Chief Assist. Prof. Aleksey Potebnya, PhD

Chief Assistant Dr. Aleksey Potebnya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Teaching Geography (2005), and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, with a focus on Marketing. Since 2015, he has served as a part-time lecturer, and since 2021, as a full-time faculty member at the Department of Business Administration within the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA), Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In 2023, he was promoted to the academic rank of Chief Assistant, and since 2024 he has held the position of Academic Secretaryof the Department.

Dr. Potebnya teaches across undergraduate and graduate programs at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Faculty of Geology and Geography at Sofia University.

Since 2022, he has served as the Program Administrator of the Master’s Program in Digital Marketing. From the academic year 2024/2025, the program became the first fully online master’s program at FEBA, offering an innovative approach to teaching marketing in digital environments, combining theoretical foundations with hands-on applications.

In addition, Dr. Potebnya is the Program Director of the Master’s Program in Gamification in Business, Public, and Non-Profit Sectors, which explores the application of game-based mechanisms across various domains of management and education. The program provides cutting-edge strategies for engaging users and employees through gamification and is unique within the region.

Between 2019 and 2023, Dr. Potebnya was part of the team at the TechnoMagicLand Interactive Center for Science and Technology—the first entirely Bulgarian STEM center. The center applies interactive and experiential approaches in non-formal education, including gamification, and plays a key role in promoting science among younger audiences.

Courses Taught:

• 2015 – Marketing (BA level)
• 2017 – Digital Marketing (BA level)
• 2018 – Merchandising (BA level)
• 2018 – Personal Selling (BA level)
• 2018 – Fundamentals of Successful Sales and Merchandising (MA level)
• 2019 – Brand Management (BA level, Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication)
• 2020 – Marketing and Digital Marketing (BA level, in English)
• 2021 – Fundamentals of Successful Sales (MA level, in English)
• 2021 – Gamification Project in Business Processes (MA level)
• 2021 – Learning Through Play and Games (MA level)
• 2023 – Advertising (BA level)
• 2024 – Introduction to Digital Marketing in Tourism (BA level, Faculty of Geology and Geography)

Academic Supervision

Dr. Potebnya supervises graduate students in thesis work across several key fields, including:

• Marketing and strategic marketing management
• Digital marketing and artificial intelligence
• Consumer behavior and psychology
• Gamification in education and business
• Brand management
• Marketing in tourism

His mentorship approach emphasizes the synthesis of academic theory with real-world practical application, tailored to emerging challenges in digital communication and marketing practice.

Research Interests and Publications

Dr. Potebnya’s research focuses on the intersections of marketing, digital transformation, gamification, consumer behavior, and artificial intelligence. His academic work includes:

• Digital Marketing – Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Behavior (2019)
• Digital Marketing: An Introduction (2019)
• Doctoral dissertation: “Evaluating Brand Presence in the Digital Environment and Proposals for Optimization”(2020), focused on trust-building in digital spaces
• Gamification and Consumer Psychology (2023) – co-authored

He has presented at academic conferences with contributions such as:

• Development of a Gamified Electronic Learning Resource for Children: Marketing in Folk Tales and Fiction (2023)
• Exploring Gamified Electronic Platforms for Marketing Education Through Folk Tales and Fictions (2023)

Research Project Involvement

Dr. Potebnya is an active member of several strategic research projects:

• Gamification in Education for Building an Effective Competency System in the Context of Industry 5.0
  A project exploring the role of gamification in education aligned with the transformation driven by Industry 5.0.
• Gamification in Education and the Workplace
  Part of FEBA’s strategic research portfolio under the SUMMIT program, funded through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The project focuses on developing and applying gamified models for modern learning and organizational development.
• Project CoDE
  A three-year interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to mapping and analyzing Bulgaria’s information ecosystem, with a strong emphasis on countering disinformation. Dr. Potebnya is part of the project team at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University, in collaboration with:
• Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia University
• GATE Institute (Big Data for Smart Society)
• Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (IICT), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• European Software Institute – CEE, and the companies Webcentric, Contipso, and Identrix

Professional Experience

Alongside his academic responsibilities, Dr. Potebnya is a seasoned marketing expert and consultant with over 15 years of experience, working with prominent Bulgarian and international brands. His practice covers strategic marketing, branding, digital media, and education innovation.

Contact Information

Office Hours:
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Office 211
Wednesdays: 16:00–18:00 (by appointment)

Email: aleksey.potebnia@feb.uni-sofia.bg

Academic Profiles:

• Web of Science Researcher ID: A-8196-2019
• ORCID: 0000-0003-3791-0326
• Sofia University Academic Portal: https://authors.uni-sofia.bg/