Thursday, 21 March 2024 VICE-RECTOR PROMOTED FIVE NEW DOCTORS OF SCIENCE
On Thursday, 21 March 2024, a solemn promotion of Doctors of Science of the University of Primorska took place in the hall of the Armeria Palace in Koper. The Vice-rector of the University of Primorska promoted five new Doctors of Science, who completed their doctoral studies between October 2023 and by the end of February 2024. As of today, the University of Primorska has 336 Doctors of Science.
Dr. Katjuša Gorela, Dr. Katja Vrhunc Pfeifer and Dr. Niki Hrovatin were graduated at the ceremony and in the (excused) absence: Dr. Maheshya Weerasinghe and Dr. Željka Pećanin.
At UP FAMNIT are two newly promoted Doctors of Science.
Maheshya Weerasinghe defended her doctoral dissertation at the UP Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies entitled »Instructional Guidance in Extended Reality for Learning« under the mentorship of izr. prof. dr. Matjaž Kljun, izr. prof. dr. Alice Toniolo and prof. dr. Aaron Quigley and co-mentorship of izr. prof. dr. Klen Čopič Pucihar and izr. prof. dr. Angela Miguel.
Doctoral dissertation summary
This thesis aims to contribute new knowledge on how Extended Reality (XR) technologies can be used to design and develop interactive, adaptive Experiential Learning (ExL) systems that can be integrated into future learning environments. This is accomplished by (i) presenting a comprehensive design space grounded in XR technology and the theoretical underpinnings of learning and instructional guidance, and by (ii) conducting three different user studies (VRNaV, ArigatŌ, VocabulARy), each focusing on an interactive experiential learning system developed based on a particular configuration of the presented design space.
Niki Hrovatin defended his doctoral dissertation at the UP Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies entitled »Enabling Decentralized Privacy Preserving Data Processing in Sensor Networks« under the mentorship of izr. prof. dr. Jernej Vičič and co-mentorship of prof. dr. Michaël Mrissa.
Doctoral dissertation summary
This thesis advances sensor networks by addressing privacy and centralization challenges. It introduces a unique privacy-preserving protocol using layered cryptography for arbitrary in-situ computation, and new efficient methods for distributing the processing load of machine-learning tasks across sensor network nodes. These innovations will lead to scalable, efficient, and secure sensor networks that can perform analytics in the network without the need for extra cloud facilities.
Katjuša Gorela defended her doctoral dissertation at the UP Faculty of Education entitled »Representation of poverty in Slovenian fairy tales and in reading books for the second educational cycle of primary school« under the mentorship of doc. dr. Barbara Zorman
Doctoral dissertation summary
The doctoral dissertation is a three-part research focused on the analysis of poverty in Slovenian fairy tales collected in the most relevant fairy tale collections and in reading books for grades 4, 5 and 6 of primary school. The doctoral dissertation argues that the school environment, and within it in particular the literature classroom and the treatment of Slovenian fairy tales, is the appropriate place to introduce and expose children to problematic issues such as poverty. A list of twenty Slovenian fairy tales thematising poverty from different angles has been created for this purpose. The list is intended for teachers and those who are committed to destigmatising and eliminating the social exclusion of the poor.
Katja Vrhunc Pfeifer defended her doctoral dissertation at the UP Faculty of Education entitled »The intervention competences of educators in residential treatment centres in crisis situations« under the mentorship of doc. dr. Nina Krmac and co-mentorship of prof. dr. Ivana Borić
Doctoral dissertation summary
The doctoral dissertation presents the first comprehensive analysis of crisis situations in Slovenian residential treatment centres faced by educators. It is also an analysis of the situation in the field of crisis intervention and thus the formulation of the necessary set of basic and specific competences that educators need for effective intervention. The research involved all residential treatment centres in Slovenia, and based on the information obtained, in addition to the competency framework, we have developed proposals for effective intervention, specific to each crisis situation.
Željka Pećanin defended her doctoral dissertation at the UP Faculty of Management entitled »A model of consumer buying behavior when deciding to purchase "superfoods"« under the mentorship of dr. Tina Vukasović.
Doctoral dissertation summary
Nowadays, there are more and more products on the market that meet consumer needs. In recent decades, it has been a great challenge for many manufacturers, retailers and, ultimately, marketers as well as advertisers to become familiar with consumer behaviour and the factors that influence people’s purchase decisions. We explored mutual correlations between selected purchasing factors and their impact on consumer purchase decisions when buying superfoods in Slovenia. We also presented superfoods and looked for substitutes among native foods, comparing their prices. With quantitative research we came to the conclusion that the leading factors in the purchase of superfoods is advertising. We also find that consumers who have a higher personal income need less exposure to advertising compared to consumers with a lower personal income in order to decide to purchase superfoods. In any case, it would be difficult to get consumers to decide to buy superfoods without an incentive, in this case advertising.
