news - Archive

Thursday, 15 December 2016 U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia guest at the University of Primorska

On Wednesday 14 December, the University of Primorska had the honour to host Brent Hartley, U. S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, who has visited the university together with the Embassy Aconomic Attaché H. Reisinger and the Economic and Commercial Specialist, Mirjana Rabič.

The main topic of the meeting, which was attended by the rector of the University of Primorska, prof. Dragan Marušič, University board members, US researchers at our University and the ones who are intensively cooperating with the United States, was the optimization of the current cooperation and the development of future ways of collaboration.

Particular attention was paid to research- and development innovation linkages between the academic institutions and businesses enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic. As good example of this kind of cooperation, Michael Burnard has presented the project Renewable Materials and Healthy Environments Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence (InnoRenew CoE). In its Living Laboratory, 62 stakeholders representing industry, consumers, and researchers (two of them are from the United States) are gathered to collaboratively explore, design and validate themes, opportunities, and risks for new innovative renewable material based products, services and systems.

Friday, 2 December 2016 Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon: "UP is a young University full of ambitions and potentials!"

On 1 December, a very special guest has visited the University of Primorska. We had the honour to host the president of the European Research Council, Acad. prof. dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon. The visit was organized in collaboration with the Slovenian Business and Research Association in Brussels.

Prof. Bourguignon has joined the meeting of the 8 EMC organizing committee, and after a fruitful meeting with the rector of UP prof. Dragan Marušič, he delivered a fascinating lecture titled "Modern geometry - from local to global, from smooth to rough, from static to dynamic."

The lecture was recorded and is available for viewing here.

Before his departure, prof. Bourguignon has shared with the press his impressions about the University of Primorska. He specially admires our dynamic research team which recently has been very successful. This ambitious group of researchers will not only organize the next European Congress of Mathematics in 2020 but they just obtained the European Commission grant for the establishment of the InnoRenew CoE. All this clearly shows the potential of the University which has been cooperating with many different (also business) institutions.

(Foto: meeting of the 8 ECM organizing committee, meeting with the rector, lecture. Credits: Alen Ježovnik)

Tuesday, 29 November 2016 Staff Exchange Programme with the University of Primorska

University of Primorska received Erasmus+ support for incoming mobility for staff and is now inviting all interested candidates to apply for an exchange.

The condition for the mobility programme is the signed Erasmus+ agreement between two universities - UP and your esteemed university. The selection criteria for participants have to be defined by their sending higher education institution, in agreement with the receiving institution - UP.

Candidates should be nominated by their home institutions by 20 December 2016.

All mobilities must end before 31 May 2018.

UP FAMNIT will accept exchange staff from the following countries: 

ARGENTINA

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 14 days
• budget: subsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 1.100 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - ARGENTINA

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 5 days
• budget: subsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 180 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

BRAZIL

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 10 days
• budget: ssubsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 1.100 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - BRAZIL

CHINA

• number of incoming staff: 4
• exchange duration: 14 days
• budget: subsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 820 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching (3) and training (1)
• more information in the open call - CHINA

ISRAEL

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 10 days
• budget: subsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed- up to 360 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - ISRAEL

SERBIA

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 5 days
• budget: subsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 275 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - SERBIA

INDIA

• number of incoming staff: 1
• exchange duration: 10 days
• budget: ssubsistence costs/day - maximum 100 €, travel costs reimbursed - up to 820 €
• staff exchange programme for teaching
• more information in the open call - INDIA

You can find more information here.

Enclosure 1: academic calendar

For more information please contact our International Office at international@famnit.upr.si.

Friday, 25 November 2016 Acad. Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon guest at our University

University of Primorska and the Slovenian Business & Research Association, Brussels

are pleased to invite you to the lecture entitled

MODERN GEOMETRY, FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL,
FROM SMOOTH TO ROUGH, FROM STATIC TO DYNAMIC

by Acad. Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (CNRS – IHÉS)

Lecture will be held in the BURJA 1 lecture room, UP FHŠ, Koper
on Thursday, 1 December 2016 at 3 pm.

Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was the Director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) from 1994 till 2013. This international research institute located near Paris, France, was built as the European counterpart of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was also the first ERC Panel Chair in Mathematics, for Starting Grants.

A mathematician by training, he spent his whole career as a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). He held a Professor position at École polytechnique from 1986 to 2012. From 1990 to 1992, he was President of the Société Mathématique de France and President of the European Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1998. He is a former member of the Board of the EuroScience organisation (2002-2006) and served on EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) committees since 2004. Since 2014 he is President of the European Research Council.

Professor Bourguignon received the Prix Paul Langevin in 1987 and the Prix du Rayonnement Français in Mathematical Sciences and Physics from the Académie des Sciences de Paris in 1997. He is a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society and has been the secretary of the mathematics section of the Academia Europaea. In 2008, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of Keio University, Japan, and, in 2011, Doctor Honoris Causa of Nankai University, China.

(foto credits: pikasle.com)

Sunday, 13 November 2016 Signed cooperation agreement between UP and Lomonosov Moscow State University

The past week was truly amazing for the University of Primorska. On the same day, we received the decision about the EC grant awarded for the establishment of the InnoRenew CoE, we also signed cooperation agreement between the University of Primorska and Lomonosov Moscow State University. We established Joint education and research centre of both universities and simultaneously established the representation of the Russian university in Koper.

Joint education and research centre represents a new success story of our university, as it will create new opportunities for economic cooperation between the two countries. We also plan to create new double-degree study programmes. UP FAMNIT will especially deepen its cooperation with the Lomonosov Moscow State University in the fields of Mathematics and Computer Sciences.

The gallery from the signing ceremony can be found on the UP BUDI portal.

Friday, 11 November 2016 The University of Primorska and its partners were awarded a major grant by the EC to support forest sector and construction sector research, development, and innovation

The European Commission recognised the potential of the consortium of Slovene partners, led by the University of Primorska, and awarded it with a grant of almost 15 million Euros to establish the Renewable Materials and Healthy Environments Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence (InnoRenew CoE). The Government of the Republic of Slovenia added 30 million Euros of investment funding to boost development of the new research centre.

The Centre of Excellence will pursue research, development, and innovation in renewable materials use, with a focus on supporting the circular economy and providing positive health benefits in buildings. The centre will elevate Slovenia to the forefront of sustainable building research in Europe. Drawing from the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills of the consortium and partnership, and from its mentor institute, Fraunhofer WKI, the InnoRenew CoE will develop new, smart, sustainable and modern living environments suitable for all generations.

InnoRenew CoE will strive to become an international hub of scientific excellence in the field of renewable materials and ensuring quality of life. The new centre of excellence will bring excellent original scientific discoveries and offer support to research, development, and innovation in Slovenia and abroad. With an extensive public engagement programme, the centre will also emphasise the importance of the use of renewable materials and of sustainable development to industry, the public, and policymakers alike.

Andreja Kutnar, project leader, emphasised that, “everyone will be welcome at the centre and we believe it will become a good example of cooperation between researchers, industry, and the public. We will lead the transformation of the Slovenian and European industry be knowledge driven and accomplish more with our limited renewable resources than ever before. This shift will enable the industries we will work with to gain competitive advantages in the world market.”

The number of institutions involved in the projects outreach and stakeholder network (Living Laboratory InnoRenew) confirmed the need for such a centre and supported its development. 62 partners from 20 countries joined the group, which range from small and large enterprises to research organisations and public institutions. Living laboratory InnoRenew gathered to collaboratively explore, design, and validate themes, opportunities, and risks for new innovative renewable material based products, services, and systems. The Living Laboratory is a research concept focused user-led design and engagement in an open, innovative ecosystem, which brings together research and innovation processes in a public-private partnership. It emphasises systematic cooperation among stakeholders in open and joint development of new ideas, products, and solutions.

The project was developed by 9 partners. The University of Primorska is the project coordinator, while the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research – Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut – an advanced institution for research, development, and industry innovation from Germany, acted as a mentor institution. Other partners involved in the project are the University of Maribor, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, the Pulp and Paper Institute, Eurocloud Slovenia, the National Institute of Public Health, and the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region.

Partners used a half a million Euro starting grant from the European Commission to develop the project and prepare a business plan for the centre. The outcome was an second-stage proposal and highly developed business plan that has been awarded with additional funding by the European Commission and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. Public funding will be available to the centre for five years. In this period, conditions for independent and sustainable operation of the centre will be laid down.

Andreja Kutnar added, “I believe that in five years of the centre’s operation, we will make a significant contribution to the growth of Slovene economy, to the growth of the employee added-value and to the elimination of breaks in the forest-wood chain. We will reach a point in Slovenia where Slovenian wood products and solutions will be used for high-value purposes throughout the world and our research and innovation will influence the development of the sector globally.”

Residents of the Primorska region will be able to observe the centre in their environment, as the region will host the newly built centre, which will give employment to more than 50 excellent scientists coming from all over the world.

The broader societal impacts of the project will be seen as the forest and construction sectors become more innovation and knowledge based. The products they will produce from the outputs of the new centre will be better for the environment, produce positive health impacts for building users, and provide the foundation for the recovery and development of regional forest sector and construction companies.

More: http://innorenew.eu/en/

The project is co-funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union; H2020 WIDESPREAD-1-2016-2017 - Teaming phase 2.

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 UP Scholarship Fund - Call for applications

The call for scholarship applications of the Scholarship Fund of the University of Primorska has been published on Tuesday, 25 October 2016.

Students who would like to apply must submit the requested documentation by Monday 7 November 2016.

The Scholarship Found of the University of Primorska is managed by the University, while it is supported by national, municipal, private and other financial sources. Special emphasis is given on linking students with prospective employers, who invest in the scholarship fund and also have an option to choose which students they will support with their funds.

You can read more about this year invitation here (only in Slovene), for more information please contact the Career Centre of the University of Primorska (05/61 17 632 or 05/61 17 633, danijel.bandelj@upr.si).

Monday, 24 October 2016 Russian research institutions now closer to UP FAMNIT and UP IAM

UP FAMNIT and UP IAM have successfully obtained new funds through a public tender for co-financing scientific research cooperation between Slovenia and the Russian Federation. This means that in the next two years our researchers will strengthen the existing cooperation by hosting in the following Russian Universities and Research Institutions: Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Volga State University of Technology, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Institute of Biomedical Chemistry.

Leaders of the five approved projects are: dr. Dragan Marušič, dr. Tomaž Pisanski, dr. Andreja Kutnar, dr. Bojan Kuzma, dr. Dušanka Janežič.

The list of all approved projects is available here.

Monday, 17 October 2016 Assoc. prof. Guido De Philippis guest lecturer at our Faculty

UP FAMNIT and UP IAM are pleased to invite you to the lecture »The Plateau problem« by Assoc. Prof. Guido De Philippis, PhD, which will take place on Monday 24 October at 10.00 in FAMNIT-VP (Glagoljaška 8, Koper).

Guido De Philippis works at SISSA – The International School for Advanced Studies (Trieste, Italy) and has been recently awarded EMS Prize 2016.

EMS prizes are awarded to young researchers not older than 35 years, of European nationality or working in Europe, in recognition of excellent contributions in mathematics.

Lecture Summary:

In its classical formulation Plateau problem asks to find the surface of minimal area spanning a given boundary. Understanding the proper notion of surface, area and of "spanning a boundary" has lead since the pioneering works of Almegren-De Giorgi/Federe-Fleming/Reifenberg in the 50's to the development of beautiful and powerful tools in Geometric Measure Theory.
I will review the state of the art on the Plateau problem by presenting a series of old and new results concerning existence and regularity of solutions.

About the lecturer:

EMS Prize 2016
Guido De Philippis was awarded EMS Prize 2016 for his outstanding contributions to the regularity of solutions of Monge-Ampére equation and optimal maps and for his deep work on quantitative stability inequalities for the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian and rigidity in some isoperimetric type inequalities.

Research Interests
Guido De Philippis is working in the area of Calculus of Variations, Geometric Measure Theory and Partial Differential Equations (PDE). In particular he is interested in the study of regularity and singularity issues in geometric variational problems (minimal surfaces, shape optimisation problems, capillarity problems) and non linear elliptic PDE. He is also interested in the study of qualitative of solutions and in quantitative geometric and functional inequalities.

Curriculum Vitae
2016 Associate Professor, SISSA Trieste (Italy)
2015 Chargé de Recherche CNRS, ENS Lyon (France)
2014 National Italian Habilitation as Associate Prof. in Math. Analysis
2014 Post Doc, University of Zurich, Zurich (CH)
2013 HCM Post Doc, Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, Bonn (Germany)
2012 PhD in Mathematics, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa (Italy)
2009 MSc in Mathematics, University of Florence (Italy)
2007 BSc in Mathematics, University of Florence (Italy)

Friday, 14 October 2016 UP FAMNIT offering scholarship for students from outside the EU

University of Primorska received Erasmus+ support for incoming mobility of students and now is inviting all interested candidates to apply for an exchange.

We are welcoming students from USA, Serbia, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina to apply for international exchange at the UP FAMNIT faculty.

The accepted students will get a scholarship and money to cover their travel costs (the amount of money depends on the distance they are coming from).

For more information click here.

Monday, 3 October 2016 UP FAMNIT welcomes 44 new students from abroad!

This year UP FAMNIT welcomes 44 new students from abroad who have decided to study at our Faculty for a short or a longer time. Among them, 18 are mobility students who came to Koper through programmes such as Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus, while 26 of them are freshmen who just started their undergraduate or postgraduate studies.

Students from abroad represent almost 20 % of all FAMNIT freshmen and they come from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Hungary, Macedonia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine.

Friday, 30 September 2016 Third (last) application term for undergraduate studies (1st year of study)

We are announcing that is still possible to apply to our undergraduate programmes: from 1.-3. October 2016

Candidates must fill in the online application form and send the needed documentation.

Since the deadline is very close, please, contact us promptly at: vpis@upr.si.

Detailed informations are posted here.

Wednesday, 21 September 2016 Second (last) application term for postgraduate studies

We are announcing that is still possible to apply to our Master's and Doctoral programmes.

The current (and last) deadlines are:

• for Master's studies: from 19 to 22 September 2016
• for Doctoral studies: from 23 to 28 September 2016

Candidates must fill in the online application form and send us the needed documentation.

Since the deadline is very close, please, contact us promptly at: referat@famnit.upr.si.

Detailed informations are posted here.

Saturday, 17 September 2016 Our Math department in the top 10 %, according to Multirank!

Mathematics at UP FAMNIT scored excellent results in Multirank and was ranked among the top 10% in its subject. We achieved 20th place among the 216 universities in the world, 18th among the 170 European universities and 3rd among the 32 universities in Slovenia and neighbouring countries (Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia). 

Multirank compares universities and their subjects according to different criteria and we were especially strong in international orientation of bachelor programme, external research income, citation rate and international joint publications.

Our psychology course also achieved great results - it was ranked best among Slovene psychology courses and was placed close to the first third among European universities (53rd place among the 148 European universities). Computer Science department was placed in the middle of the ranking list. 

You can read about Multirank and check the lists your interested at Multirank's webpage. 

Friday, 16 September 2016 Public tender for young researcher candidates for the year 2016

Deadline: 22 September 2016 till 2 p.m

Public tender
Application form
Statement
Instructions
Confirmation and evaluation sheet of the mentor

Deadline: 23 September 2016 till 2 p.m

Public tender
Application form
Statement
Instructions
Confirmation and evaluation sheet of the mentor

Monday, 12 September 2016 PUBLIC TENDER FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS CANDIDATES FOR THE YEAR 2016

University of Primorska based on the Article 12 of the Research and Development Activities Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 22/2006-UPB1, 61/2006-ZDru-1, 112/2007, 9/2011, 57/12-ZPOP-1A) and the Article 102 of the Rules on procedure for (co)financing, Assessing and Monitoring the Implementation of Research Activities (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 4/2011, 72/2011, 45/2012, 96/2013, 100/2013, 92/2014) and on the decision of the selection of mentors for the year 2016 (Slovenian Research Agency document No. 6316-2/2016-297 dated 20 April 2016) based on the Public call for the selection of mentors positions within research programmes in the year 2016 dated 11 February 2016 publishes aPublic tender for young researchers candidates for the year 2016.

Candidates may apply for available posts with selected mentor in the selected field of science and research within the programme group of the University of Primorska members Andrej Marušič Institute (UP IAM).

Presentation of the mentor in the year 2016 is available on the University of Primorska website RAZISKOVANJE – MLADI RAZISKOVALCI .

Friday, 2 September 2016 Famnit successful also in obtaining Erasmus+ projects

UP FAMNIT is more and more successful also in obtaining support for projects under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. Besides mobilities, Erasmus+ supports also cooperation projects between partner institutions.

Thus, we implement mobility projects for students and staff between programme states each year. Since 2015 we are also obtaining support for mobilities with partner states. This year, we were especially successful, as we obtained almost €100,000, which will enable us to support 31 mobilities of students and staff with partner states: 

Simultaneously are UP FAMNIT and UP IAM implementing 4 additional projects with partner organisations: 

ECCUM - Establishment of Computing Centres and Curriculum Development in Mathematical Engineering Master Programme 

We are participating as a mentor organisation and together with the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and POLITO (Italy) we are helping five universities from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to establish a Master programme in mathematical engineering and to establish computing centres at their universities. More about the project, can be read on the project website here. 

Financed centrally through the EACEA.  

ERGOSIGN - Novel learning approach for ERGOnomic principles for deSIGNers working in the upholstery and sleep sectors by using Virtual Reality.

We are cooperating with companies and educational institutions from Romania, Spain and Poland with an aim to provide on-line learning materials (applying also the principles of virtual reality) on ergonomics applied to the upholstery and sleep industry. 

Financed through Romanian national agency.  

DA.RE - Data Science Pathways to re-imagine education

Companies and educational organisations from Italy, Serbia, Portugal, Great Britain and Slovenia will create innovative educational paths in the field of Big Data. Contentually, the project will address machine learning, statistical modelling, predictive analytics and data management, Big Data needs, labour market analysis and value chain development. 

The start of the project is scheduled for September 2016.

Financed through Italian national agency. 

CULTURESHAKE

CULTURESHAKE is a crosscutting project, which addresses intercultural communication in multilingual educational settings, refugees, intergration and information technologies. Under the project, we will develop the teaching methods based on cultural theories, theatre pedagogy and multilingual didactics. Initially, in the pilot, the contentual focus of the project will be on Shakespeare's plays 'Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'The Tempest', which will be used to bring the menitoned topics closer to the students. 

Educational organisations from Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and Slovenia are participating in the project, which will start in September 2016. 

Financed through German national agency. 

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 Our assistant Tilen Genov volunteered in Namibia

Earlier this month, a team of environmental statisticians and biologists from the University of St Andrews (UK), including Tilen Genov from the Department of Biodiversity at UP FAMNIT, held a 4-day course in statistical modelling at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia. The aim of the workshop was to increase capacity and build data analysis expertise in African countries.

The instructors received no payment to teach, so the course could be provided to participants at extremely low cost. The workshop was attended by about 60 participants from various African countries that work on important African wildlife and ecosystems such as elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes, oryx, cetaceans, bushland, desert, savanna, etc. With the newly acquired knowledge, the participants will be able to make better use of their data and contribute to a better collective knowledge and conservation of African nature.

Wednesday, 17 August 2016 ARWU 2016 holds a number of UP FAMNIT’s partners

The ShanghaiRanking Consultancy published the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 2016. The list of the world’s best higher education institutions includes many universities, where UP FAMNIT graduates continue their studies, and a considerable number of UP FAMNIT project and research partners.

UP FAMNIT graduates currently study, or recently graduated, at the following prestigious universities: University of Copenhagen (ARWU #30), University of Edinburg (#41), Technical University Munich (#47), Rutgers, The State University of New Yersey – New Brunswich (#96), University Amsterdam, University Paris Diderot – Paris 7, University of Birmingham, VU University Amsterdam, University of Bonn (all #101-150).

UP Famnit also happily accepts student students from renowned universities. Currently, graduates from National Autonomous University of Mexico and University of Buenos Aires, (both #151–200) study with us, while in October 2016 we expect an Oxford University graduate to become one of our new young researchers.

For many years, UP FAMNIT and UP IAM are cooperating in research with the following universities: Stanford University (#2), Northwestern University (#26), University of Wisconsin – Madison (#28), University of Helsinki (#56), Vanderbilt University (#60), University of California, Davis (#75), Rutgers (#96), The University of Auckland (#151–200) and Oregon State University (151-200).

Every year, more than 1200 universities are ranked by ARWU and the best 500 are published. ARWU adopts six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of Highly Cited Researchers, the number of articles published in journals Nature and Science, the number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance.

ARWU has been recognised as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy league table. 

Wednesday, 3 August 2016 Public tender for young researcher candidates for the year 2016 - Extended Public tender for the mentor Assoc. Prof. Enes Pasalic, PhD

Deadline: 19 August 2016 till 2 p.m

Public tender
Application form
Statement
Instructions
Confirmation and evaluation sheet of the mentor
 

Tuesday, 2 August 2016 Our students again successful at an international competition in Bulgaria!

The 23rd international mathematical competition IMC (International Mathematics Competition for University Students 2016), which takes place every year in Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria, finished on Sunday. This year's edition was held between 25 and 31 July. 

FAMNIT and the University of Primorska were represented by three of our undergraduate students: Marko Palangetić, Roman Solodukhin in Mirza Krbezlija. 

Marko Palangetić won 2nd prize, Roman Solodukhin 3rd and Mirza Krbezlija a certificate.

Results, problems and their solutions can be found on the competition's website. 

We congratulate to our students for their fantastic achievements and we wish them a lot of success also in their future endeavours!

Tuesday, 2 August 2016 2nd round of applications for foreigners open

Yes, you can still apply for studies at UP FAMNIT!

The second round of applications for 1st cycle studies for foreigners is open from 1 until 12 August. The call for enrolment and all information regarding the application procedure are available here.

The programme of Mathematics is implemented also in English. In all other programmes we welcome students from abroad and offer additional assistance!

We already enrol more than 10% of students from abroad, and this share is rising every year, so you will benefit from a multicultural environment and an established support system.

Tuesday, 19 July 2016 Open call for young researchers 2016

University of Primorska published a public Public tender for young researcher candidates with mentors supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) under the Public call for mentors for young researchers 2016.

You can apply for the position of a young researchers with three mentors, who are collaborating with UP FAMNIT and UP IAM:

• Assoc. prof. Andreja Kutnar, PhD (4.01.02 Biotechnical sciences / Forestry, wood and paper technology / Wood technology)
• Assoc. prof. Enes Pasalic, PhD (2.07.00 Computer science and informatics)
• prof. Dragan Marušič, PhD (1.01 Natural sciences and mathematics / Mathematics)

Candidates have to submit their applications by Friday, 29 July 2016.

More information and application forms can be found here.

Tuesday, 19 July 2016 The next European Congress of Mathematics will be on the Slovenian coast!

On Sunday, 17 July 2016, the dean of UP FAMNIT, assoc. prof. Klavdija Kutnar, PhD and rector of UP and president of the Slovenian Rectors' Conference of the Republic of Slovenia, prof. Dragan Marušič, PhD presented the bid to organise the 8th European Congress of Mathematics in Slovenia to the Council of the European Mathematical Society.

The candidature was launched by UP FAMNIT in collaboration with UP IAM, UL FMF, UL PEF, UM FNM and all other organisations active in the field of mathematics in Slovenia, while it was supported also by the MIZŠ, ARRS, SAZU and Slovenian Rectors' Conference. 

The delegates recognised our potential and supported Slovene organisers with 45 votes in favour. With this they gave us an advantage from the Sevilla candidature, which received 33 votes of support. 

European Congress of Mathematics is the second largest mathematical event in the world, after the International Congress of Mathematics and is organised every 4 years. More than 1,000 mathematicians usually take part in it.

Between 5th and 11th July 2020, the congress will be organised in Portorož, Slovenia. The organising committee is chaired by prof. Tomaž Pisanrski, PhD.

Prof. Dragan Marušič, PhD added: "This is a fantastic achievement of Slovene mathematics and science in general. So far Slovenia never hosted a similar event in the past. Today, Slovene science opened even more into the world.

We have a unique opportunity in the next 4 years to further promote Slovenia and its sciences in Europe and the world."

The congress website is available here. 

Tuesday, 19 July 2016 Ars Mathematica Contemporanea in first quarter of best scientific journals

Slovene science recorded another important achievement: Science Citation Index for 2015 placed the journal Ars Mathematica Contemporanea (AMC) in the first quarter of scientific journals in the field of mathematics according to the journal's impact factor. 

The Journal AMC was established in 2008 by prof. Dragan Marušič, PhD and prof. Tomaž Pisanski, PhD. Together with an enthusiastic team of international editors, they are still managing the journal today. 

AMC is published by the University of Primorska in cooperation with the Society of Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers of Slovenia and the Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics Ljubljana. The journal publishes top scientific articles in modern mathematics, especially in the field of discrete mathematics. Articles from algebra, geometry, topology, theoretical computer sciences and combinatorics can also be found in the journal. 

The on-line version of the AMC Journal is availanle open.source on the journal's website. 

The impact factor is used in science as a tool for measuring the influence of the journal and with this the reputation of researchers, who are publishing in the journal. It is set and measured only for the most important scientific journals in the world by the Institute for Scientific Information. 14,000 journals are included in institute's specialised database. The impact factor calculates the citations of the published articles in journals included in the database. 19 scientific periodic publications are included into the database from Slovenia, while the Slovenian Research Agency co-finances the publication of 138 periodic scientific and 18 popular science publications. 

The journal AMC with its impact factor 0.985 took 60th place among the 312 mathematical journals included in ISI. The impact for 2015 counts citations in 2015 from the articles published in 2013 and 2014 and divides them with the number of these articles. 

AMC was included on the list of mathematical journal with an impact factor in 2011 and it was so far included in twice in the third quarter and twice in the second quarter. Constant improvement of journal's influence demands also increase in quality of published articles. To assure high standard of articles, the editorial board accepts less than a third of received manuscripts and with this success, the submission rate increased and acceptance rate further decreased. 

AMC journal is the first Slovene journal, who managed to get into the top quarter of scientific magazines with its impact factor, which represents a new milestone of the Slovenian science. This further defines the Slovenian research in the world. 

Monday, 18 July 2016 More and more international exchanges at UP FAMNIT

UP Famnit obtained additional funding within the Erasmus+ programme for exchanges of students and professors. Our successful application brough very good results: In study years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, professors of our faculty will be able to visit our partner institutions, while students will have a chance to participate in a semester-long exchange in Argentina, Russia, Israel, Brasil and China. 

In addition to these countries, UP FAMNIT will host students and professors also from Bosnia and Herzegovina, USA, Serbia and India. More information will be available in the autumn.

Monday, 18 July 2016 Biological research camp surpassed all expectations

Between Sunday, 3rd July and Friday, 8th July Izola hosted Biological research camp, organised by the Department of biodiversity at UP FAMNIT and Association for Technical Culture of Slovenia (ZOTKS).

6 days of workshops were offered to participants aged 14 to 18 years of age, who explored the diversity of flora and fauna of Slovene Istria - an important area for biological research.

Elementary and high school pupils worked on land, by the sea and in the sea. They did their research in the areas of Simon's Bay, Sečovlje salt pans and Škocjan caves park, while important work was done also in a laboratory at the university campus Livade, where they explored genetics during the day and listened to lectures in the evenings.

The camp was implemented by the professors from the Department of biodiversity, while a biologist Jan Simič from the Magical World of Shells Museum and a geographer Ana Hace from the Slovene society for marine mammals Morigenos offered additional insight into specific topics.

Of course there was enough time available also for an outdoor relaxation and a jump to the sea. 

An interesting camp programme attracted also the media, who happily listened to the stories of enthusiastic participants. A transcript of the Radio Koper’s broadcast can be found here (in Slovene), while newspapers Mandrač (in Slovene) and Primorske novice (in Slovene) also published the articles. 

Biological research camp was financially supported also by the company Omega d.o.o.

Photos from the camp can be found in the photogalery.

Monday, 18 July 2016 Invitation to a W3B project workshop in Brussels on September, 22nd

We invite you to participate at the closing stakeholder workshop of the project W3B – »What We Wood Believe – Societal Perceptions of the Forest-Based Sector«. The workshop will take place on September, 22nd in Brussels. 

Project achievements and the results of the last two years will be presented during the workshop. 

Emphasis will be given on the   importance of communicating innovations of the forest-based sector as well as innovative communication itself.

The invitation with programme is availabe here.

A few words about the project: 

Over the last few decades, growing environmental awareness and an increase in society's interest in topics related to sustainability have led to a greater focus on the forestry and wood sector. The increased interest and new demands are forcing this sector to clearly define its position and significance with regard to climate change, the supply of raw materials and the bio-economy, and to present these topics to the general public in a comprehensible manner. Therefore, the aim of the WoodWisdom Project is the development and exemplary implementation of efficient communication strategies which demonstrate the relevance of the European forestry and wood sector as well that of its services and products on the way toward a sustainable society. In this way, the strategies aim to strengthen society's acceptance of the forestry and wood sector. More on the project website.  

Monday, 18 July 2016 New international LIFE project of the Department of biodiversity at UP FAMNIT

Department of biodiversity at UP FAMNIT received support for the project »Euroturtle – Collective actions for improving the conservation status of the EU sea turtle populations«. LIFE programme of the European Union supported the project developed jointly with partners from Croatia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta with 5 million Euros.   

The project aims to comprehensively protect the European populations of loggerhead sea turtles through a combination of coordinated protective measures and joining main reproduction and feeding habitats within the EU. The project also includes development of new scientific methods and alternative tools for monitoring and protection of populations, especially in marine habitats. The later task will be the main responsibility of our interdisciplinary team of experts led by assist. prof. Bojan Lazar, PhD.

Department of Biodiversity at UP FAMNIT, UP IAM and Department of Applied Natural Sciences at UP FAMNIT participate in the project. 

We congratulate the whole project team and we wish them a lot of success in their research work!