Science and Arts at the University of Maribor

Dean Korošak is the Vice-Rector for Science and Research at the University of Maribor since 2022. His research focuses on statistical physics and the application of mathematical physics methods in physiology. He is a Full Professor and Head of the Chair for Applied Physics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture of the University of Maribor.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: dean.korosak@um.si

Andreja Nekrep, M.Phil., is Head of the Department for Research and Arts at the University of Maribor. She has been active for many years in the management and development of research activities and participates in both national and international projects.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: andreja.nekrep@um.si

Joso Vukman, Professor Emeritus of the University of Maribor, began his academic career in 1973 at the School of Economics and Commerce (now the Faculty of Economics and Business, UM). In 1977, he earned his PhD under supervision of academic Prof. dr. Ivan Vidav (PhD), the founder of modern Slovenian mathematics. In 1990, he received the Boris Kidrič Fund Award (now the Zois Award) for significant scientific achievements in functional analysis. That same year, he joined the Faculty of Education, UM, where he served as Dean from 1999 to 2003. He was also the founding Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, UM. The research of Professor Vukman lies at the intersection of functional analysis, ring theory, and functional equations. He has significantly influenced the development of the theory of functional identities, one of the most important theories in ring theory over the past thirty years. He is considered a pioneer and founder of theoretical mathematics at the University of Maribor. In 2023, he received the Zois Lifetime Achievement Award. He is ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world according to the Stanford ranking.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: joso.vukman@um.si

Željko Knez is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU), former Dean and current Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the University of Maribor. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Zagreb (Croatia). In the past, he served as Acting Rector and Vice-Rector of the University of Maribor. He earned both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at the University of Maribor. He conducted research in the field of separation processes at Wageningen University (Netherlands) and the University of Erlangen (Germany). He was a member of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE). From 2003 to 2010, he chaired the EFCE Working Party on High Pressure Technologies and was a member of several professional and scientific organizations (EFCE Product Design and Engineering Section, The American Oil Chemists’ Society, International Society for Advancement of Supercritical Fluids – Nancy, France, ProcessNet – Dechema, Frankfurt). Since 2014, he has been a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, since June 2017 a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and since May 2019, a member of the Croatian Academy of Engineering. He is a recipient of the Zois Certificate of Recognition and the Zois Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an honorary member of the University of Maribor Professors Association. His research focuses on the use of subcritical and supercritical fluids at pressures up to 7,000 bar. He has published over 436 articles in SCI journals and delivered more than 650 presentations at various conferences. He has over 16,800 citations and an h-index of 67. In 2017, he was among the top 1% of most cited authors, and in 2022, 2023, and 2024, he ranked among the top 0.35% of the world’s most successful authors according to the ranking of Stanford University. He is the author or co-author of 42 patents (EU, Can, US, WO, JP, etc.) and patent applications, and co-author of 30 books published by Taylor and Francis, Wiley, Woodhead Publishing, Elsevier, Springer, and others. In the field of supercritical fluid applications, he collaborates with industrial partners from Europe and Canada.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: zeljko.knez@um.si

Dušica Pahor, Professor Emerita of the University of Maribor, M.D., specialist in ophthalmology, served as Vice-Dean for Science and Research at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor (MF UM), from its founding until her retirement in 2024. For twenty years, she chaired the Habilitation Committee, the Committee for Scientific Research, and was Head of the Chair of Ophthalmology at MF UM. She has held numerous roles, including member of the UM Senate (2008–2024), member of the Committee for Scientific Research (2004–2024), current member of the UM Habilitation Committee (since 2014), member of the UM Statutory Committee (since 2019), and Chair of the Ethics Committee (since 2021). Since 2008, she has been Editor-in-Chief of Acta medico-biotechnica, which has twice received the Slovenian Science Foundation Award (2012, 2024). She was twice appointed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, on the proposal of UM, to the Committee for Awards and Distinctions for Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research (2010–2013, 2022–2025). For her contributions to the development of MF UM, she received several faculty and university awards. She actively participated in the development of student research work at MF and initiated the idea of Dean’s Awards. She supervised students in research assignments and, under her supervision, students earned three UM MF Dean’s Awards and two UM Perlach Awards. She is a founding member and Vice-President (since 2017) of the Slovenian Medical Academy. For 23 years, she was Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at UKC Maribor, where she received the institution’s highest lifetime achievement award – the Dr. Zora Janžekovič Gold Medal. In 2024, she was awarded the title of Professor Emerita by the University of Maribor.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: dusica.pahor@um.si

Andraž Stožer is one of the youngest Full Professors of Physiology and members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is Head of the Institute of Physiology, Co-Director of the Laboratory Center at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor (MF UM), and President of the Quality Assessment Committee at MF UM. He teaches physiology to students of various disciplines at several UM faculties (MF, FZV, FF, and FNM), as well as at the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Szeged. He leads the research program group Cell and Tissue Networks, is a member of the program core Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine and manages several projects. His research focuses on the mechanisms of development and treatment of type 2 diabetes, pancreatic inflammation, and bladder dysfunction. His group has published numerous high-impact articles in leading international journals. He has been awarded for his work by the UM Faculty of Medicine and the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS).

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: andraz.stozer@um.si

Polona Tominc is the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Maribor and a Full Professor in the field of quantitative economic analyses. Her research focuses primarily on entrepreneurship and the application of quantitative methods in management. She leads the research program Entrepreneurship for an Innovative Society and participates in the international project Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – GEM and the research network on women's entrepreneurship – DIANA. Since 2010, she has actively contributed as an expert at the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education – NAKVIS, where she has led more than forty evaluations and accreditations of higher education institutions and programs. Within the international accreditation network AACSB, she conducts international evaluations of higher education institutions in the field of economics and business.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: polona.tominc@um.si

Gorazd Bajc is a member of the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, where he teaches the history of Europe, the Balkans, and the Slovenian territory in the 20th century. At the Faculty of Arts in Maribor, he also serves as Vice-Dean for Scientific Research and Doctoral Studies. He is Head of the research program Slovenian Identity and Cultural Awareness in Linguistic and Ethnic Contact Areas in Past and Present, the large ARIS basic project AID HCH – Break Through in Humanities and Cultural Heritage with Artificial Intelligence, and the University of Maribor’s program core Heritage Science and Climate Change: New Research with Interdisciplinary Approach and the Use of Artificial Intelligence. His research areas include the history of international relations, intelligence services, Yugoslav/Slovenian-Italian relations, the legal status of the Slovenian minority in Italy, anti-fascism, and violence — including the so-called foibe massacres, as well as violence against women in the Primorska and Istria regions during the transitional periods following the First and Second World Wars.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: gorazd.bajc@um.si

Oto Rimele (born 1962 in Maribor) is a painter, visual artist, multimedia installation author, musician, and Full Professor of Drawing and Painting at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana (1990), where he completed his painting specialization in 1992. In 2004, he received the Prešeren Fund Award for his exhibition Illuminations at the Božidar Jakac Gallery in Kostanjevica na Krki. He has exhibited widely in Slovenia and abroad and was featured in the Top Ten Contemporary Artists publication (London, 2021–2023). Professor Rimele served as Vice-Rector for Arts at the University of Maribor (2011–2012). He proposed the establishment of the University Art Observatory, founded in 2011 by the Slovenian Rectors’ Conference, and served as its long-time president. He was also the Head of the Department of Fine Arts at the UM Faculty of Education and a member of the UM Senate. Rimele is a profound researcher of light. He is widely admired for his paintings – objects, which he describes as “light catchers”. Through a painting process developed over many years, he achieves the impression of complete dematerialization of the exhibited artifacts. The material reality of the images eludes perception, while the viewer is captivated by color-infused shadows radiating like an aura around the object.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: oto.rimele@um.si

Tomaž Svete, born in 1956 in Ljubljana, is a Full Professor of Composition at the Department of Music, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor. He completed his studies in composition and conducting at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana, under Professors Dane Škerl and Anton Nanut, and later at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Professors Friedrich Cerha (“Diploma summa cum laude”), Harald Goertz (“Magister Artium”), and Otmar Suitner. He began his professional career as a composition lecturer at the Karl Prayner Conservatory in Vienna and has been teaching theoretical subjects at the Department of Music, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor since 1995. In the winter semester of 1999, he was a Fulbright Professor at the University of Hartford. His rich and diverse musical opus includes orchestral, vocal-instrumental, solo, and chamber compositions, as well as twelve operas, making him the leading living Slovenian opera composer. He has received numerous recognitions and awards, including the Prešeren Fund Award (2019), the Kozina Award, the Theodor Körner Prize of the City of Vienna, and First Prize at the international competition for opera composition “Johann-Joseph-Fux 2000”.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: tomaz.svete@um.si