Bulgarian National Radio – Hristo Botev (Radio Lectures on Space)
Dr. Stoil Ivanov and Michael Caneff at BNR Hristo Botev studio for the Radio Lectures on Space series.
I was invited to Bulgarian National Radio (BNR – Hristo Botev) as part of the launch of the new series “Radio Lectures on Space” — a programme dedicated to directing public attention toward space science and beyond everyday life.
Together with Dr. Stoil Ivanov from the Faculty of Physics at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, we discussed the Aerospace Engineering and Communications programme, the opportunities it opens in the space sector, and the path that brought me from Canada to Bulgaria and into the field of aerospace.
The conversation also covered our team’s victory at the CASSINI Hackathon — a European Commission competition where, in under 72 hours, we built a prototype model combining multiple satellite Earth-observation datasets to predict the most dangerous avalanche zones in mountain terrain. The jury noted that the Bulgarian team “buried the competition under six feet of snow.”
We discussed how AvMAP (Avalanche Detectors) is now evolving beyond the hackathon into a real business concept, with avalanche maps already developed for Pirin and Vitosha, and work underway for Rila. The segment also touched on my upcoming placement at a European Space Agency centre in Italy, where I will continue work on my thesis.
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