VASSILKA Kozarova, 58, has always been attracted by challenges in life and it was this passion that drove her to become an executive director of the Metallurgical Institute of Kremikovtsi. She has never thought of herself as being less able or less willing than others in her profession just because the industry is dominated by men.
"Competition on the part of men is very strong in this field," Kozarova said. "Looking back through pictures I have available, I can see me and only two other women."
The necessary qualities of a metallurgist are knowledge, consistency and belief, she said. "Patience is also important for what metallurgists do." The work can often lead to discoveries in completely different fields to the one you are researching, she said, and patience helps overcome the obstacles to achieve these results.
Playing chess often helps Kozarova with her decision-making and deciding on an innovative approach to the problems she faces at work. It is then up to her to put these decisions into practice.
"Hard work and confidence is one of the things needed for a metallurgist to become an expert and a professional," she said.
Kozarova believes the metallurgical industry in Bulgaria is lacking resources but still has a good future ahead of it, because it is integral to making the country's other industrial markets competitive on a world stage.
The demands of heavy industry for development in metallurgy will never be satisfied, even in times of recession, she said. "These are necessary for the country and they provoke foreign investors to develop metallurgy."
Born on March 25, 1945, in Sofia, Kozarova graduated from the Chemical Technological Institute. She was then assigned to work at the Kremikovtsi institute, located a kilometre from the industrial plant itself.
Here she specialised in the technology of fuels, which is closely connected with large-scale energy, chemistry and refinery processing plants.
Initially, Kozarova said, she was attracted by the unknown nature of the work ahead. Hers is a multi-dimensional field, as metallurgy requires an expert to have a complex knowledge across a range of disciplines. As an example, "metallurgy is closely related to ecology," she said.
She has since spent her whole life at Kremikovtsi and is now in charge of 80 people.
She is glad that in the process of that time at work, the boundaries between men and women have become less divisive and most now see each other as simply "colleagues".
The institute has changed dramatically in other ways over the past few years and a higher qualification and ability to work under more pressure are now required, she said. New technologies are opening up a demand for new abilities, and being able to adapt to the new programmes and systems of work these introduce are an everyday part of a metallurgist's job today.
The Kremikovtsi plant itself has also had to be restructured. "Before the changes topics, targets and various methods were assigned to the metallurgist," Kozarova said. Now, they are involved more directly in technological tasks and improving the technology of the plant.
New environmental conditions have also been put in place, which were not a consideration before the introduction of a market economy. These include protecting the environment around the plants and the areas where people live or work.
"The problems of pollution in Bulgaria has been brought up publicly recently but did exist even in the past," Kozarova said. "If we were behind in this area it was because of [a lack of] control and rules," she said.
Before the transition, experts working in the field knew what emissions were produced and what technologies are can decrease them, but environmental regulations were not well defined, she said. Now thing are much better in this respect.
"Kremikovtsi is seriously controlled and taken care of," she said. Pollution from the plant has decreased from its peak between 1987 and 1989. After this, the plant began removing heavy metals from production. The old facilities were closed down and are not in operation any more.
Another example of the environmental changes to industrial practice is the introduction of taxes on fuels with a high sulphur content. However, fuel importers should still pay more, Kozarova said. She believes that Bulgaria is still lagging behind the rest of Europe in respect to pollution and the environment.
"Competition on the part of men is very strong in this field," Kozarova said. "Looking back through pictures I have available, I can see me and only two other women."
The necessary qualities of a metallurgist are knowledge, consistency and belief, she said. "Patience is also important for what metallurgists do." The work can often lead to discoveries in completely different fields to the one you are researching, she said, and patience helps overcome the obstacles to achieve these results.
Playing chess often helps Kozarova with her decision-making and deciding on an innovative approach to the problems she faces at work. It is then up to her to put these decisions into practice.
"Hard work and confidence is one of the things needed for a metallurgist to become an expert and a professional," she said.
Kozarova believes the metallurgical industry in Bulgaria is lacking resources but still has a good future ahead of it, because it is integral to making the country's other industrial markets competitive on a world stage.
The demands of heavy industry for development in metallurgy will never be satisfied, even in times of recession, she said. "These are necessary for the country and they provoke foreign investors to develop metallurgy."
Born on March 25, 1945, in Sofia, Kozarova graduated from the Chemical Technological Institute. She was then assigned to work at the Kremikovtsi institute, located a kilometre from the industrial plant itself.
Here she specialised in the technology of fuels, which is closely connected with large-scale energy, chemistry and refinery processing plants.
Initially, Kozarova said, she was attracted by the unknown nature of the work ahead. Hers is a multi-dimensional field, as metallurgy requires an expert to have a complex knowledge across a range of disciplines. As an example, "metallurgy is closely related to ecology," she said.
She has since spent her whole life at Kremikovtsi and is now in charge of 80 people.
She is glad that in the process of that time at work, the boundaries between men and women have become less divisive and most now see each other as simply "colleagues".
The institute has changed dramatically in other ways over the past few years and a higher qualification and ability to work under more pressure are now required, she said. New technologies are opening up a demand for new abilities, and being able to adapt to the new programmes and systems of work these introduce are an everyday part of a metallurgist's job today.
The Kremikovtsi plant itself has also had to be restructured. "Before the changes topics, targets and various methods were assigned to the metallurgist," Kozarova said. Now, they are involved more directly in technological tasks and improving the technology of the plant.
New environmental conditions have also been put in place, which were not a consideration before the introduction of a market economy. These include protecting the environment around the plants and the areas where people live or work.
"The problems of pollution in Bulgaria has been brought up publicly recently but did exist even in the past," Kozarova said. "If we were behind in this area it was because of [a lack of] control and rules," she said.
Before the transition, experts working in the field knew what emissions were produced and what technologies are can decrease them, but environmental regulations were not well defined, she said. Now thing are much better in this respect.
"Kremikovtsi is seriously controlled and taken care of," she said. Pollution from the plant has decreased from its peak between 1987 and 1989. After this, the plant began removing heavy metals from production. The old facilities were closed down and are not in operation any more.
Another example of the environmental changes to industrial practice is the introduction of taxes on fuels with a high sulphur content. However, fuel importers should still pay more, Kozarova said. She believes that Bulgaria is still lagging behind the rest of Europe in respect to pollution and the environment.
