Following the academic traditions, the ceremony took place in the university’s Aula. The Rector, Prof. Dr Martin Polaschek, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Prof. Dr Michael Walter, delivered the opening speeches. Prof. Dr Harald Heppner (Institute of History) gave the laudatio, in which he praised the merits of Prof. Dr. habil. Ivan Parvev and introduced the arguments for the award. Prof. Dr Margit Reitbauer, Deputy Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Humanities, presented the diploma. Prof. Parvev took the floor for a brief acceptance speech. He expressed his gratitude for the high honour. Prof. Parvev also stressed his willingness to continue contributing to the further development of the academic relations between the two universities, as well as between the Bulgarian and Austrian academic institutions.

Karl-Franzens University (Graz), founded in 1585, is the second-largest Austrian university. Among the outstanding scientists, who researched and taught at the University of Graz, are several Nobel Prize laureates, including the novelist Ivo Andrić, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger etc.

Professor Dr. habil. Parvev was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of the Karl-Franzens University (Graz) for his long-standing research on the historical relations between Austria and the Balkans in the 17th-19th centuries, as well as for his active participation in the development of the academic network between Sofia University and the University of Graz, enhanced through the joint organizational and research initiatives in the field of the 18th-century history of Southeast Europe.