Our Interns

Tsvetelina Stefanova

 Tsvetelina Stefanova has been an intern at GATE since July 2022. She works in the field of disinformation detection. Her tasks are related to the processing of text data sets and their preparation for training machine learning models, as well as the annotation of linguistic data. The team she is involved in has created a tool to detect false information and disinformation and recognize automatically generated text. Sets of social media posts annotated with lie, sentiment, and truth or falsity tags were published. A scientific report was also written and presented at the 10th Language & Technologies Conference in April 2023 in Poznan, Poland.

Tsvetelina wants to develop in the field of artificial intelligence and more specifically – computational linguistics. In addition to being directly related to this field, the internship contributes to improving her organization and teamwork skills.

“The GATE internship program is special not only because it is related to learning modern technologies, but also because of the opportunity to work on real projects together with researchers from the Institute. Unlike most internship programs, it combines scientific and practical orientation. Shows interns the process of creating innovations from idea through research to implementation and publication. The internship program expands the knowledge of the university education, provides flexible working hours, tailored to the study process, and creates personnel capable of dealing with any challenges in  work.“

Veneta Kireva

 Veneta Kireva’s internship program starts in July 2022 and lasts for a full year. She works on two projects of the disinformation detection and research group. Performs ‘challenging’ but also ‘rewarding’ tasks in social media disinformation detection – pre-processing large datasets, detecting disinformation markers and developing a tool to analyze social media posts. The team is making significant progress in creating datasets in Bulgarian and developing a reliable tool for detecting disinformation in social media. An article describing the results of their work was also published.
“The internship allowed me to work on real research tasks, which was invaluable in developing my skills and knowledge in disinformation detection and data engineering. What makes this program unique is the chance to get hands-on with authentic research projects. At GATE, trainees are given the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge to real-world problems and receive guidance from experts in the field.”

Alexander Stoychev

 Alexander Stoychev has been an intern at GATE since the beginning of April 2023. He works on the project to create a test-center for big data and artificial intelligence of the NATO network DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) at the Institute. Performs administrative tasks and conducts research on the project.
Alexander studies political science with a specialization in national security. He plans to develop in the field of security and the GATE project is an excellent opportunity for him to take the first steps in this field.
“At GATE I have the opportunity to practice what I want to be my specialization in the future and to work in a pleasant and good environment for development. I enjoy the internship, I learn new things every day about how the security sector works and the team at GATE is positive and friendly.”

Michaela Zherkova

 In the period March-April 2023, Michaela Zherkova was an intern at GATE and worked on the project “Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory for Digital Media – BROD”
She performed tasks for synthesis of information and development of structuring skills. She compiled a list of mentions of BROD in digital media.
Michaela has focused on professional development in the field of journalism. “The internship at GATE helped me develop skills to discover publications in the electronic media, to search for information about the results of held events and conferences. It gave me the opportunity to draw conclusions about the completeness and impact of a news story on society.”
She chose the internship at GATE because she sees in it a unique opportunity to upgrade her theoretical knowledge of journalism. She was attracted by the possibility of communication in an international environment and the exchange of ideas beyond the borders of the region and the country.
“I was proud to be mentored by Bulgarian scientists who apply in their work models based on scientific arguments and high expertise”, says Michaela.