FACULTY OF POLYMER TECHNOLOGY

Dean, Project coordinator

Blaž Nardin graduated got MSc and Ph.D. at the Faculty of Mechanical engineering, University of Ljubljana. After graduation, he was employed at TECOS as a researcher, head of CAE department, deputy director, and finally as director. In 2006 he was employed at Gorenje Orodjarna, d.o.o. as general manager. In 2017 he became Executive Vice President at Gorenje d.d., responsible for Dishwashing and later also for the Cooling program. Between 2015 and 2021 he was vice president of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2020 he became a dean of the Faculty of Polymer Technology. His research areas are manufacturing technologies, which are also linked to moulds production, plastic processing technologies and 3D digitalization and reverse engineering.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Huskić studied at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Limburgs Universitair Centrum, Diepenbeek, (now Hasselt University) in Belgium (1997-98).

From 1994 to 2018, he was employed at the National Institute of Chemistry, Department of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, in Ljubljana.

His research work focused on the synthesis and characterization (thermal, chemical, and rheological) of various polymers and the preparation of polymer composites and nanocomposites. He presented the results of his research work in more than 60 articles, numerous conferences and 3 patents.

Maja Mešl is the Head of the Career Center and International Office of the Faculty of polymer technology and an experienced project manager with a Masters in International relations. She has been actively involved in development of study programs and other trainings, R&D project proposal writing, implementation, and coordination of bigger EU projects. She is also experienced in PR and dissemination activities and organization of events, conferences, and summer schools. She is the Exploitation manager of the IPPT_TWINN project and leader of work package 3 – Networking.

Assoc. prof. dr. Irena Pulko graduated from the University of Maribor and then continued her doctoral studies on porous polymers. Part of her PhD research work was done in cooperation with foreign laboratories (University of Durham, TU Graz, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals).

She is currently a teacher and a vice dean for Education at the Faculty of Polymer Technology. Her research focuses on synthesis and characterization of polymers, biopolymers, and biopolymer composites. She was the project leader of the Creative Core FTPO project and she has been involved in various research projects, namely the European FP7 SME 2008-2 project HIP, PolyRegion, PolyRegion-Pro Act, Whole Cyrcle, etc.

Silvester Bolka is the head of the Centre for cooperation with industry and a professor at the Faculty of Polymer Technology in Slovenj Gradec. He is a master engineer of polymer technology (Faculty of Polymer Technology Slovenj Gradec) and an engineer of physics (University of Ljubljana) with 17 years of experience as an R&D engineer and R&D manager in manufacturing companies for the development of new materials. He has experience with research and development projects with industry and project management.

He performs training in companies in the field of processing and characterization.

Assist. Prof. dr. Matija Hriberšek graduated (2011) and received doctorate (2018) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana. In 2013, he joined the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana as a young researcher in Laboratory for machining. He is a leading author of 10 original scientific articles, and a co-author of chapters in 2 scientific monographs. His area of research is the characterization of advanced polymers, various polymer processing technologies and the field of reverse engineering. He joined the Faculty of Polymer Technology in November 2022, where he was elected to the position of assistant professor in the habilitation field of design and technology.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Klementina Pušnik Črešnar graduated at the University of Maribor in 2010 and received her PhD from the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School in 2016. She was the project leader at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (at the University of Maribor) dealing with functional plastic composites. She performed her postdoctoral research at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). Her research interests have expanded to application of nanomaterials in the study of surface properties and interfacial phenomena of sustainable polymer composites. She was joined the Faculty of Polymer Technology as assistant professor in the habilitation field Chemistry and Materials.

Assist. Janez Slapnik received his Diploma (MSc) in Polymer technology in 2017 from FTPO and is currently pursuing a PhD in Polymer Engineering at the University of Leoben. He joined the FTPO in 2015 and serves as an assistant. During his career, he acquired additional experience at the Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH and Vienna University of Technology. His research interests comprise additive manufacturing, functional polymeric materials, and recycling.

Rebeka Lorber is a master engineer of Polymer technology (FTPO) and is working at FTPO is an assistant at multiple courses in topics ranging from chemistry, injection moulding and other processing technologies, moulds and product design. Besides the polymer processing, she is also skilled in characterization of polymers and 3D modelling. Her research focus was related to R&D projects, most recent ones were Mapgears, where new composites for gears were developed, and Maska 100, where health protective equipment was developed. Presently she is working on PhD on Montanuniversitat Leoben in field of material development and processing of vitrimers.

Teja Pešl received her Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer technology in 2020 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology (FTPO), Slovenia. At FTPO, she is employed as an assistant in the bachelor and master study program for courses in the field of characterization and rheology of polymeric materials. Being a member of the FTPO team since 2017, she works in laboratory at multiple research and industry projects and supports students during laboratory and thesis work.

Tamara Rozman received her Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer Technology in 2021 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

She joined FTPO in 2018 right after graduation and now she works as assistant at bachelor and master study, where she covers multiple courses in the field of polymer processing technologies. She also works in laboratory at various research and industry projects and supports students during laboratory and thesis work.

Rajko Bobovnik is a traffic technology engineer. He graduated in 1989 at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport in Portorož.

He was employed in various companies and institutions (UKC Ljubljana, Slovenijaturist, Kompas MTS) and managed his own company for 20 years. Most of his assignments were in project work and logistics.

Being a member of the FTPO team since 2013, he supports FTPO teachers and researchers by carrying out measurements and operating processing equipment, support for students during laboratory and thesis work. He also takes care of laboratory equipment maintenance.

Lara Gosak received her Diploma in Polymer Technology in 2021 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

She joined FTPO in 2022 as laboratory technician.

Sara Jeseničnik has a Master in Cultural Studies and is the Erasmus coordinator at FTPO. She is also responsible for PR activities and organisation of events as well as project reporting for Erasmus and other projects. She has excellent organisational and people skills. She also has vast experiences in PR and dissemination activities, including web and social media. She also has excellent ICT competences. She has led many student projects and has a very good insight into their needs.

Viktorija Zanoškar is a project specialist with numerous experiences in the field of project management with a Master's in Business Sciences. She is a member of the operative part of the project management. Her work covers assignments such as creating project schedules, maintaining project budget, scheduling meetings, overseeing project activities, reporting, creating progress presentations, ensuring deadlines, disseminating project progress and outcomes. During her work experience she gained organizational, communication, time management and analytical skills.