28.11.2025
European Ethics Bowl 2025 is one of the most prestigious European student competitions, focused on ethics, leadership, and public responsibility. This year’s theme is “Ethics of Truth and Information” – highly relevant in the context of polarization, disinformation, and the role of technology.
“We live in an information era. Information and disinformation, as processes, are extremely important in our modern world. We are all flooded with information, and it is crucial to develop critical thinking—meaning the ability to distinguish what is valuable and important to us from what misleads us. This is the foundation of this year’s competition, organized by the European Investment Bank, which is directly related to information and disinformation as processes and the way they are perceived by the general public”, said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Angelov, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, responsible for MBA programmes and executive education, as well as a member of the international jury of the European Ethics Bowl 2025.
He is Director of the AMBA-accredited MBA programme “Strategic Management” and teaches courses including “Fundamentals of Management”, “Strategic Management”, “International Management” and “International Business Strategies”.
According to him, the transition from school to university does not happen instantly; it requires time, as well as the need for young people to adapt to the expectations of their environment. Over time, this helps them develop critical thinking.
“One of our main tasks is the development of critical thinking”. Regarding the competition, Assoc. Prof. Angelov explained that it is held in several stages, and only the best university teams from across Europe reach the final rounds after going through a series of national, internal, and regional selections.
The finals and semifinals of the competition will take place on 22 and 23 November. For the first time, the concluding stages will be held outside the universities that created the initiative—the University of Ljubljana.
“The specific topics will be finalized at the last moment in the form of case studies so that the teams are surprised. They will have a set amount of time to complete each task”, said Assoc. Prof. Angelov.
He also noted that, according to official statistics, over 75% of the content generated in the digital space and on social media is produced by machines—artificial intelligence or bots.
“This in itself is a problem and should raise a red flag for each of us. No matter how well-prepared or experienced we are, anyone can find themselves misled. Cross-checking information from different sources is what we must do”, he added.