Workshops

Authors:
Teodora Gandova
Dr Ruslana Margova
Assos. Prof. Milena Dobreva

Introduction

The policies and practices for implementing Open Research in Bulgaria have been developing in the last few years but are still not mature and widely accepted. This research, conducted in the end of 2024 in Bulgaria by the ORBIT project and funded by the REINFORCING project of the European Union, examines the attitudes of key participants in the process, identifies barriers and incentives, and suggests future steps for better
understanding and implementation of Open Research. The study highlights two major challenges: lack of information on stakeholder attitudes and insufficient awareness about the benefits of Open Research for a wider audience. Open and responsible research and innovation (ORRI) has not been systematically reviewed in Bulgaria, and the perceptions of different key stakeholders have not been captured, although some components of the national landscape had been explored within the National Initiatives for Open Research in Europe (NI4OS-Europe) project.

To address the gap in understanding the stakeholders and their attitudes better, our project team hosted three co-creation workshops with key stakeholders – researchers, administration, citizens and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This report summarises the lessons learned and future steps for Open Research in Bulgaria.

download resume in English  |  download full report in Bulgarian