The Second ENGAGE.EU Conference for Early Stage Researchers and Young Scholars took place at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 8-9. The two-day forum’s topic was Decent Work and Economic Growth: Current Issues and Advances Towards SDG 8. 
A total of 19 papers were presented during the conference as the main research directions included: Enhancing productivity through technological advance & innovations; Legal regulations of European business environment; Policies and support for providing decent work conditions; Protection of rights, promotion of safe work environment for all; Stimulating entrepreneurship and innovations, promoting establishment and growth of SMEs, etc.
The two keynote speakers were Dr. Pressian Markov from the UNWE Department of Criminal Legal Studies who presented on the topic “Current Legal and Social Issues Related to Decent Work after Criminal Conviction in Bulgaria”, and Dr. Irina Danailova from the UNWE Department of Human Resources and Social Protection with her presentation entitled: „The European Framework DigComp 2.0: the Case of Bulgaria“.
The panels also included presentations of three of the core research initiatives of the ENGAGE.EU аlliance – the Think Tank, the Research Community Platform, and the Grant Desk, providing many opportunities and support to all academics within the consortium.
The UNWE Vice-Rector for Research and ENGAGE.EU local coordinator Associate Prof. Michael Musov warmly welcomed the participants: “Our ENGAGE.EU European University is the best way to be together in the common European educational and scientific space and work to create value for our societies. European иniversity аlliances are a cornerstone for each of the European Commission’s priorities today – education, research and innovation, and impact. This is because they have the potential to change the educational and scientific space, and in this respect ENGAGE.EU is unique and we are all proud to be a part of it. We are also particularly proud of the idea of creating today’s conference, because it is aimed at you – the young researchers who carry the spirit of Europe’s next generation.”
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee Prof. Dr. Venelin Boshnakov added: “The topics of the conference are interdisciplinary, covering a wide thematic scope of different scientific fields. This is so because one of the goals of our alliance is to provide opportunities for sharing ideas and discussing current issues of our academic and public life. So, I hope that each of you will find like-minded people in your subject area, collaborators and project partners“.
The conference papers will be published according to the preferences of the authors: either in a Conference Proceedings edited volume or in a special issue of one of UNWE’s leading scientific journals: the Yearbook of UNWE.