The National Museum of Natural History, Sofia celebrated Researchers’ Night

Another edition of Researchers’ Night took place on the last Friday of September, as is traditional — on September 27th, 2024, from 18:00 to 22:00. The National Museum of Natural History, Sofia’s programme introduces us to two ornithologists, two palaeontologists, one artist, and one science communicator.

Dr Ivaylo Angelov presented new data from his research on golden eagles in Bulgaria with a video from his fieldwork, showing footage from installing trap cameras in nests and searching cliffs for old golden eagle nests with drones. A virtuoso of flights above jagged mountain cliffs, the golden eagle is the fastest animal on the planet with its ability to reach over 300 kph while diving. Today there are 94 established territorial pairs in the country, placing the species near extinction in Southeast Bulgaria where only a few pairs remain. Golden eagles are most threatened by the illegal use of poisons against predatory mammals, unsecured electrical poles, and poaching.

Dr Ivailo Angelov is a postdoc at the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, with the research topic “Habitat characteristics of Golden Eagles territories in Bulgaria and testing the feasibility for individual identification of unmarked Golden Eagles by trap cameras in nests.” In the 2021—2023 period, Dr Angelov studied and mapped all golden eagle nesting territories in Bulgaria, noting whether they are inhabited by eagle pairs, what their age structure is, and the contents of their food.

Afterwards, Mikhail Iliev, PhD candidate at the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, discussed his research on the life of the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). His presentation “From tundra to Dobruja and back — the great journey of the red-breasted goose” invited us on a virtual trip to the most important areas for red-breasted goose conservation. Starting from the end of the 1970s, Southeast Bulgaria has turned into one of the most important overwintering sites for the species. Today, its numbers here vary greatly across different winter seasons. Mikhail also spoke about one of the most effective ways to study these birds — radio telemetry, with which he has collected his data over the last few years.

Mikhail Iliev has been a PhD candidate at the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia since 2022 and has significant experience from completing conservation projects on the national and international levels. One of his study and conservation subjects is the globally threatened red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis), to which he has also dedicated his professional work by taking on conservation work in the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds in Northeast Bulgaria.

Assist. Vladimir Nikolov, also a PhD candidate at NMNHS, presented the history of discovery and study of the palaeontological site near the town of Trun in his presentation “The first 7 years (with the Trun dinosaurs).” In 2017, an NMNHS team led by palaeontologist Assoc. Prof Latinka Hristova discovered dinosaur remains near the town of Trun and so opened an unexpected window to a lost world from the Late Cretaceous. With Vladimir, we peeked into the “kitchen” of a palaeontological study and learned what methods and analyses scientists use to illuminate the darkness veiling the geological past, and also what the world of organisms on the territory of Bulgaria looked like over 80 million years ago. The seven scientific expeditions to the site have led not only to the discovery of more dinosaur fossils, but also remains from turtles, crocodiles, amphibians, fish, and even insects — an entire ancient ecosystem, the existence of which we were unaware of.

Vladimir Nikolov is a palaeontologist and paleoartist, assistant in the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia. He studies the bone tissue of vertebrate fossils found in Bulgaria and is an active participant in studying the site of dinosaurs and other vertebrate fauna from the Late Cretaceous near Trun. He is an author and illustrator of the pop-science book The Song of Titans: A Story About Dinosaurs.

Yavor Denchev from Kids Science Class (DNK in Bulgarian), who collaborated for the first time with museum, attracted young and old researchers in “A Scientific Night with DNK.” This scientific show included a series of fun, spectacular, and educational scientific skits with awe-inspiring fire demonstrations and show-stopping liquid nitrogen experiments, all of which Yavor imbued with the magic of science.

Yavor Denchev has a MSc in Microbiology from the University of Victoria, Canada, and is a teacher and animator with long years of experience in both Bulgaria and Canada. He is the creator and leader of DNK — Kids Science Class, where he demonstrates that science is not a scary pile of dry formulae and boring pictures, but is incredibly exciting, interesting, and even fun. It is a way of thinking and opens doors to unknown worlds and skills in children.

Assoc. Prof Dr Vladimir Bozukov from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS invited us to a “Meeting with Palaeobotany.” Assoc. Prof Bozukov spoke about the different fossilisation processes of plant material and the different fossil types. We saw types of sedimentary rock in which fossilisation is possible and learned what information plant fossils carry. We touched exhibits of Cenozoic plant fossils aged between 35 to 15 million years, found in Bulgarian fossil fauna sites.

Assoc. Prof Dr Vladimir Bozukov (http://www.iber.bas.bg/?q=en/user/124) is a palaeobotanist and leader of the Palaeobotany and Palynology Division at IBER-BAS.

In her presentation “Cabinet of Curiosities: Origins,” Bilyana Desheva shared her impressions and experience from working on the project “Cabinet of Curiosities” — a collaboration between four young Bulgarian artists and four scientists from the National Museum of Natural Science, Sofia. Drawing on the rich archive behind these collections, the team follows categories set out by experts, but also sets individual directions for the work of each artist. The result is a “Cabinet” with four installations — “Artificialia,” “Scientifica,” “Naturalica,” and “Exotica.”

Bilyana Desheva is a freelance artist and has participated in many group exhibitions, as well as two solo ones. In her work, she explores the natural world and its manifestations, but what defines her artistic career so far have been her curatorial projects. For Bilyana, this act of creation — from the birth of the concept and the materialisation of the idea, to the collecting of disparate threads in a single multi-faceted experience for the audience — is an exciting, living artwork. In this practice, the artist finds her personal definition for the place of contemporary art in today’s society. This question, which deals with the universal connections in the collective, is something that interests her deeply.

Bilyana Desheva has a BA in Painting from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia and is currently completing her MA in Visual Communication.

Researchers’ Night is an initiative which traditionally includes over 300 cities in Europe and the world. Researchers from the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia believe that science should be accessible and inspiring for everyone, especially young people, whom it can encourage towards career opportunities in the area of scientific research.