About us
The University of Ljubljana global alumni and associates network or SMUL for short primarily unites Slovenian scientists, professors and other renowned individuals working in the fields of academia, research and development abroad and are associated with the University of Ljubljana. It was created as one of the activities for boosting the quality of degree programmes and strengthening international cooperation and reputation of the University of Ljubljana.
The SMUL responds to members' proposals and notifies them of:
- the developments at the University of Ljubljana and in the Slovenian higher education and research milieus;
- available positions of employment at the University of Ljubljana;
- students', teachers' and researchers' wishes relating to exchange programmes;
- planned educational programmes and R&D projects;
- anything that may be of special interest to the members in terms of the activities of the University of Ljubljana;
- it also responds to the members' proposals for cooperation in the abovementioned fields.
SMUL LEADERSHIP - Mandate: 18 October 2022 - 18 October 2024
President
DR. KLEMENTINA FON TACER, TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Klementina Fon Tacer is an assistant professor of reproductive biology and oncology at Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Fon Tacer received her D.V.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Ljubljana. After postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, and St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, she joined a newly established School of Veterinary Medicine at Texas Tech University in Amarillo, Texas. Prior to returning to the USA, Dr. Fon Tacer spent two years at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Ljubljana teaching animal nutrition and studying metabolism and cancer. Dr. Fon Tacer is a recent CPRIT Scholar Awardee from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas and an inaugural director of the Texas Center for Comparative Cancer Research (TC3R) at Texas Tech University. The overarching aim of Dr. Fon Tacer’s research is to uncover novel mechanisms that have evolved to protect mammalian cells against stress and discover how and why they are deregulated in disease. To address these questions, her group employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining techniques from classical molecular biology and biochemistry to single-cell technology, genome editing, omics analysis, mouse physiology, and biostatistics. With an interdisciplinary program and comparative approach. Dr. Fon Tacer aims to interconnect veterinary and human medicine to ultimately benefit both, animal and human wellbeing and health. Despite working abroad, Dr. Fon Tacer stayed connected with Slovenia and the University of Ljubljana. She has co-mentored several master's students and a doctoral student, she collaborates on research projects and since 2021, she is the Editor in Chief of the Slovenian Veterinary Research journal, published by the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Ljubljana.
The SMUL Council members
DR. MIHAELA PAVLIČEV, UNIVERSITÄT WIEN
Mihaela Pavlicev is evolutionary biologist with a wide range of interests. After finishing her PhD in Ecology at the University of Vienna, she took several postdoctoral positions in molecular phylogenetics and evolutionary quantitative genetics (Vienna Natural History Museum, Universities in St. Louis and Oslo, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition in Altenberg). In 2013 she was recruited as faculty to the University of Cincinnati Medical School/ Cincinnati Children`s Hospital in Ohio, and returned to the University of Vienna in December 2019, as a full professor for Theoretical Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Evolutionary Biology. Pavlicev`s work focuses at the interface between the organismal structure (its physiology and development) and evolutionary change. This fascinating field touches both on explanations of how the patterns of organismal diversity beyond species arise, as well as why the populations vary along the very specific patterns, thereby also addressing the patterns of pathological variation, i.e., disease. Pavlicev applies both theory as well as empirical research, using vertebrate reproduction as her main system of expertise.
DR. BOŠTJAN KOBE, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
Boštjan Kobe is Professor of Structural Biology and Australian Laureate Fellow at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He received his BSc in chemistry at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and his PhD in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA. His laboratory uses methods of structural biology (in particular crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy) to understand the molecular basis of function of proteins involved in the processes of infection and immunity. Between 2012 in 2014, he was President of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ) . He was awarded the Minister's Prize for Achievement in Life Sciences in 2001, Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowship in 2005, ASBMB (Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) Roche Medal in 2009 and Beckman Coulter Discovery Award in 2018, and the ARC Laureate Fellowship in 2018. In 2018, he also was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2020, he was names Slovenian Ambassador of Science. He has published over 250 scientific articles, including in Nature in Science.
PROF. DR. BOŠTJAN MARKOLI, UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Prof. Dr. Boštjan Markoli is a full professor in the field of physical metallurgy at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering at the University of Ljubljana (UL NTF), where he received his PhD in 2000. He is engaged in the characterisation and development of new metallic materials. In the 1990s he perfected his skills by collaborating with the Technical University of Munich in the development of alloys for the Airbus 320 and the Audi A6. In 2010 he was a visiting researcher at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway, as a Norwegian Government Fellow, and as a Fulbright Fellow he worked at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in 2011 and 2012. More recently, Prof. Dr. Markoli has collaborated with the Université de Lorraine in Nancy as a member of the associated laboratory PACS2, under the auspices of the French CNRS. At his home faculty, he has held several leadership positions and was also Dean of the UL NTF in 2017-21. He has gained experience in managing and evaluating the quality of services and processes in business as a member of supervisory boards in companies. He publishes the results of his research in prestigious scientific and professional publications, regularly participates in international scientific meetings and is a member of international professional associations. He was elected the Vice-Rector of the University of Ljubljana for internationalisation and quality, for a period from 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2025.