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Dr. Sanela Pansinger receives Horizon Europe - ERA postdoctoral fellowship for integrating citizen science into urban planning
Austrian researcher Dr. Sanela Pansinger has been awarded a postdoctoral ERA fellowship under the European Commission's call for proposals HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS for a two-year research project HUBCITIES at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Ljubljana, where she will work with her supervisor Dr. Lucija Ažman Momirski from the Department of History, Theory and Restoration. Dr. Lucija Ažman Momirski explained, 'The main aim of the project is to develop a new approach to sustainable spatial development of airport and seaport areas using citizen science. Residents are actively involved in co-designing and negotiating future spatial and urban development through joint research with urban planners. This approach makes urban planning more satisfying for residents, professionals and all other stakeholders".
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EUTOPIA invites students to register for a debate event in Paris
Two students from the University of Ljubljana (1st or 2nd level) will have the opportunity to participate in the 1st EUTOPIA Ideas Club. This is an international student club that aims to raise awareness of European values. The first meeting will focus on the theme of inclusion and cultural diversity. The aim is to give students a voice in shaping and developing a European identity and inclusive citizenship.
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EUTOPIA's 2023/2024 Academic Year officially launched this year with the signing of the formal establishment of EUTOPIA as a non-profit international institution
Europe, EUTOPIA and the need for a new renaissance are the words that epitomise this year's launch of the EUTOPIA Academic Year 2023/2024, which will be organised in close cooperation with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) at the European Parliament. Jan Danckaert, Rector of VUB, announces: "The European Parliament is the ideal venue for our EUTOPIA Academic Opening Session. My message is clear: Europe and the world need a new renaissance and a new enlightenment, and alliances like EUTOPIA are key to achieving this vision."
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Lea Rems, PhD, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana, successful in the European Research Council’s call for proposals
The European Commission has published the results of the call for proposals for the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 2023. After a ten-month evaluation process, 400 projects were selected for funding from almost 2,700 applications from all over the world. Among the successful applicants is the researcher Lea Rems, PhD, who will lead the EUR 1.5 million, five-year ERC project REINCARNATION at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana (UL FE).
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3D Printing of Piezoelectric Sensors Unaffected by Electromagnetic Interference
Researchers from the University of Ljubljana have developed a unique method for printing advanced sensors that are not affected by electromagnetic interference. The 3D printing of sensors allows for their rapid and adaptable integration into other 3D printed structures, even in hard-to-reach places, which is particularly important in medicine, such as in customized prosthetics. At the same time, these sensors can be used to monitor the lifespan of other 3D printed structures, such as parts for the automotive industry.
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Irregularities in hydrogen fuel cell catalysts
The increasingly evident consequences of climate change are a major motivation for the development of low-carbon technologies, among which fuel cells, using hydrogen as fuel, hold great promise. One of the obstacles to the wider commercialization of the technology is the use of expensive and rare platinum in catalysts, which is why effort goes into trying to reduce the amount of platinum used while preserving the relevant properties of these materials. For the oxygen reduction reaction, one of the reactions in a fuel cell, we use catalysts with alloyed nanoparticles containing platinum and cheaper transition metals. Since certain defects in the nanoparticle structure can occur during the preparation of the catalyst, the effects of all aspects of the structure on the performance in the fuel cell need to be studied in detail.
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The DIACOMET Project has Begun: Dialogue Expands Horizons
A new EU-funded project DIACOMET, involving ten European universities, media companies, non-governmental and research organizations, started with a kick-off meeting at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Lithuania.
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The thin line of sheet metal forming
The production of thin-walled components from sheet metal is an integral part of the automotive, aerospace and other industries. Forming the initial sheet metal into the desired final shape of the product requires overcoming reaction forces and thinning of the sheet metal, which can lead to fractures. Knowing the influence of many parameters of the forming process allows controlled change of the shape of the workpiece, thus achieving the target shape of the final component.
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Project »FEATURE«: Far-from-Equilibrium ATtractors at Ultra-Relativistic Energies
One of the grand challenges facing the high-energy physics community is understanding the far-from-equilibrium evolution of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). This new postdoctoral Marie Skłodowska-Curie project, carried out at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, will take the critical step to bring theoretical understanding to the level of complexity required for realistic phenomenology, by fully characterizing the properties of the QCD attractor without resorting to simplifying assumptions done in the current preliminary studies. This will be done via the inclusion of fermionic degrees of freedom and by relaxing simplifying spatial symmetries.
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Mathematical physicist Prof. Dr. Tomaž Prosen has become the first in Slovenia to receive his second prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant (ERC ADG)
The awarded ERC AdG, which is aimed at established researchers, is undoubtedly the most prestigious scientific project that an individual researcher can receive. For Prof. Dr. Tomaž Prosen, this is already his second such project, this time titled QUEST (Quantum Ergodicity: Stability and Transitions). In addition to being a top-level success on a global scale for the researcher, it is also an outstanding achievement for the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana - primarily for its exceptionally high-quality research environment that it provides for researchers and their groups.
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Selected projects under the EUTOPIA-SIF call for postdoctoral fellowships
The University of Ljubljana participates in the EUTOPIA-SIF project with the original partners of the EUTOPIA Alliance, where postdoctoral fellowships for young researchers are offered each year.
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Treating wastewater through cavitation and understanding the effects of bubbles on bacterial cells
Increasing environmental pollution and drinking water shortages are a growing socioeconomic problem, in which cavitation technology can contribute to a cleaner and greener approach to wastewater treatment. Cavitation is a physical phenomenon that describes the phase change from liquid to vapour and back at constant temperature. The mechanical, thermal and chemical effects of cavitation can be utilised for various purposes, including to inactivate microorganisms in drinking water and wastewater. It has been proven that cells are subjected to damage in the immediate vicinity of a bubble. Further numerical analysis has identified the formation of microjets as a possible mechanism of bacterial cell damage.
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New method for predicting adult height
Researchers from Jožef Stefan Institute and Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, developed a new method for predicting adult height of children and adolescents. The method uses large population data collected in the framework of the SLOfit program over decades. It compares the growth curve of a child with those of the most similar individuals and substantially outperforms the existing height predicting methods.
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Hydrodynamic cavitation can be used to inactivate enveloped viruses
Researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, led by Prof. Dr. Matevž Dular, have shown in an experimental study that the phi6 virus, which belongs to the viruses with a lipid envelope, can be successfully inactivated using hydrodynamic cavitation. The study is significant in that it shows that hydrodynamic cavitation has the potential to inactivate pathogenic enveloped viruses in water under ambient conditions. Although the primary mode of transmission for enveloped viruses is not water, the recent pandemic has reminded us that we need to be prepared for the worst, given the possibility of the emergence of enveloped viruses or virus strains that can be transmitted through water in the future.
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Eutopia MORE Universities and the Rectors' Forum of South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans on internationalisation strategy
On 12 and 13 June 2023, the first workshop on internationalisation strategy was held at the University of Montenegro in Podgorica, in the framework of the European Association of Universities Eutopia More and the Rectors' Forum of South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. The workshop was also attended by the Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Prof. Dr. Gregor Majdič.
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Teden Zveze EUTOPIA v Lizboni: registracije so odprte!
Z izhodiščem v premisleku Za boljšo Evropo (For a Better Europe), bo med 19. in 23. junijem 2023 potekal izbran nabor dogodkov za študentke in študente, raziskovalke in raziskovalce ter zaposlene na partnerskih univerzah EUTOPIE – učne in raziskovalne skupnosti desetih evropskih univerz, ustanovljene z namenom aktivnega sodelovanja pri ustvarjanju in prenovi skupnega visokošolskega prostora. Srečanje zveze desetih evropskih univerz EUTOPIA bo gostila Univerza NOVA v Lizboni. Dogodki bodo potekali v živo in prek spleta.
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Eutopia Week in Lisbon: registrations are open!
With For a Better Europe as the starting point, a selected set of events for students, researchers and staff of EUTOPIE partner universities - a learning and research community of ten European universities established to actively participate in the creation and renewal of a common higher education area - will take place between 19 and 23 June 2023. The meeting of EUTOPIA, the Union of Ten European Universities, will be hosted by NOVA University in Lisbon. The events will take place live and online.
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A research breakthrough in the dating of historical books
Heritage scientists can now date historical paper using only infrared light and computational analysis of spectroscopic data. In the research of postdoctoral researcher Dr. Floriana Coppola and colleagues, which is published in the top scientific journal 'Journal of the American Chemical Society', shows that it is possible to date paper extremely accurately, even to 2 years. An uncertainty this low is not possible with any other method, much less with a non-destructive method.
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Using cavitation to break down invisible water pollutants
Researchers from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the National Institute of Chemistry conducted an experimental study in which they achieved the degradation of a water-soluble synthetic polymer - poly(vinyl alcohol) PVOH - by acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation. The use of PVOH is rapidly increasing, and as a result, increasing amounts of this material are being released into the environment. PVOH is widely used in the textile and paper industries, as well as in households, for example in the form of detergent pods. It is estimated that thousands of tons of it are washed into the aquatic ecosystem every year.
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Prof. dr. Slavko Splichal has received the 2023 Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award
Academy member Slavko Splichal has received the 2023 Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award for his book Datafication of Public Opinion and the Public Sphere: How Extraction Replaced Expression of Opinion, which was published last year by Anthem Press in London and New York.
