Pepka Boyadjieva


Pepka Boyadjieva is Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Chair of the Scientific Council of the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge and of Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. Vice-chair of the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences ; President of the Bulgarian Sociological Association. Expert for the European Commission and Permanent Senior Fellow at Center for Advanced Studies, Sofia. Member of the editorial board of the International Sociological Association’s edition Sage Studies in International Sociology, board member of International Journal of Lifelong Education since 2008 and of Journal of Social Science Education since 2009. Honorary Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Nottingham; Professor of Sofia University and New Bulgarian University. Her research interests are in the fields of inequalities in education; social justice and education; education, science and social modernization; university and society; lifelong and adult learning; public representation and images of science and scientists.

Biography

Pepka Alexandrova Boyadjieva was born on December 26, 1954, in the then town of Mihailovgrad, now Montana, Bulgaria. She graduated in philosophy with a specialization in sociology in 1976 at Sofia University, defended her PhD dissertation in 1980, and the next one for Doctor Habilis of Sociological Sciences in 1999. Her professional career developed mainly at the Institute of Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where she has held the Senior Research Fellow I degree since 2000. She has chaired the Scientific Council of the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge since 2011 and previously chaired the Scientific Council of the Institute of Sociology from 2004 to 2008. She was a Permanent Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies, Sofia. Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology since 2010, Honorary Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Nottingham since 2011. She was President of the Bulgarian Sociological Association. She has been lecturing a course on Sociology of Education since 1994 at Sofia University and delivered courses on University Worlds, Institutions of Knowledge and Sociology of Education at New Bulgarian University.
Boyadjieva is highly committed to the cause of civic activism and social development policies and has been an expert on governmental and non-governmental reform initiatives. She was a long-time expert at the Open Society Institute, Sofia and is currently chairing its board of trustees. She is one of the authors of the current Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2021–2030. She is a member of “Education without Barriers” Association.

Research accomplishments

Boyadjieva took part in more than 30 research projects, being the team-leader in most of them. She is the only representative of social sciences who won a grant for a research project from the National Research Program "Outstanding Studies and People for the Development of European Science" in 2019. The theme of this 5-year project is "Dynamics of Inequalities in Higher Education and Adult Learning: A Comparative Analysis of Social Justice". Since 2005 she has been acting as evaluator and independent expert for the European Commission. She is a member of the international networks of experts of social dimension of education and learning at the NESET and NESSE.
Boyadjieva is one of the few internationally renowned Bulgarian sociologists as since 2000 – her citations in Google Scholar by 2021 alone are over 830 for nearly 300 publications since 1997 with H-index 14, and 273 citations and H-index 7 according to SCOPUS. According to the ResearchGate with a personal score of 20.91, she is more highly recognizable than 75% of the authors in this scientific portal.

Awards and honors

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences presented Boyadjieva with the Marin Drinov ribbon badge of honour in 2021. Boyadjieva received the Cyril O. Houle Award from the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education in 2022. In 2023 Boyadjieva received the National Pythagoras Award from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. She was named an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham in 2023.

Selected works

Authored and co-authored books
  • Boyadjieva, P.. Social Engineering: Admission Policies in Higher Education during the Communist Regime in Bulgaria. Sofia: CIELA
  • Boyadjieva, P.. University and Society: Two Sociological Cases. Sofia: LIK
  • Boyadjieva, P., Gerganov, E., Paspalanova, E., Petkova, K.. Education outside the School Doors. Sofia: Gal Iko
  • Boyadjieva, P., Petkova, K., Chalakov, I.. Science: Life outside the Laboratory. Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Press
  • Boyadjieva, P.. The Birth of the University. Sofia: Kritika i humanism.
  • Boyadjieva, P.. What Can Education Give Us? Sofia: Nauka i Iskustvo.
Edited books
  • Koleva, S., Boyadjeiva, P., Kabakchieva, P., Kolarova, R. . Bringing down Barriers. Disciplines, Epochs, Generations. Sofia: University Publishing House “St. Kl. Ohridski”
  • Boyadjieva, P., Kanoushev, M., Ivanov, M. . Inequalities and Social integration: In Search of Togetherness. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad
  • Boyadjieva, P., Stoyanova, R. . The Gift and Cultures of Giving for Education: Theories Institutions, Individuals. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad
  • Burnaski, G., Boyadjieva, P., Kabakchieva, P... State Security - Unions, Business life and Workers. Documentary collection. Sofia: KRDOPBGDSRSBNA and Research Institute of the Recent Past
  • Boyadjieva, P. Koleva, S., Koev, K.. Worlds in Sociology. Sofia: Sofia University Publishing House
  • Boyadjieva, P. University Autonomy and Academic Responsibility. Sofia: LIK
  • Boyadjieva, P. Dimensions of the University Idea. Sofia: Sofia University Publishing House
Selected articles and book chapters
  • Boyadjieva, P.. Cultures of giving in the sphere of education: theoretical frameworks and research approaches. In: Boyadjieva, P., Stoyanova, R. . The Gift and Cultures of Giving for Education: Theories Institutions, Individuals. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad, 27-62.
  • Boyadjieva, P.. Admission Policies as a Mechanism for Social Engineering: The Case of the Bulgarian Communist Regime, Comparative Education Review 57 : 503–526.