Nikolai Borissov Spassov CURRENT POSITION: Curator of mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, Bulg. Acad. Sci. EDUCATION: 1974: M.Sc. in Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology - State University of Sofia WORK EXPERIENCE 2000: PhD. in Zoology - NMNH., Sofia, 2000 2011: Professor at the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia since 2011 2011–2020: Director of the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences RESEARCH INTERESTS: Palaeontology and faunal evolution, taxonomy, morphology & ecology of mammals, Wildlife conservation MEMBERSHIP AND AWARDS: Member of the Bear Specialist Group (IUCN- SSC) 1991-1995 Member of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology (USA), since 2000 Member of the editorial board of Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen since 2008 Member of the Hominoid Analytical Working Group of RHOI (REVEALING HOMINID ORIGINS INITIATIVE) since 2009 1989 - award of the Bulgarian and Polish Academy of Sciences for ecological studies 1997 - Henry Ford award for the conservation of the national cultural & natural heritage 2009 – The Academician Ivan Buresh award of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia for contributions to the zoology and palaeontology of Bulgaria as well as to the progress of the Museum. 2021 – The Marin Drinov award of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for scientific merit.