Prof. Pavel Poredoš, MD, PhD, President of Slovenian Medical Academy

Darko Brlek is the General Director and the Artistic Director of the Ljubljana Festival. He became the youngest ever director of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana in 1991. A year later he also became the youngest ever artistic director of the Ljubljana Festival, eventually taking over as executive director of the country's most important cultural festival in 1995. In addition to his long-running stewardship of the Ljubljana Festival, he has also held positions at other Slovenian cultural institutions. He was among the founders of the Cultural Chamber of Slovenia and has served as chairman of the Council for Culture of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. He is currently the President of the Expert Council of the Slovene National Theatre Maribor and a council member of Avditorij Portorož. Despite his extensive commitments to the promotion of culture in Slovenia, he is also active in various international bodies. In 1995 he became a member of the EFA Board at the General Assembly in Ljubljana. After becoming the Vice President of the European Festivals Association (EFA) in 1997, he served as its President from 2005 to 2017 and is now the Honorary member of the Association. He is also the President of the Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA) for young festival managers. Art and culture are more than just a profession for Darko Brlek, who in 2016 was one of the two recipients of the annual management award for outstanding economic achievements given by the Finance newspaper and the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana.

Darko Brlek

Prof. Helena Burger, MD, University Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia - Soča

Prof. Leon Cizelj, Jožef Stefan Institute, Reactor Engineering Division

During his long career, prim.full prof. Ivan Eržen, MD, PhD, a specialist in public health, was performing a variety of tasks within the public health in Slovenia, both at the regional and national level. His research field is environmental health. He was leading projects of human biomonitoring and of health impact assessment on different groups of population due to the living at or near contaminated sites. In addition to his rich professional and research work he devoted a lot of time to the students while teaching public health at different levels of education. Through this and trough his publication opus he is transferring knowledge and experience in the field of public health to the young generation and to his fellow as well. He is currently Head of the School of Public Health which is part of the National Institute of Public Health. As a full professor of public health he is active at Universities in Slovenia and abroad.

Prof. Ivan Eržen, MD, PhD, National Institute of Public Health Slovenia

She is working at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Division of Neurology. She has been the first occupational therapist in this field and is now responsible for the Occupational therapy Unit. Besides clinical work she is also responsible for Fieldwork Education. She completed MSc as the first Slovenian occupational therapist at the University of East London, London and is collaborating with international neurorehabilitation organisations.

Jelka Janša, MA, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Division of Neurology

Marko Krevs is a geographer and sociologist of culture who has been teaching social geography and research methodology in geography, especially the use of geoinformatics in modelling, simulations and scenarios of landscape change, at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana since 1990. His research interests lie primarily in the geographical study of quality of life, sense of place and perception of place, and in the use of modern technologies and methods in research and teaching. His long-standing and diverse international activities include guest lecturing at numerous universities abroad, leading international projects and summer schools, introducing geoinformation courses at universities abroad, and serving on the editorial boards of six foreign scientific journals. In the last 20 years, a large number of these projects, mostly focused on the implementation of digital technologies in teaching and research practise, have been carried out in collaboration with EUROGEO, the European Association of Geographers. It is therefore no coincidence that this association was one of the co-organisers of the Hidden Geographies conference.

Prof. Marko Krevs, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Geography

Professor dr. Damijan Miklavčič, dr.h.c. is a full professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. His broader field of activity is biomedical engineering, but he is mainly focused on research into electroporation and its use in biology, medicine and biotechnology. Electroporation enables introduction of molecules into cells that are otherwise deprived of transmembrane transport mechanisms and thus do not cross the cell membrane. Electroporation has been used successfully to increase the effectiveness of certain chemotherapeutics and is known as electrochemotherapy, and for the introduction of genetic material into cells for the purpose of gene therapy and vaccination against infectious diseases. In 2011-2016, he chaired the COST TD1104 European network project for the development of electroporation-based technologies and treatments. Damijan Miklavčič is also the president of the Slovenian Society for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Prof. Damijan Miklavčič, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana

Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD is an assistant professor in informatics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor. In her research, she focuses on the privacy and security of users while using ICT. In pedagogical work, she teaches the basics of programming, databases and information security. She is actively involved in many international projects, including the H2020 project Cyber security cOmpeteNCe fOr Research anD InnovAtion (CONCORDIA), Erasmus+ projects Co-created Interactive Courseware (CiC), Digital Technologies for Lecturing and Learning (DiT4LL), ATHENA international university and in research program Development of cyber security training programs (RUKIV). She is also a founding member of the Ladies in informatics group, which aims to unite female scientists with related research interests and reduce gender gap differences in STEM fields. In the last fifteen years, she has actively participated in the organization of nine international conferences, which took place in various places in Slovenia.

Lili Nemec Zlatolas, PhD, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor

Professor Majda Pajnkihar, PhD, RN, FAAN, FEANS, is the Head of Institute for Nursing Care, senior researcher, and full professor who has participated in numerous national and international projects. She is a pioneer in researching nursing theories in Slovenia. Under her leadership as Dean, between 2012-2021, the Faculty of Health Sciences University of Maribor implemented several nursing postgraduate study programmes and became the first higher education institution to introduce postgraduate study programmes in advanced nursing practice and a nursing doctoral study programme in Slovenia. During her tenure, the faculty has become an internationally recognizable, desirable and respected institution, which includes many internationally recognized experts, the latest knowledge and research findings in its implementation of study programmes, and expands its international network with numerous research projects. Organization of the traditional International Scientific Conference Research and Education in Nursing ensured substantial recognition of Maribor and Slovenia in the international arena. She was a visiting professor at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek (Croatia), the Nursing College in Belgrade (Serbia) and at the Ulster University in Belfast (Great Britain). Professor Pajnkihar is also an honorary professor at Moscow’s I.M. Sechenov University and a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing. In 2018 she became a member of the American Academy of Nursing and in 2020 a member of the European Academy of Nursing. She is also one of the three founding partners of the international group Understanding Development Issues and Nurse Educator Careers (UDINE-C), which connects professors, health professionals and promotes research and education in nursing in various European countries, USA and Russia.

Prof. Majda Pajnkihar, PhD, RN, FAAN, FEANS, Head of Institute for Nursing Care, Head of the PhD Study Programme, University of Maribor, Faculty of Health Sciences

Irma Potočnik Slavič is a full professor at the Department of Geography (Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana). Her research and pedagogical work focuses on rural development in Slovenia and abroad, development inequalities and endogenous development approach. She pays great attention to the knowledge exchange: as a visiting lecturer, through the cooperation with local and regional development stakeholders, involvement in international networks and organization of numerous domestic and international events - including the first international conference on new entrants in agriculture (3-6 February 2020; project NEWBIE is financed by Horizon 2020). When planning events, we always interrelate with the local environment: either in Ljubljana, or rather - according to good geographical habit - go to the fieldwork, when we explore various Slovenian regions, and our participants experience the geographical diversity and mosaic structure of Slovenia and consequently – they usually return later.

Prof. Irma Potočnik Slavič, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Geography

MSc. Črtomir Remec is the Director of the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia and President of the Slovenian Chamber of Engineers; in which the members of its Assembly have repeatedly expressed their confidence in since 2000. In the period of 2003 and 2004 he was President of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (ECCS) Executive Board. Between 2005 and 2011 he was a national member of the Executive Council of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) and from 2015 to 2019 its Executive Vice-President. From 2012 to 2018 he was the President of the European Council of Engineers Chambers (ECEC), of which he is also one of the founding members .

Prof. Črtomir Remec, President of the Slovenian Chamber of Engineers

MOJCA VOLK received her Ph.D. degree in telecommunications from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2010. She is with the Laboratory for telecommunications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, holding the role of Scientific Associate and habilitated Assistant Professor. Her main areas of work are R&D and innovative infrastructure and business model development and prototyping in communication networks, services and applications, with a specific focus on 5G, cybersecurity, and public protection and disaster relief technologies and services. Dr. Volk has been involved in a number of international research and development projects in her fields of interest. Her recent track record includes scientific research and managerial roles in national and European projects in the domain of IoT, e-health, cybersecurity and public safety. She collaborates with various international institutions and societies on a regular basis, including the European Commission, ENISA, Eurostars and COST agencies, and is member of the IEEE and IEICE societies.

Ass. prof. Mojca Volk, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana

Petra Zupet has 15 years of experience in clinical work in athletes medical care. She was the Chief Medical Officer of Slovenian Ice Hockey Federation from 2012 to 2017. She has been the Slovenian National rowing team doctor since 2013 and Slovenian National gymnastics team doctor since 2014. She is the Medical director of IMS Institute for Medicine and sports, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Assistant Professor in Sports Medicine, University of Primorska. Petra is President of Slovenian Sports Medicine Association, Member of Expert Board of Slovenian Olympic Committee, Member of Scientific and Education Commission European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations (EFSMA) and Secretary General European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations.

Ass. prof. Petra Zupet, MD, PeT, IMS Institute for Medicine and Sports

Manca M. Zver has been a part of the fashion industry from her youth, always involved in the latest developments in textile industry and therefore she opted for a career related to fashion and design. Manca finished studies of Textile and Fashion at the Faculty of Design and Mastered at Design Management. Currently, she is a PhD student of Design Management at the Faculty of Management in Koper. In 2017, she was made assistant at the Faculty of Design, holding tutorials for several courses in sustainable product design. She also holds functions of the Head at the House of Design Management and Innovations and Vice Dean for International Relations at the Faculty of Design. She is a member of BEDA and presenter at World Design Talk for WDO and the Faculty of Design. Since the early start of her career she has taken part in different projects, organizing events, exhibitions, hosting conferences. She is dedicated to her work with high standards of work ethics, always encouraging her colleagues to team work and professionalism. During her 10-year career she has been presented with some awards (2 Rozman Awards, Going Green Global Award), which suggest her utmost dedication to work and express her strong conviction that design per se is one of the key solutions to sustainable industry that will enable us and generations to come to lead a happy and healthy life on our planet.

Assist. Manca M. Zver, Head at the House of Design Management and Innovations

Emir Haskić started his journey in tourism in 2006 in the company Hit Alpinea in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia where he worked as an Area sales manager until 2013. Besides covering leisure tourism in different markets, he specialized also in sport and MICE tourism and events and gained lots of experience as Kranjska Gora is world known sport destination hosting several world known yearly events (World Cup in skiing and ski jumping) and as a destination very popular for training camps, indoor and outdoor.In 2013 he moved to capital city of Slovenia – Ljubljana, where he continued his professional journey in Austrian based tourist company Verkehrsbüro under the hotel chain Austria Trend Hotels where he took over the position of Director of Sales & Marketing of the hotel Austria Trend Ljubljana. In 2020 he took over the role of Managing director of the company B4Sport Camps, agency specialized for sport tourism operating mostly in Slovenia and Croatia. After a challenging Covid-19 2020 year, the agency already in 2021 overcame result from 2019 that was the best result by far until then.

Emir Haskić, Director of B4SPORT CAMPS d.o.o, Agency for sports tourism

Marino Furlan, Intra lighting d.o.o. Nova Gorica