On December 1, 2023, at IEFEM – BAS, the project team organized a Seminar on the topic: “The challenges of fieldwork among the “LEFT-BEHIND” in Bulgaria”. The papers were divided into two panels, with each participant presenting their field and the main conclusions of their research within the project. In her presentation, Behrin Shopova spoke about the bilateral relationship between researcher and respondents – approaches, methods and techniques of field research. The dynamics in the relations of families in which emigrants return and the rest emigrate was the focus of Plamena Slavova’s report. Mila Maeva presented the pensioner clubs and the support received by the emigrants’; parents. Yelis Erolova drew attention to the research questions and problems related to the consequences of emigration among the Roma Muslims in North-Eastern Bulgaria. The second panel started with Mina Hristova’s report, in which she went over images of Bulgaria from the point of view of other relatives of emigrants. Financial transfers between those living abroad and their families were the focus of Magdalena Slavkova’s presentation. The focus of Yulia Popcheva's research was on the city of Badante and its women which took place 13 years later, presenting the impact of female mobility and emigration on the city . Varshets, the region and its residents. In the last report from the seminar, Vanya Ivanova put focus on who remains in Bulgaria after returning from living abroad.
In July-August 2023, Magdalena Slavkova conducted fieldwork in the town of Dolni Chiflik, the village of Staro Oryahovo and the village of Trastikovo, Varna region. She did in-depth interviews with three men and five women. Five of the interviewees are from the group of Romanian-speaking Rudari (Kopanari), one man is from the Romani group of Burgudzhii, and two of the interviews were conducted with Bulgarian women. Most interlocutors, who are Orthodox Christians and evangelical Methodist Christians, live in Bulgaria, three of them are returned migrants, and one woman lives with her family in Romania. During the interviews, questions were asked about the way of life of the “left-behind” in Bulgaria, their social and economic situation, how they perceive emigrants, what is their opinion about life abroad and how they communicate with their relatives abroad.
In July 2023, Plamena Stoyanova , PhD conducted a field study in the city of Ruse, focusing on families with multiple emigrants. The study was specifically centered around interviews with grown-up children and emigrated parents. During the interviews, it was noted that those who had not emigrated were firm in their decision to stay in the country, while the emigrated individuals had made a final decision not to return.
In late June 2023, Plamena Stoyanova, PhD conducted a field study in Yambol. The study focused on interviews with immigrant families who returned to Bulgaria while another family member emigrated. These interviews helped trace the dynamics of changing roles between those who returned and those who stayed. The study highlights an essential aspect of the research as many families in Bulgaria have multiple family members who emigrated, and not all of them leave for good. To get a more accurate picture of these relationships, interviews were conducted with multiple family members.
Magdalena Slavkova, a member of the project team, took part in the 16th Congress of SIEF (International Society for Ethnology and Folklore), which was held in the city of Brno, Czech Republic, from June 7 to 10, 2023 under subtitle “Living Uncertainty” (program is available at: 
