Assistant Professor Ina Anastasova from the Institute of Polymers of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the winner of the award of the Union of Chemists in Bulgaria “Outstanding Young Scientist in the Field of Polymers” named after Prof. Ivan Shopov for 2025. The award was presented by the founder of the prize prof. Ivan Shopov and the President of the Union of Chemists prof. Venko Beshkov at a solemn celebration, which took place on 17 March in the Prof. Marin Drinov” at the Academy.
During the celebration at BAS, the 90th anniversary of Prof. DSc. Ivan Shopov was marked. On behalf of the leadership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, a greeting was given by the Scientific Secretary-General Prof. Neli Koseva who congratulated Prof. Shopov and expressed her gratitude for his scientific achievements and his contributions to the establishment of polymer science in Bulgaria. Prof. Koseva stressed that sponsoring young researchers at the beginning of their professional growth is not only a noble but also a patriotic deed. For many of the winners, the award is the first significant recognition of their research results and talent, she noted in her speech.
The award is an annual prize given after a national competition which is open to researchers, teachers and PhD students from across the country. They compete with the results of their scientific activities printed in specialized publications. The competition is organized by the Union of Chemists in Bulgaria, and the winner of the prize is determined by the Scientific Council of the Institute of Polymers after evaluation by a competent jury.
Ina Anastasova is an assistant professor in the “Biologically active polymers” laboratory at the the Institute of Polymers of BAS. In the period 2021-2024, she was a full-time PhD student at the Institute of Polymers where she was developing her thesis on “Hybrid electrospun fiber materials with purposely tailored design of poly(L-lactide-co-D,L-lactide) and chitosan derivatives for potential applications in biomedicine and for photocatalytic water purification”, supervised by Prof. Dr. Milena Ignatova and Prof. Dr. Olya Stoilova. She is a co-author of 3 scientific publications and one utility model with issued protective document. All publications fall in quartile Q1 for the year of publication.
In the competition for the award, Asst. Prof. Anastasova has participated with 2 scientific publications in Polymers (IF=4.7, Q1) of which she has been the first author. The research topic is focused on the development of efficient innovative approaches for the preparation of hybrid fibrous polymer materials for incorporation of active components with different properties and application areas. Wound dressings are an example as the resulting materials have been found to possess high antioxidant activity as well as antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli.
Anna Prancheva from the Institute of Polymers of BAS who works in the scientific field of “Polymeric Biomaterials”, laboratory “Functional and Nanostructured Polymers”, was awarded with a diploma for meritorious performance.
