The fifth workshop related to the activities from the fourth work package of Erasmus+ project "Trifold approach to circular economy: perspectives of academia, business, and wider society" project number: 2022-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000085464, a contractor of which is D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, was held from May 08 to May 11 in Târgu Jiu, Romania. Partners under the project are four universities from four Balkan countries: D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, Bulgaria; Artifex University of Bucharest, Romania; Nish University, Nish, Serbia; and Istanbul Esenyurt Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Türkiye.
During the workshop, the team of D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov was led by Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev, Dean of the Faculty of Finance and project manager. Participation in the workshop also took Prof. Dr. Stoyan Prodanov, content reviewer within the project, Head Assist. Prof. Dr. Petko Angelov, project coordinator, and Sen. Lect. Dr. Margarita Mihaylova, international secretary of the project.
The partners from Serbia and Türkiye were represented in the seminar by: Prof. Dr. Suzana Stefanovic – Nish University, Nish, Serbia; Prof. Dr. Bojan Krstic – Nish University, Nish, Serbia; Prof. Dr. Vinko Lepojevic – Nish University, Nish, Serbia; PhD Researcher Miljana Talic – Nish University, Nish, Serbia, Dr. Ahmet Münir Gökmen, İstanbul Esenyurt Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Türkiye; Dr. Şaban Onur Viga, İstanbul Esenyurt Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Türkiye; Dr. Yasemin Sarıcı, İstanbul Esenyurt Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Türkiye.
The hosts from Romania were represented at the seminar by the full team engaged in the project, including researchers and administrators from the university and led by Prof. Dr. Alexandru Lucian Manole – Rector of Artifex University of Bucharest, Romania as follows: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andrei Buiga, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cătălin Deatcu – Artifex University of Bucharest, Romania; Dr. Maria Valeria Popescu – Artifex University of Bucharest, Romania.
From the Bulgarian partner participation in the discussions also took: Prof. Dr. Galina Zaharieva, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics – Svishtov, Slaveyko Slavkov – BorisovStudios Ltd. / Interactive content developer.
The seminar was conducted according to its agenda and included all planned activities. The participants arrived between May 8-11, the delegations from Türkiye by plane and the Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian delegation and discussants arriving by car. On the first day, May 08 (Wednesday), there was held an opening work meeting of the project partners. During this meeting, the achievements of the first four seminars (held in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Türkiye) were summarized. The goals of the fifth workshop were discussed, along with the participants' expectations. The task was set to intensify the promotion of the project on social media, using the Facebook portal at: https://www.facebook.com/CRCLEcon/
The main work session was held on May 09 (Thursday), in the Conference Room of Hotel Anna, Târgu Jiu, Romania. During the session, the participants discussed what are the most suitable ways to achieve the main goals and messages to the target audience of the "Handbook on the Challenges of the Circular Economy to Business and Society", which is to be compiled and published within Work Package 4. Each of the project reported on the progress of the development of the assigned chapter in the form of the total number of 11 presentations given. In the afternoon, the participants in the workshop visited the "Virgil Madgearu" College of Economics, where the project manager Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev greeted the students gathered in the Aula of the college on the Europe Day and briefly presented the goals, tasks, and achievements of the project so far. After the visit the participants in the workshop continued their work with a discussion on the further development and enrichment of the content prior to the development of its final version.
Each of the participants received from the contractor hard copies of the first two books written on the project – the circular economy guides for teachers and students – and an additional three copies were provided for each of the partner university libraries.
On May 10, a concluding discussion was held on the various aspects of presenting business models associated with the challenges posed by the circular economy. The discussion also covered issues related with the format for extracting educational content for the purpose of developing interactive materials, as well as various technical aspects regarding editing and formatting the developed content. The certificates of attendance of the participants were signed and presented by the rector of Artifex University of Bucharest. In the afternoon the hosts from the Artifex University of Bucharest organised a visit to natural landmarks in the Romanian Carpathians and Polovragi Monastery.
On the Saturday, May 11, 2024, all visiting delegations departed from Târgu Jiu, giving excellent feedback on the hospitality of Artifex University of Bucharest and the outcomes of the fifth workshop on the CRCLEcon project.
