Prof. Nikolay Denkov

Prof. Nikolay Denkov was born on 3 September1962 in the city of Stara Zagora. He completed his secondary education in 1980 in Acad. Lyubomir Chakalov National High School of Mathematics and Sciences and his higher education at Faculty of Chemistry of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1987.

Prof. Denkov specialised in many places in the country and abroad. In the period 1994-1995, he participated as researcher in Nagayama Protein Array Project, and from 1997 to 1998 he was senior researcher at Rhone-Poulenc Research Centre (CRIT) in Lyon, France. In 2000, Prof. Denkov was visiting researcher in Department of Physical Chemistry at Uppsala University, Sweden. Since 2003-2004 he has been lead researcher in Unilever R&D, Edgewater NJ, USA. In recent years, Prof. Denkov has been invited as a visiting professor in leading universities in France.

In 1993, prof. Denkov obtained doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry, and in 1998 he was awarded the title of  Associate Professor of Theoretical Chemistry. In 2007, he was awarded the degree Doctor of Science in Physical Chemistry. In 2008, prof. Denkov acquired the degree Professor. In 2018, he became a corresponding member of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and in 2019 – a member of the European Academy of Sciences Academia Europaea.

Prof. Denkov performs various scientific activities.  He has made over 165 scientific publications and is a co-author of 10 invited chapters in scientific monographs published abroad by publishers. He has also presented 80 lectures at international conferences (38 plenary sessions). Prof. Denkov could boast of over 7,800 citations registered in SCOPUS, h-index = 45.

He actively participates in the working group involved in the preparation of Cooperation Agreement between Bulgaria and EU and Operational programme  Science and Education for Smart Growth and is a member of the Specialised Scientific Council on Theoretical Chemistry (2008-2010) and Committee on Chemistry at Higher Attestation Commission. Moreover, prof. Denkov is a member of the scientific council of Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at Sofia University and a member of the academic council of Sofia University. He is a member of editorial board of Colloid and Interface Science Communications (Elsevier) journal and of editorial board of Materials (MDPI) journal.  Prof. Denkov owns 12 patents, including 6 international (WIPO, US, Europe) and 4 foreign ones. He is a member of the steering committees of 4 European COST networks: CA17120 “Chemobrionics”, MP1305 “Flowing Matter”; MP1106 “Smart and green interfaces”  and P21 “Physics of Droplets”. Prof. Denkov manages over 45 international projects financed by foreign companies, including Unilever, BASF, Saint Gobain, PepsiCo, Wacker, Dow Corning, Rhodia, and Heineken. Moreover, he manages ROTA-Active project funded by Research Fund under Vihren programme for leading scientists (2020-2025) and is a co-organiser of 4 international scientific conferences (including 1 in France and 1 in the USA) and a member of the scientific committees at 8 international conferences.

Over the years, Prof. Denkov has occupied important management posts, such as  interim Minister of Education (2017) and Deputy Minister (2014-2016), thus contributing to the development of education and science in Bulgaria. He is also actively involved in the management of Sofia University.

Prof. Denkov has been honoured with a number of awards – Lectureship award of Japanese Chemical Society (2020), Solvay annual award for scientific excellence of European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS 2019), Grand Award of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski for scientific excellence (2016) and Pythagoras Grand Award of Ministry of Education and Science (2010). In 2019, prof. Denkov was elected as a member of European Academy of Sciences Academia Europaea. He is holder of Honorary Blue Ribbon Insignia of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (2013) and holds a certificate issued by Japan Research and Development Agency (1995).