TEDxVitosha Meet the Speakers

Dr. Radoslava Bekova believes two things have determined her path. Firstly, the films about Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research. And secondly, the first look through a microscope in Biology classes. She was amazed: how come a tiny drop of water could contain so much life?
For the last 15 years, Radoslava has devoted herself to the sea. She researches fish and cetaceans, participates in expeditions. She dives. She sails and works on board of the “Academic” – the only research vessel in the Black Sea. Dr. Bekova has received the award “For Women in Science”, Award from the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria, the “Professor Marin Drinov” award for a young scientist in the field of “Climate Changes, Risks and Natural Resources”.
Why is the Black Sea unique? How do we preserve it for the next generations? Radoslava will tell you.

Manuela Nikolova is a mountain biking guide. Following her heart, she’s embarked on a journey that has led her on interesting paths, always close to nature.
At the age of 19, Manu (as everyone calls her) went to Germany. There, she started building a German-style orderly life. She studied Print and Media in Munich and worked in banknote printing (the real stuff). But in the meantime, she discovered mountain biking, which introduced her to her husband. The love was so strong, that after 19 years abroad, he managed to bring her back to her roots in the Troyan Balkan. Together, they created a sanctuary of their own with a small, eco-friendly home, surrounded by a large vegetable garden and meadows for their 4 children to run freely. Manuela reads, researches, experiments, trusts. She learns from the original source – the earth. She always says, “If I can’t do it myself, I can do it with the earth.”

Earth and its most mystic spaces is what our next speaker is also excited about. He is a devoted speleologist. He has been in the deepest holes in the world. In Iran, he searched for water in the desert, and found it – at a depth of 300 m. In Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia, he taught cave rescue. In China, he explored a cave full of plastic to find a way to clean it up. He descended underground in Laos. He explored Gouffre Berger in France – one of the deepest caves in the world.
Not bad for an… engineer and physicist. Tsvetan Parov is actually a Master in Aerospace Engineering and a Doctoral Student at the Institute for Space Research and Technology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. As a scientist, Tsvetan took part in the 32nd Bulgarian Expedition to the Antarctica. He investigated huge ice crevasses in the Livingston Glacier, and collected data on how glaciers behave under climate change.