Nadezhda Yankovska

Chief Ass. Prof. Nadezhda Ivanova Yankovska, PhD

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8276-9205
Researcher ID (Web of Science): ABU-5820-2022

Е-mail: n(dot)yankovska(at)ihist(dot)bas(dot)bg; n(dot)yankovska(at)abv(dot)bg

1. MAIN FIELDS OF RESEARCH

Cold War History; The communist movement after World War II; Eastern Europe and the USSR after World War II; The Third World in the Cold War context; Bulgaria and Africa; Lusophone Africa

2. ACADEMIC CAREER

Education

2015–2019 – PhD in History, Faculty of History, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski

2011–2013 – MS, Faculty of History, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski

2006–2011 – BS, Faculty of History, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski

2003–2008 – BS, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski

Positions held

2020 (continued) – Chief Assistant Professor in the “History of the World and the International Relations in Modern and Contemporary Times” section of the Institute for Historical Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Academic degree and rank

2019 – PhD in History after a dissertation defense on the topic “The Soviet Union and the Challenges for the World Communist Movement in the Period 1953–1964”

Scientific internship

  • June 4–25, 2018 – Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov, Russian Federation.
  • June 2–28, 2017 – Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov, Russian Federation.

Languages

Russian, English

3. PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Years of Crisis: Nikita Khrushchev and the Challenges for the Communist Movement (1956–1964). Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Publishing House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2023, ISBN 978-619-245-322-0. [In Bulgarian]

Studies and articles

  • Soviet-Yugoslav Relations through the Prism of the Sino-Soviet Conflict (1956–1964). – In: Proceedings of the Institute for Historical Studies, vol. XXXIX: About Professionalism in Historical Science. Collection of research papers in honor of Prof. Tamara Stoilova, DSc. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Publishing House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2025, pp. 510-527. [In Bulgarian]
  • Bugarian Support for the Mozambique Liberation Front (1965–1974). – In: Bulgarian Historical Review, 2024, 3–4, pp. 143–169.
  • Major Trends in the African Policy of the Soviet Bloc in the Brezhnev Era (1964–1982). – In: Dzyalo, vol. XI, no. XXVII, 2023. ISSN 1314-9067. [In Bulgarian]
  • Nikita Khrushchev and the Expansion of the Eastern Bloc in Africa. – In: The Benefit of History. Collection of papers from the scientific conference “The Benefit of History”, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Paisii Hilendarski and the 260th anniversary of the writing of “Slavo-Bulgarian History”. Volume II. Plovdiv University Publishing House, Plovdiv 2022, 375–399. ISBN 978-619-7663-45-7. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Impact of the 1956 Hungarian Events on the Western European Communist Parties. – In: Historical Review, No. 3/2022, 46–69. ISSN: 0323-9748. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Crises within the Communist Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. – In: Proceedings of the Institute for Historical Studies. Volume XXXVIII. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Publishing House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2022, 213–228. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Struggle between the PRC and the USSR for Influence in Asia and Africa in the First Half of the 1960s. – In: Russia between East and West: Politics, Ideology, Diplomacy. Sofia, 2022, 231-249. [In Bulgarian]
  • Last Attempts to Preserve Soviet Political Unity (1990-1991) – In: The End of the Cold War and European Integration/Disintegration in the 1990s. Sofia, 2019, 142-155. [In Bulgarian]
  • Political Changes in the Socialist Camp from the Death of Stalin to the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU (1953-1956) – In: Reforms and Reform Initiatives in Bulgaria and the World in the Twentieth Century. Sofia, 2018, 246-261. [In Bulgarian]
  • Soviet Initiatives and Influence Strategy in the Newly Liberated States and Dependent Territories of Asia and Africa (1956-1964) – In: The State Idea in the Modern Era. Sofia, 2018, 193-205. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Activities of the Communist International in the First Phase of the Second World War, 1939-1941. – In: The Second World War – 70 Years Later. Sofia, 2018, 201-216. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Soviet Union and the Latin American Communist Parties (1956-1964). – In: Eastern Europe and Latin America,Sofia, 2017, 132-144. [In Bulgarian]
  • The Turn in Relations between the Socialist Camp and Yugoslavia after Stalin’s Death (1953-1955).History. Year XXIV, Vol. 5, 2016, 490-506. [In Bulgarian]
  • Key Aspects of New Political Thinking and Its Impact on International Relations in the Second Half of the 1980s – In: Integration and Disintegration in Europe in the 1980s. Sofia, 2016, 276-289. [In Bulgarian]

Reviews

  • Scientific Conference “East-West: Religions, Centers and Peripheries”. – In: Dzyalo, year XI, no. XXVII, 2023. ISSN 1314-9067. [In Bulgarian]

4. PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC FORUMS

  • International Scientific Conference „The Other Face of War”, 16–17 November 2025, Sofia.
  • Bulgarian-Slovak Round Table „Contact and Exchange in Central and Southeast European History, 19th–21st Centuries”. Sofia, 20 May 2025. Report: „Czechoslovakia’s Participation in the 9th World Youth Festival’68: Based on State Security Documents.”
  • International Scientific Conference „World War II: Beginning or End of an Era”, organized by Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”. Sofia, 8–9 May 2025. Report: „The People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the Struggle for Independence of Angola (1961–1974)”.
  • International Conference “The East—Near and Far: Texts, Societies, and Cultures”, organized from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies, in partnership with Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Historical Studies, Sofia, 28–30 November 2024. Report: “The Eastern Bloc, Algeria, and the Liberation Struggle in Angola (1962–1965)”.
  • Scientific conference “Bulgaria, Europe and the World: Traditions and Transformations”, organized by the Institute for Historical Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, April 24–25, 2024. Report: “Bulgarian Support for the National Liberation Movement of Mozambique (1964–1974)”.
  • Seminar “Current Problems of History and Historiography”. National Program “Young Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows – 2”, Sofia, November 14, 2023. Report: “Major Trends in the African Policy of the Soviet Bloc in the Brezhnev Era (1964–1982)”.
  • Scientific conference “East-West: Religions, Centers and Peripheries”, October 19–20, 2023. Report: “The Activities of the Eastern Bloc in Africa in the Brezhnev Era (1964–1982)”.
  • Round table “Research on the Contemporary History of Bulgaria: Trends and Prospects”, organized by the “Contemporary Bulgarian History” section of the Institute for Historical Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, March 8, 2023. Report: “Development of the Comprehensive Relations of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria with African Countries (1960s – 1980s)”
  • International scientific conference “The Benefit of History”, organized by Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski”, Plovdiv, September 23–25, 2022. Report: “Nikita Khrushchev and the Expansion of the Eastern Bloc in Africa”.
  • Bulgarian-Slovak Round Table “Crises and Challenges in Eastern Europe – 1950s – 1990s”, organized by the “History of the World and the International Relations in Modern and Contemporary Times” section of the Institute for Historical Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, May 26, 2022. Report: “The Impact of the 1956 Hungarian Events on the West European Communist Parties”.
  • Scientific conference “The Study of World History and Bulgarian Historical Science”, organized by the section “History of the World and the International Relations in Modern and Contemporary Times” of the Institute for Historical Studies” – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, October 5–6, 2021. Report: “The Crisis in the Communist Movement in the 1950s and 1960s – Research Problems, Trends and Prospects”.
  • Scientific conference “Doctoral and Postdoctoral Readings”, Sofia, December 14–15, 2017. Report: “The Soviet Union and the West European Communist Parties (1947–1955)”.
  • Scientific conference “Reforms and Reform Initiatives in Bulgaria and around the World in the 20th Century”, Sofia, October 2, 2017. Report: “Political Changes in the Socialist camp from the Death of Stalin to the 20th Congress of the CPSU (1953–1956)”.
  • Scientific conference with international participation “Eastern Europe and Latin America”, Sofia, December 16, 2016. Report: “The Soviet Union and the Latin American Communist Parties (1956–1964)”.
  • Scientific conference “Doctoral and Postdoctoral Readings”, Sofia, November 9–10, 2016. Report: “XX Congress of the CPSU (February 1956) and the Western European Communist Parties”.
  • Scientific conference “Integration Processes in Europe in the 1990s”, Sofia, October 5, 2016. Report: “Last Attempts to Preserve Soviet Political Unity (1990–1991)”.
  • Scientific conference “Doctoral and Postdoctoral Readings”, Sofia, December 17–18, 2015. Report: “Problems and Contradictions of the Meetings of the Communist and Workers’ Parties in 1960.”
  • Scientific conference “Integration Processes in Europe in the 1980s”, Sofia, March 17, 2015. Report: “Main Aspects of the New Political Thinking and its Influence on International Relations in the Second Half of the 1980s”.
  • Scientific seminar “The Totalitarian Cultural Heritage of Bulgaria”, village of Momchilovtsi, Smolyan region, May 2013.

5. PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS

  • 2025–2026: Collective scientific project „Collective volume in honor of Prof. Dr. Luiza Revyakina“, organized by the Institute for Historical Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (participant).
  • 2023–2024: Collective scientific project „On professionalism in historical science“ in honor of Prof. Dr. Tamara Stoilova, organized by the Institute for Historical Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (participant).
  • 2023: National Program “Young Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows – 2”.
  • 2022–2024: Collective project “Research on the Contemporary History of Bulgaria – Status and Prospects” of the “History of Bulgaria after the Second World War” section of the Institute for Historical Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (participant).
  • 2021–2024: Individual project “The Role of Eastern Europe in Soviet Policy towards Africa (1956–1989)”.
  • 2019–2022: Collective project “The Study of World History and Bulgarian Historical Science” of the section “History of the World and the International Relations in Modern and Contemporary Times” of the Institute for Historical Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.