Biography
Background
Ivan Tchalakov got his M.A. in Sociology in 1984 at Sofia University, Bulgaria. He graduated in 1988 from the Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) with a thesis on classical sociology of knowledge. Since 1989 he is working in the field of Sociology of Science & Technology and Economics of Technical Change. Between 1999 and 2003 he was elected as president of Bulgarian Sociological Association.
Research
Ivan Tchalakov is working in the fields of Sociology of Sciences, Technologies & Innovation and Economics of Technical Change. Between 1993 and 1997 he carried out an ethnographic study of holographic laboratory (CLOSPI) at the BAS, where he developed the notion of heterogeneous micro-community, constituted on the relationships of passivity and responsibility between human and nonhuman actors (Levinas, Merleau-Ponty). In 1999 he received The Award of Bulgarian National Fund for Scientific Research for the book "Making a Hologram: A book about Light, about Scientists and their world”, Marin Drinov Academic Publishers, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Currently he is elaborating these ideas, studying the Byzantine contributions to the Aristotle’s theory of action and its relevance for understanding scientific and engineering practice.
Since the mid-1990s Ivan Tchalakov has extensively studied the transformation of research and innovation systems in post-socialist countries. He has carried out several large EU and USA funded projects in the field, among them TACTIC, PROKNOW and ATACD projects under EU Framework IV and VI programs, Bulgaria after Wassenaar Agreement (McArthur Foundation), Networks of Transition (Open Society Foundation), Current’s Power (RiskMonitor Foundation). In collaboration with colleagues in France (Michel Callon and Philippe Laredo at Center of Sociology of Innovation, Paris), Romania (Ion Glodeanu, Institute of Sociology in Bucharest) and Macedonia (Mileva Gyurovska, University of Skopje) he studied reconfigurations of regional techno-economic networks in the field of advanced computer communications. These studies revealed the profound changes in industrial research in the countries of South-Eastern Europe, which is now dominated by innovative SME, replacing the previous system of state-funded research. Also, interesting actors of transformation were found - neo-Schumpeterian entrepreneurs, who build their strategies on focused R&D efforts, and who were largely ignored in the existing studies of transition.
Since March 2003 he is International Policy Fellow at International Policy Program, Center for Policy Studies - Open Society Intstitute and Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. (see Project Description ) The study was supported also by CPS 2005 Continuous Fellowship.
Since 2006 as Associate Professor at Department of Applied and Instituional Sociology, University of Plovdiv together with Dobrinka Parusheva from BAS Institute of Balkan Studies, Johan Schot and Ruth Odenziel from Technical University in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, he established joint PhD Programme in the field of History of Technology. The program is managed by the Dutch Foundation of History of Technology. Currently there are two PhD students affiliated to the program.
Since 2006 together with Prof. Deyan Pendev from Economic Institute in Skopje, Macedonia he established M.A. Programme on Management of Innovation and Resarch at Univeristy of Plovdiv (http://innovation-research.org). Till 20012 more than 40 students has successfully passed through the program.
Ivan Tchalakov got his M.A. in Sociology in 1984 at Sofia University, Bulgaria. He graduated in 1988 from the Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) with a thesis on classical sociology of knowledge. Since 1989 he is working in the field of Sociology of Science & Technology and Economics of Technical Change. Between 1999 and 2003 he was elected as president of Bulgarian Sociological Association.
Research
Ivan Tchalakov is working in the fields of Sociology of Sciences, Technologies & Innovation and Economics of Technical Change. Between 1993 and 1997 he carried out an ethnographic study of holographic laboratory (CLOSPI) at the BAS, where he developed the notion of heterogeneous micro-community, constituted on the relationships of passivity and responsibility between human and nonhuman actors (Levinas, Merleau-Ponty). In 1999 he received The Award of Bulgarian National Fund for Scientific Research for the book "Making a Hologram: A book about Light, about Scientists and their world”, Marin Drinov Academic Publishers, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Currently he is elaborating these ideas, studying the Byzantine contributions to the Aristotle’s theory of action and its relevance for understanding scientific and engineering practice.
Since the mid-1990s Ivan Tchalakov has extensively studied the transformation of research and innovation systems in post-socialist countries. He has carried out several large EU and USA funded projects in the field, among them TACTIC, PROKNOW and ATACD projects under EU Framework IV and VI programs, Bulgaria after Wassenaar Agreement (McArthur Foundation), Networks of Transition (Open Society Foundation), Current’s Power (RiskMonitor Foundation). In collaboration with colleagues in France (Michel Callon and Philippe Laredo at Center of Sociology of Innovation, Paris), Romania (Ion Glodeanu, Institute of Sociology in Bucharest) and Macedonia (Mileva Gyurovska, University of Skopje) he studied reconfigurations of regional techno-economic networks in the field of advanced computer communications. These studies revealed the profound changes in industrial research in the countries of South-Eastern Europe, which is now dominated by innovative SME, replacing the previous system of state-funded research. Also, interesting actors of transformation were found - neo-Schumpeterian entrepreneurs, who build their strategies on focused R&D efforts, and who were largely ignored in the existing studies of transition.
Since March 2003 he is International Policy Fellow at International Policy Program, Center for Policy Studies - Open Society Intstitute and Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. (see Project Description ) The study was supported also by CPS 2005 Continuous Fellowship.
Since 2006 as Associate Professor at Department of Applied and Instituional Sociology, University of Plovdiv together with Dobrinka Parusheva from BAS Institute of Balkan Studies, Johan Schot and Ruth Odenziel from Technical University in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, he established joint PhD Programme in the field of History of Technology. The program is managed by the Dutch Foundation of History of Technology. Currently there are two PhD students affiliated to the program.
Since 2006 together with Prof. Deyan Pendev from Economic Institute in Skopje, Macedonia he established M.A. Programme on Management of Innovation and Resarch at Univeristy of Plovdiv (http://innovation-research.org). Till 20012 more than 40 students has successfully passed through the program.