General Info

The Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS) is an independent institution for the promotion of excellent scholarship and academic cooperation. Its overall commitment is to foster outstanding research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities. It aims to attract young talents as well as outstanding senior scholars by offering institutional conditions conducive to innovative research, intellectual creativity and dialogue, thereby supporting the formation of new regional elites. Through its strong interdisciplinary and international orientation it seeks to integrate national and regional scholarship in cross-cultural research on pan-European and global scale. With its professional, lean and flexible management, CAS sets a “best practice” model for academic administration, and is a reliable partner for donors and scholars alike.

The CAS vision is rooted in the belief that - enhancing the freedom of research and the responsibility of the researcher are crucial for creating important new knowledge,
- scholarship in the contemporary world is an increasingly interdisciplinary, collective and global endeavour,
- the exchange of ideas in an inspiring environment is a precondition both for the improvement of scholarship and for its public impact.

While being a member of the internationally renowned group of “Institutes for Advanced Study” in the US and Europe, CAS has developed in response to specific national and regional context-generated needs. Paramount among them are the drastically diminished influence of academia in the public sphere and the lack of intellectual agency to carry out authoritative critical self-reflection in the societies of the region. CAS seeks to be a “brain gain” institution, and to emerge as an innovative force in the development of the academic potential in Bulgaria and its neighbouring countries.

CAS sees its role also in the context of European integration: The countries of Southeast Europe are faced with the imperative to develop a new network of regional co-operation in order that academic and intellectual circles can actively contribute to the regional interchange and European opening. There is thus a clear need to foster the production of knowledge and innovative ideas about the region, and to bring together scholars from different cultures and countries.

CAS provides financial and institutional support for post-doctoral qualification and for research programmes in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. By initiating and hosting collaborative multidisciplinary projects and inviting regional scholars, it helps to establish a viable intellectual network and promote practical academic collaboration between the countries of Southeast Europe. With the help of other advanced study institutes, national and foreign universities, and academic and cultural associations, it works to re-establish the tradition of intellectual communities and to facilitate open critical debate and exchange on a national and trans-national level.

CAS is open to ideas and proposals from the entire range of the Social Sciences and Humanities. Its principal emphasis in research is in two main areas:
- history, culture and development of the region in a comparative European perspective (common legacies, developmental and societal problems, cultural and economic exchange, questions of identity, etc.)
- improvement of higher education and academic research in the region and further abroad.

In the context of its projects during the eight years of its existence, CAS has lent support to more than 100 Fellows from 18 different countries, representing a panoply of disciplines.

In addition to granting fellowships and coordinating local and regional projects, CAS encourages the dissemination of knowledge through public events, publication programmes and discussion forums. It organizes Bulgarian and foreign guest-lecture series and workshops by leading senior scholars, international conferences and seminars, as well as cultural events, literary readings, exhibitions, etc. A special service is offered by the CAS Academic Gateway and the PhD Student Database - online academic communities and databases of scholars and doctoral students.

CAS reports on its activities and achievements through the electronic publication of research series and proceedings and disseminates information by equipping an up-to-date reference library and providing free access for researchers and PhD students to quality full-text databases. CAS also takes on the task of throwing a bridge between the local and regional scholarly community and the academic diaspora working outside the region.