CURRENT PROJECTS:

New Project Social Media Leadership Incubator for Danube Region (SMILE Incubator)

The Research Centre (RC) Regional and Global Development (REGLO) is part of the consortium of a new Interreg Danube Region Project Social Media Leadership Incubator for Danube Region (SMILE Incubator) (DRP0301090).

The project officially started on 1st April 2025 and will be implemented in the next 30 months.

The SMILE Incubator project recognises the urgent need for action and aims to empower youth living in rural areas by providing them with the essential skills, competences and tools. Through targeted campaigns and initiatives, the project seeks to reverse current trends by equipping young people with the necessary resources to succeed in their rural environment. In this way, sustainable development and resilience is promoted in these communities, which need active and innovative political leaders who encourage investment in human capital, motivation and creativity.

The main objective of the project is to develop a transnational Social Media Leadership Incubator for rural youth that will serve as a mechanism to strengthen leadership skills and empowerment, thus contributing to the development of sustainable democracies in the DR. The main target group is youth from underdeveloped rural communities, but activities will also have aimed at academics, NGOs, the public sector and civil society.

The SMILE Incubator will be managed and implemented by a diverse but balanced consortium of 20 partners (Lead Partner – The School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica,

Slovenia, 15 Project Partners, and 4 Associated Partners) from all 14 countries of the Danube Region, with complementary competences, experience and expertise, creating synergies that will lead to high relevance and quality of results.

The kick-off event took place on 28th of May 2025 in the premises of the School of Advanced Social Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The RC REGLO was represented by the Chair of the Governing Council Prof. D.Sc. Yantsislav Yanakiev.

 

SMILE Incubator Project Consortium

Culinary Trail of the Ethnic and Local Cuisine in the Danube Region (Culinary Trail)

 

Culinary Trail supports Danube Region program and its Specific Objective 3.3 by addressing the ethnic (its 30 ethnic groups, including Jewish heritage and heavily marginalized Roma communities) and local culinary heritage (including viniculture), including heritage in geographically remote and underdeveloped communities, thus providing significant economic opportunities for rural areas and small settlements. Culinary Trail will employ the culinary heritage as an opportunity to revitalize and diversify tourism, to promote local economic development, create employment opportunities, and encourage frugal and social innovation. It will engage minorities, but also other marginalized groups that face disadvantages on the basis of youth, old age, gender, disabilities etc. In doing that, Culinary Trail will enable the Danube Region to capitalize on its vibrant and diverse ethnic landscape, rich and complex history and cultural traditions. Culinary Trail will improve interconnection and cooperation between tourist destinations, services, products, and stakeholders, it will encourage short value chains and promote quality products from the primary sector in the Danube Region. To do that, Culinary Trail will:

  1. Collect, digitalise and protect the culinary cultural heritage of its 30 ethnic groups (digital catalogue), to effectively safeguard culinary heritage and local knowledge, preserving traditional recipes, techniques, and cultural significance attached to them.
  2. Develop transnational Culinary Trail route with several transnational trails spanning the Danube Region. These trails will integrate ethnic and local culinary heritage information, providing a multimedia experience through the digital trail component integrated into the digital catalogue. Trails will prioritise green mobility options such as bicycles, public transportation, electric car chargers, and water travel, promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly modes of transportation.
  3. Developing transnational strategy for the protection and development of ethnic and local culinary heritage in the Danube Region.
  4. It will revalorise, re-interpret, upgrade and connect the isolated and poorly visible culinary products in a joint thematic transnational cultural heritage product, by developing a business model with a transnational brand and a franchise for the Danube Region; this will include annual transnational culinary festival and two prototypes (small river boat and small food cart).
  5. Establishing joint Demonstration and Training centre, with all the necessary infrastructure and equipment, will to support practical localised and transnational training and demonstration activities.
  6. Three capacity-building modules (Ethnic and Local Culinary Heritage for Small Businesses, beginners and advanced sommelier skills for ethnic cuisine in the Danube Region) in physical, online, and hybrid formats will be used to train 60 participants during the project.
  7. Joint Culinary Trail Innovation and Policy centre with 14 hubs (one in each Danube Region country) will connect stakeholders to promote sustainable and slow heritage tourism, harness local resources and value chains, and frugal and social innovation after conclusion of the project.
  8. The centre will develop 33 transnational action plans, covering 30 ethnic groups from all 14 countries of the Danube Region, one for recent migrant groups and for risk scenarios like Covid-19 and war in Ukraine.

Culinary Trail will contribute significantly to implementation of EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) by developing a total of 3 solutions, which will be tested in 7 pilots. During the project, we will develop a total of 34 strategies and action plans. In this, 27 organisations will cooperate across the border (19 project partners and 8 associated strategic partners).

Culinary Trail will increase institutional capacity of 250 organisations due to their participation in cooperation activities across the borders. Throughout the project Culinary Trail will actively engage a variety of target groups from across the Danube Regions in its activities. NGOs (especially those advocating minorities, other disadvantaged groups, working on social cohesion, tourism and education), local businesses (especially in tourism, local crafts, culinary activities etc.) and business support organisations, public authorities (local, regional and national) and sectoral agencies, academic institutions (universities and research institutes).

With a comprehensive and balanced partnership covering all 14 countries of the Danube Region (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro Romania, Serbia Slovenia, Slovakia, and Ukraine).

The Lead Partner is the School of Advanced Social Studies from Slovenia.

The duration of the project is 30 months. It starts on 01.01.2024 and will finish on 30.06.2026.

The Research Centre (RC) Regional and Global Development (REGLO) will contribute significantly to the study of ethnicities, intercultural relationship, with strong links to ethnic minorities. Moreover, the REGLO will contribute to the development of strategy, policy-making and organisational development. Also, the previous experience of the staff of the RC REGLO will be instrumental for the Culinary Trail project.

Partners -School of Advanced Social Studies, https://www.fuds.si/en/

COMPLETED RESEARCH PROJECTS:

  • Melia Observatory Project: The main objective of the project was to improve democratic transnational governance by developing transnational media literacy observatory, based on cooperation between different relevant stakeholders, 2020-2022.
  • Fostering Innovation in the Danube Region through Knowledge Engineering and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Management (KnowING IPR), 2019-2022
  • High-performance Computing for Effective Innovation in the Danube Region (InnoHPC), Interreg, Danube Transnational Programme, DTP1-1-260-1.1. 2017-2019
  • Improving expertise on labour relations’ impact on youth employment and employability in Central and South-Eastern Europe (VS/2016/0104), Industrial relations and social dialogue Programme , VASAS Szakszervezeti Szövetség, Budapest & Research Centre Regional and Global Development (REGLO). 2017.
  • BROKERING ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE SANITATION FOR EUROPE (BESSE), BESSE 226744/2009 – Seventh Framework Programme, Theme Environment , 2009 – 2012
  • COMPARING THE SOCIETAL INTEGRATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES, INTAS, 2005-2007;
  • DYNAMICS AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF THE LABOUR MARKETS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN EASTERN EUROPE, INTAS, 2005-2007;
  •  POLICY RESPONSES OVERCOMING FACTORS OF INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF INEQUALITIES – PROFIT, 2004-2007;
  • ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA ARCHIVE IN BULGARIA, UNESCO/MOST, 2002-2004;
  • TRANSFORMATION RISKS AND CHANGING QUALITY OF LIFE, ANNUAL NATIONAL SURVEYS 1992-2005;
  • MASS MEDIA AND ETHNICITY IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe,   2005;
  • ETHNICITY AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, 2004;
  • ETHNIC RELATIONS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, 2003;
  • PERSONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH TRANSFORMATION RISKS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, UNESCO/ MOST, 1996-2001;
  • LABOUR FORCES, EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN PERNIK MUNICIPALITY, FWF, 2001;
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE, Eastern Europe Center Berlin, 2001;
  • UNESCO/MOST-ISSC INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL „COMPARATIVE RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES“, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009;
  • LABOUR MARKETS AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE, WZB Berlin, 2000;
  • SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE NEW MASTER PLAN OF SOFIA, Municipality of Sofia, 1998, 1999, 2000;
  • LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT IN PERNIK, LODZ AND TVER, UNESCO/MOST, 1999;
  • MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS ON MUNICIPALITY LEVEL, Bulgarian National Fund for Scientific Research, 1997;
  • NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORTS, UNDP, 1995, 1996, 1997;
  • SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE, UNESCO/MOST, 1995;
  • STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF RISK SITUATIONS: RISKS OF TRANSITION, World Society Foundation, Switzerland, 1993;
  • SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE BALKAN COUNTRIES, National Fund for Scientific Research, 1993;
  • SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE BALKAN COUNTRIES, UNESCO, 1991.