Beyond Boundaries goes to Plovdiv, Bulgaria!

The ‘Beyond Boundaries’ initiative has been a flagship project of the ESRS and ANSS for the last six years. The aim of the project is to reach out to countries inside and outside of the wider European region to promote knowledge and awareness about sleep health, sleep medicine and sleep science in countries that feel they can benefit from further input. Earlier meetings have been held in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2019, and in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2024, which have helped to increase the number of members of the respective local sleep societies. 

The latest iteration of the program saw delegates from all over Europe come to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to attend and present at a national meeting highlighting developments in the sleep field in June 2025. Sleep professionals representing Norway, The Netherlands, Russia, Armenia, Romania, Slovenia, Germany, France and the UK, next to local Bulgarian presenters, offered a three-day conference to Bulgarian somnologists, health care practitioners and Medicine/Life Sciences students. The meeting was organised by the Bulgarian Society of Somnology and the Medical University of Plovdiv, with sponsorship from the ESRS and local healthcare companies. 

Apart from interactions between local and international speakers and attendees, the meeting offered several firsts: it offered the first occasion of the Balkan Association of Sleep Societies (BASS), i.e. Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, to meet in person; the meeting was crucial in setting up a new sleep lab which will be focused on pediatric sleep in Varna, Bulgaria; local healthcare professionals have registered to take the ESRS Somnology exam, and The Bulgarian Society of Somnology received a significant number of new member applications; networking was very successful and projects for future collaboration were discussed, including starting a Bulgarian database for Narcolepsy and Bulgarian database for Sleep apnea, and a shared Balkan registry on sleep apnea.

Preceding the conference, the Executive Committee of the ANSS (EC-ANSS) had a live meeting, discussing ANSS taskforces and preparing grant applications and the annual ANSS meeting to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2026.

The Beyond Boundaries program is open to requests and suggestions; countries within and outside of the wider European region are welcome to discuss with the EC the desirability of organizing a local meeting that can take various forms: an update on sleep medicine and sleep science, assistance in incorporating sleep education in academic curricula, help with setting up a local sleep society, attending meetings with local healthcare authorities and insurance companies, hands-on practical sessions on sleep scoring, etc. Please reach out to anss_ec@esrs.eu and see https://esrs.eu/assembly-of-national-sleep-societies-anss/beyond-boundaries/ for further information.