In 2006, Sofia University (K-TRIO coordinator) as EURAXESS bridgehead organisation involved the newly established Bulgarian network in the first Researchers Night. Since then, it organised 14 European Researchers Nights, and attracted several new partners from education, research and industry. The overall K-TRIO objective coincides with the goal of the MSCA & Citizens action: "to bring research and researchers closer to the public at large, to increase the awareness of research and innovation activities and to boost public recognition of science and research education", and “to show the role of researchers for science and economy, as well as the impact of researchers’ work on citizens’ daily lives”. The strategic long-term objectives are: fostering the interest of young talents to STEAM and research career, nurturing a new culture of creativity, scientific curiosity, innovative spirit and responsibility to environmental preservation, as well as enhancing the public readiness to engage in Citizens Science, Open Science and Open Innovation activities. The Consortium will pay due attention in all pre-events and 2022-23 ERNs on the importance of the ERA and EEA, and their synergy, for the European recovery, dual transformation and knowledge-based growth. The project will create greater understanding on EU policy, and how R&I contribute for well-being of people and sustainable development, and highlight the common European efforts for bridging global challenges, building Green Economy and Digital Single market, Smart Cities and Smart Factories, and take full advantage of Clean Technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, BIG Data and Cloud computing. The R&I role in resolving present COVID crises will be also highlighted. The already established networking with teachers, schools and STEM centres will become well-structured, and will integrate many researchers in mentoring of students or events in secondary schools and partners universities.

The main goal of the project ‘Researchers in Knowledge Triangle’ (K-TRIO 3) is to bring researchers and their achievements closer to the society, and young people in particular. The project aims to contribute for increasing the number of researchers and innovators in Europe by making the society and especially young people aware of excellent achievements in research and innovation, in particular: FET flagship initiatives , large scale initiatives like "Next Generation Internet" and HPC, Centres of Excellence and projects with Bulgarian participation supported by the H2020. The project is targeted at raising the general public awareness on the achievements of Centres of Excellence in the 2 priority areas of Intelligent Strategy for Smart Specialisation in Bulgaria: ICT and Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) and their contribution to the regional development . Aware of the need of changing stereotypes and nurturing a new culture in research and innovation, the consortium will focus on making young people (youth) aware of the multiple career paths of researchers (incl. MSC fellows), best-practice examples of researchers and innovators achievements, and research infrastructure in Bulgaria. In 2018, the project activities will focus on research and innovation contributions to preserving the cultural heritage and fostering CCI, and the key role of researchers in these processes. In 2019, the emphasis will be on ‘Research in the Networked Society’ – making people aware of recent achievements in HPC, for building Internet of Things, Factories of Future, and Smart Cities, as well as taking full advantage of BIG Data and Cloud computing. The target audience of the project includes three groups, with specific activities designed for each group: - for students and kids: competitions, hands-on experiments, open labs, guided visists - for parents, teachers and general society: knowledge fairs, exhibitions, discussion clubs, etc. - for young researchers: training rally

“Opera and Early Childhood Education: Building European Awareness through Music in Pandemia Times” is a 2-year Erasmus+ Project coordinated by Universidad de Oviedo in Spain. It counts on five more partner organizations from Spain, Italy and Bulgaria: Fundación Ópera de Oviedo, Universita’ Degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana (ASLICO), Academiya za Muzikalno and State Opera – Plovdiv. OECE is in line with the objectives of the European policies linked to the Erasmus + Program. Our motivation is to achieve social inclusion and the creation of quality educational content in challenging times such as this pandemic Codiv-19 situation, making use of music as a vehicle for knowledge in Early Childhood Education. We pretend Opera, European Cultural Heritage, to be the perfect tool for providing an inclusive and European-unity sense society through multimedia tools. Our main objectives are: 1. To promote and generalize Opera as a means of inclusion of disadvantaged population, specially from rural areas; 2. To design and plan educational experiences related to opera that make it possible to alleviate the access to culture in general, and music in particular, of children in Early Childhood Education in rural areas during pandemia times such as the current one; 3. To stimulate the taste for quality (and non-elitist so far) music in Early Childhood Education (0-6 years old) through Opera in (non-existent so far) formal and online education practices: Opera as European Cultural Heritage, a high-quality music tool available to all children and a means of almost perfect expression for toddlers through their voice, rhythm and body expression competences; 4. To improve the development of children’s musical, cognitive, psychomotor, linguistic and emotional competences; 5. To develop online and face-to-face training actions aimed at Early Childhood Education educators to promote their music didactic skills; 6. To offer multimedia didactic resources that promote the development of musical skills in Early Childhood Education; 7. To encourage and support parents with no music background on their key role for the cultural education of their children; 8. To get toddlers familiarized with high quality music education for further make them aware of its European singularity for the sake of social cohesion; 9. To promote the relationship between schools and families.The most important group of participants in this project are children in Early Childhood Education centers. The project selected three rural schools in the area of partner universities and Opera Houses. In total, 60 children, their parents and educators. For them, this project is presenting an innovative proposal around a genuine opera adaptation for children in Early Childhood Education. This project is developing a Training Methodology for educators and an Educational Methodology for Children based on the opera adaptation; video-tutorials and their own training methodology for educators as well as for Parents and Other Family Members; an App Designed for Schools, Families and Children, which presents music from a playful perspective that will democratize children's approach to Opera; and ScreeningOpera, final opera performances (based on a co-production by Universidad de Oviedo, Ópera de Oviedo, ASLICO and State Opera in Plovdiv) face-to-face or on streaming, depending on the development of Covid-19. Children will attend the Opera House to watch and listen to the opera production with their parents. The opera performance will also be available on streaming for those children and families unable to assist, as well as having in mind the continuation of these pandemic times. One of the main strengths of the project resides in its multidisciplinarity: Musicology, Music Education, Lyric Theater, Research and Diagnostic Methods in Education, Speech and Language Therapy, and Physical Education and Sport Division, which allows to face this task with a complementary perspective and greater capacity for solving and managing the project, as well as for solving possible difficulties that may arise during its execution. Innovation is given by both the interdisciplinary nature of this proposal: Music Education, Opera, Speech Therapy and Diagnostic Methods, Sports Education and Dance, and the creation of new materials around the opera in multimedia formats such as video-tutorials, streaming sessions or an App. The methodologies involved include the methods by Jacques Dalcroze, Karl Orff, Edgar Willems, Maurice Martenot, Jos Wuytack and Shinichi Suzuki, always designed to be presented face to face and online, just in case of pandemic times or simply difficulties derived from living in rural areas.This project makes it possible to respond to the children’s and families’, as well as educators', cultural and musical needs, especially in times of Covid-19, when access to culture is so limited and, at the same time, so necessary.