Slovenian Congress Ambassadors 2022

(po abecednem vrstnem redu priimkov):

Honorary Congress Ambassador of Slovenia 2022

Prof. Adolf Lukanović, MD, PhD, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Division of Gynaecology

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Scientific Events

Urška Bittner Pipan, MA, Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia

Prof. Boštjan Golob, PhD, University of Nova Gorica

Marko Grobelnik, PhD, Jožef Stefan Institute

Assoc. Prof. Marko Hölbl, PhD, University of Maribor

Prof. Miha Humar, PhD, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana

Mihaela Jagodic, Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia

Robert Režonja, MA, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food

Alenka Ristić, PhD, National Institute of Chemistry

Prof. Uroš Stritih, PhD, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana 

Rihard Trebše, MD, Valdotra Orthopaedic Hospital

Prof. Bojan Vrtovec, MD, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Division of Cardiology

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Sports Events

Andrej Jelenc, Canoe Federation of Slovenia

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Economy

Katarina Mali Pogačar, Hyla d.o.o.

Interviews with the congress ambassadors

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More information about the congress ambassadors

Honorary Congress Ambassador of Slovenia 2022

Since 1982, he has been employed at the Gynaecological Clinic of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, and since 2008 he has been its medical director. He is engaged in researching new methods of surgical treatment in gynaecology and introducing a minimally invasive surgical approach. Furthermore, he devotes his research to solving urological complications after radical gynaecological operations. He introduced TVT surgery into routine clinical practice for treating urinary incontinence in women and came up with an innovative method of reconstructive surgery to treat prolapse. He focused his research on the possibility of using autologous myoblasts in human medicine and on the possible use of laser non-ablative thermotherapy in the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunctions. As a mentor and sought-after lecturer, he is involved in doctoral studies at home and abroad.

Prof. Adolf Lukanović, MD

Honorary Congress Ambassador of Slovenia 2022

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Scientific Events

Urška Bittner Pipan obtained her master's degree at the University of Ljubljana with a master's thesis on the management of non-profit organisations. For more than twenty years, she has been the head of the program at the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of Slovenia, where she coordinates the development and promotion of a wide variety of cultural activities at the national and international levels. Together with colleagues throughout Slovenia, she promotes a balanced cultural development in Slovenia, as they hold over 2,500 cultural and educational events with local and foreign experts every year. In addition, Urška manages the publishing programs of professional literature and the co-financing of cultural projects at the national level. She is the initiator of various projects to promote creativity and has been leading one of the largest cultural projects in Slovenia for ten years - the Week of Amateur Culture, which acts as a link and brings together more than 1,000 events to promote creativity.

Urška Bittner Pipan, MA

Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia

Prof. dr. Boštjan Golob is the Chancellor of the University of Nova Gorica. Between 1998 and 2021, he worked at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana and was the Head of the Department of Physics and Vice-Dean for Research. His field of research is the experimental physics of elementary particles. In 1996, he defended his doctoral dissertation and later did his postdoctoral training in 1999 and 2000 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN in Geneva. Since 2001, he has been participating in research at the Japanese KEK Centre in Tsukuba. Between 2009 and 2013, he was the physical coordinator, and in 2021 and 2022, the president of the Institutional Council of the Belle II International Group, which includes around 1,200 researchers from all over the world. In 2020, he participated as a representative of the Republic of Slovenia in the European group, which prepared The European Strategy for Particle Physics.

Prof. Boštjan Golob, PhD

University of Nova Gorica

Marko Hölbl is an Associate Professor and researcher at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Maribor. He has 18 years of experience in researching, lecturing and project work. His main research interests include all aspects of cyber security, cryptography, network and internet security, user perceptions and user awareness of cyber security. He was also the chairman of the program committee and editor of the proceedings of the internationally recognised IFIP SEC 2020 conference in the field of cyber security. He will participate in the organisation of the EJC 2023 conference (33rd International Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases). In the past, he also actively participated in organising several international conferences (IFIP SEC 2020; ADBIS 2019; EJC 2015M LTEC 2015; EJC 2009; EAEEIE 2011) and held several invited lectures within the Erasmus+ teaching staff mobility program.

Assoc. Prof. Marko Hölbl, PhD

University of Maribor

After completing his studies in Forestry, he was employed as a young researcher at the Faculty of Biotechnology of the University of Ljubljana, where he completed his doctoral studies. As the best doctoral student of his generation, he received the Jesenko Prize from the Faculty of Biotechnology. After his doctorate, Miha Humar first led courses on forest pests and forest protection and later started lecturing. In 2015, he was named Professor in the field of forest pathology and protection. Between 2010 and 2022, he held managerial positions at the Department of Forestry at the Faculty of Biotechnology. In 2016 and 2018, as Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology, he was responsible for the work of one of the largest and most noticeable Slovenian faculties. Miha Humar is also active in the international field as a member of scientific committees of conferences and a member of international editorial boards. Together with Hojka Kraigher, he has been co-organising the scientific meeting Forests and Wood for twelve years.

Prof. Miha Humar, PhD

Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana

Mihaela Jagodic is a music instructor by profession. She first taught at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. Since 2000, she has been working at the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia, which focuses on various areas of amateur art. She works as the leader of choral activities - thus in charge of overseeing and directing activities, developing educational programmes for choir leaders and organising non-competitive and competitive choral events regionally, nationally and internationally. Moreover, her tasks are setting up and ensuring the operation of the Slovenian online magazine Naši zbori and cooperating with international choirs. She is the program manager of the International Choral Competition Gallus - Maribor, which in 2008 became a member of the association of six demanding choral competitions for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing, which is intended for choirs from all over the world. She is a member of the EGP management board and was voted three times into the executive committee of the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat. During her last term, she was voted vice president. She was the program manager of the Europa Cantat 2021 Festival, which took place in Ljubljana under the most demanding epidemiological conditions.

Mihela Jagodic

Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia

Alenka Ristić works in the Laboratory for Adsorbents at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana. She develops advanced porous materials for adsorption thermal storage. She received her doctorate in chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University of Ljubljana. She has many years of research experience when developing porous materials for air purification, gas and heat storage. She is the author and co-author of 67 scientific publications in international journals with impact factors and one patent. She actively collaborates with industry and various research groups and individuals around the world with specific scientific experience in the field of inorganic synthesis of porous materials, X-ray powder diffraction, nitrogen physisorption analysis, and Raman and UV-Vis spectroscopy. In 2015 and 2016, she further improved her knowledge at the UAE Bayern Center for Applied Energy Research in Germany. She is a reviewer for various international scientific journals in the field of materials science, inorganic chemistry and thermochemical heat storage.

Alenka Ristić, PhD

National Institute of Chemistry

Uroš Stritih studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, graduating in energy and process engineering in 1994. He received the Prešeren Prize for his diploma thesis. Already during his studies, he worked as a demonstrator. After receiving a scholarship for young researchers, he continued his postgraduate studies with the same faculty. In 1997, he defended his master's thesis. After acquiring his MA, he went on a study visit to the Institute of Thermodynamics and Thermal Engineering in Stuttgart (Prof. E. Hahne, PhD) as part of the Tempus Programme. There, he began his doctoral studies, which he successfully completed in 2000. Between 2001 and 2004, he worked on a post-doctoral project named Technologies for storing thermal energy at the macro and micro levels. His work includes reviewing scientific articles for the following magazines: Energy, Energy conversion and management, International Journal of Refrigeration, Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, Solar energy and International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.

Prof. Uroš Stritih, PhD

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Sports Events

Andrej Jelenc started as a coach in the Kayak Kanu Klub Ljubljana, where he led the junior and member teams in the club. He led the Yugoslav youth national team and continued as the head coach of the Slovenian national slalom kayaking team. Later, he led the Slovenian kayaking teams in all disciplines as the director of the kayaking teams. During this time, he also led the professional council of the Canoe Federation of Slovenia. From 2003 until today, he was a member of all the organising committees of major international competitions in Slovenia, including the European Canoe Slalom Championship in 2005, the World Canoe Slalom Championship in 2010, the European Youth and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships in 2016 in Solkan, the World Youth and U23 Canoe Championships in slalom in 2021 in Tacen and all World Cup Canoe matches in Tacen from 2003 until today. He also worked as a leader at the 2017 European Canoe Slalom Championships in Tacen.

Andrej Jelenc

Canoe Federation of Slovenia

Congress Ambassadors of Slovenia 2022 - Economy

Katarina Mali Pogačar is a detail-oriented, determined and persistent entrepreneur. In 2004, she completed her studies in communication studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. Already during her studies, she devoted herself to work in the family company HYLA d.o.o., which manufactures air and room cleaning systems and became familiar with the marketing and sales within the HYLA system. She participated in the design of the integrated graphic image of the company and its products and established the foundations of the communication strategy. She also expanded her knowledge and competencies in the role of project manager within the company Mestne Revije d.o.o. (2005-2009), where she was in charge of implementing projects, acquiring new clients and helping recognised brands with communication in the media. As a project manager, she developed the key competencies of coordinating work in a dynamic and enterprising team.

Katarina Mali Pogačar

Hyla d.o.o
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