CentersSouth-East European Center for Semiotic Studies

Prof. Kristian Bankov, DSc, PhD

Kristian Bankov (born 1970) has been a professor of semiotics at the New Bulgarian University since 2011 and the director of the Southeast European Center for Semiotic Studies since 2007. He led the organizing team of the 12th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (2014). His interest in semiotics dates back to the early 1990s when, as a student in Bologna, he attended courses by Prof. Ugo Volli and Prof. Umberto Eco. Bankov graduated in 1995 and has been teaching semiotics at NBU since then. In 2000, he defended his Ph.D. at the University of Helsinki under the supervision of Prof. Eero Tarasti. In March 2006, he was awarded the academic title "Associate Professor of Contemporary Philosophical Doctrines (Semiotics)," and in 2011, he became a "Professor of Semiotics." In 2023, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree. Prof. Bankov served as the Secretary General of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS) from 2014 to 2024. He served as Vice-Rector for the international affairs and public relations of the NBU from 2011 to 2012.

Prof. Bankov's initial scholarly interests were in the area of continental philosophy of language, Bergson's philosophy, and existential semiotics. He later shifted his research focus to sociosemiotics and issues of identity. Since 2005, he has been exploring the consumer culture, and in the past decade, his interest has turned to new media, digital culture, and recently to artificial intelligence.

Kristian Bankov is the author of five books and numerous articles in Bulgarian, English, and Italian. He is also active internationally, serving as the chief organizer of the annual International Early Fall School in Semiotics (EFSS) since 2006 and as the representative of the Balkans on the executive board of IASS/AIS since 2007.

Contacts
Building 2, Office 306
tel. +359 2 8110111 ; +359 2 8110171
e-mail: kbankov@nbu.bg