Hristo Kyuchukov was born in Provadia. In 1990 graduated as a bachelor in “Elementary School Pedagogy and Russian Language” at the Higher Pedagogical Institute in the city of Shumen, after which he completed two master’s degrees: in “Elementary School Pedagogy” (1991) and “Psycholinguistics” (1992) at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.
He studied one academic year of linguistics at Stockholm University (1992 – 1993). In 1993, he was accepted as a doctoral student and in 1995 defended his doctoral dissertation in psycholinguistics at the University of Amsterdam, then defended his doctoral dissertation in Pedagogy (1998) and a third dissertation for the degree “Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences” (2002) in Bulgaria. He was elected as a professor of “General Linguistics” (psycholinguistics) at Matej Bela University in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.
Hristo Kyuchukov is the first Romani language expert at the Ministry of Education in Bulgaria and as such is the author of the first textbooks for children and students in the Romani language. His name is primarily associated with the introduction of the Romani language as a school and university subject. He is the founder of the specialty “Elementary school pedagogy and Romani language” at the University of Veliko Tarnovo “St. Cyril and Methodius”.
In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Gilles de Villiers, he created the first psycholinguistic tests in the Romani language in the world and organized the first international psycholinguistic studies with Romani children in Europe in the Romani language. For innovations and outstanding scientific achievements in the field of education and psycholinguistics with Roma children in Europe, in 2014 Hristo Kyuchukov has been elected as an academician of the International Academy of Sciences of Pedagogical Education (MANPO), Moscow, Russia.
From 2008 to 2015 teaches “Roma language” at the Universities “Konstantin Filosof” in Nitra and “St. Elisabetta” in Bratislava, Slovakia. Since 2017 is a full professor of intercultural education and psycholinguistics at the University of Silesia, in Katowice, Poland, where he founded the “Roma Research Center” and was elected its Director.
He has published 27 monographs, five of which are in English. There are over 800 posts. He is the author of children’s books, some of which have been published in the USA.
The video was shot by project “Panorama of Roma culture” under the “Cultural Entrepreneurship, Heritage and Cooperation” program, with the financial support of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEF) 2014-2021.