The Rector of BFU was elected Chairman of the Maritime Scientific Society

At its meeting of the General Assembly of the Maritime Scientific Society (MSS), held in the town of Sofia. Varna, the former chairman of the association and rector of the “Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov” Naval Military Academy - Varna (NMA) Flotilla Admiral Prof. Dr. Kalin Kalinov nominated for the next term as chairman the Rector of Burgas Free University Prof. Dr. Milen Baltov. Among the motives for the nomination were the place occupied by BFU after a month and a half ago it was elected as one of the 28 members of the newly established European Ocean Board, newly established by the Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Kostas Cadiz, and the role of BFU as the only one from Bulgaria among the founders of the largest public-private (co-financed by the Horizon Europe program) Partnership for a Sustainable Blue Economy,  as well as the full support that was stated in the preliminary consultations of the individual. Admiral Kalinov with the local and regional authorities - Burgas Municipality and Burgas Regional Administration.

Together with the election of Prof. Prof. Baltov, a new composition of the Board of Directors of the MSS was also elected as chairman, including, in addition to BFU and the NMA, the Technical University - Varna, the Medical University "Paraskev Stoyanov" - Varna, the BSU “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov", the Trakia University - Stara Zagora and the Institute of Oceanology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

A decision was voted to hold during the International Black Sea Day on October 31, 2026 in Burgas, an international scientific conference and Prof. Baltov was instructed to seek a solution for its synergy with the “Black Sea 2030” forum, scheduled for October 30.

A proposal was voted for the “Maritime Scientific Society” Association to prepare for its role as a Steering Committee for the use as a shared scientific infrastructure of the future research vessel, planned to be acquired within the framework of the Water Resources Sustainability Program. The program is financed under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2021-2028, with a financial resource for the ship of EUR 30 million, and administration by the Ministry of Environment and Water as a Program Operator. The goal is for the vessel to meet the needs for research activities in the Black Sea with the potential implementation of the National Scientific Program "SEA", developed in a working version.