SiEnE's Experts Group is the key expert body of the partnership, responsible for the integration of Slovenian partners in Si MoD, EDA and NATO programmes. The members of the Experts Group are responsible for the provision of expert content and the coordination of the partnership’s activities with members.
Friderik Knez
Primary field: Building physics, Fire Safety
Complementary field: Environmental performance of buildings, Energy in buildings, Energija v stavbah, Fire safety, Fire toxicity
Friderik Knez, B.Sc in Physics heads the Department for building physics at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute. He is involved in studying of the environmental footprint of buildings in their whole life cycle. He was involved in research in the field of energy in buildings. Lately he is active also in fire engineering and fire safety, in particular in the burning process and the toxicity of fire effluents. He is also a member of Technical board at the European organization for technical assessments and convener of the group dedicated to sustainable construction within the organization. In the recent past he was scientific coordinator of several national research programs in the area of sustainable construction. He is also chairman of the professional council of the Slovenian Strategic Research and Innovation Partnership Smart buildings and Home with Wood Chain.
Prof. dr. Gorazd Stumberger
Primary field: Electrical engineering
Complementary field: Electric power generation, Transmission and distribution; Energy conversion; Electricity networks; Energy management systems; Smart grids; Micro grids; Energy flexibility; Electric machines and drives
Gorazd Štumberger, PhD, is a Full Professor of Electrical Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maribor. His research interests include electric power generation, transmission and distribution; power system protection; smart grids, microgrids, renewable energy sources and energy management systems; modelling, optimization, simulations and control of power systems elements, electric machines and drives.
He was a visiting researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (WEMPEC), USA, in 1997 and 2001 and at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1998 and 2000. Between 2010 and 2019 he was a member of the scientific council for engineering at Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS). He is a member of the professional council of the Slovenian Strategic Research and Innovation Partnership Smart Buildings and Home with Wood Chain, leader of the ARRS research program Control of electromechanical systems, and a member of editorial boards of 3 international journals.
Gorazd Štumberger was a project leader of 6 research projects financed by ARRS and 18 industrial projects. He authored 156 articles published in scientific journals and is a holder of 3 international and 3 national patents, and co-author of 7 international patent applications.
Prof. dr. Andrej Kitanovski
Primary field: Energy and Process Engineering
Complementary field: Solid State Energy Conversion, Refrigeration and heat pump technology, Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermal Storage, Thermal Management, Energy in buildings, District Energy Systems
Prof. Kitanovski heads the Laboratory of Refrigeration and District Energy at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering n Ljubljana. He is a member of AHSRAE, ASME, IIR, MRS, EHPA, EASAC. In Slovenia, he is an expert in SRIP - Smart Buildings and Home with a Wood Chain, president of the association SATENA, member of Executive Board Slovenian Energy Association SZE and Energy Council SAZU. Scientific projects cover the caloric technologies of energy conversion. He is one of the leaders of this field in the world and is a pioneer in Slovenia, who opened up this field and started its development. Other scientific areas include the development of thermoelectric heat pumps, micro heat transfer, control of thermal processes in electronic devices and predictive control of energy devices. He cooperates with companies mainly in the fields of thermal processes in household appliances, district energy, heat pumps, and thermal management. In addition to his work at the Faculty Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana, he did research and led projects in the field of energy at the IGT Institute, part of University of Applied Sciences in Western Switzerland. For two years he was Director General of the Directorate for Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness at the Ministry of Economy, where he laid the foundation for innovation environment in Slovenia. He is the founding father of the Slovenian Innovation Forum. He received numerous prestigious awards in the Slovenian and international environment.
Prof. dr. Katrašnik Tomaž
Primary field: Energy engineering
Complementary field: Energy engineering; internal combustion engines; Alternative fuels; advanced combustion concepts; Exhaust emissions; Hybrid powertrains; Electric vehicles; Fuel cells; Batteries; Combined heat and power plants; Numerical modelling of systems and components
Prof. Dr. Tomaž Katrašnik (M), Ph.D. (2004), MSc (2001) in mechanical engineering and BSc (1999) in physics, all at University of Ljubljana and 2 Postdoc projects. He is a full professor and head of the Laboratory for Internal Combustion Engines and Electromobility at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
Currently, he is, at the same institution, acting also as a Vice-Dean for R&D and International Cooperation. His research focuses on meso- and macro-scale modelling of batteries and fuel cells, conventional, hybrid, electric and fuel cell powertrains as well as on internal combustion engines, alternative fuels, advanced combustion concepts, exhaust emissions and combined heat and power plants, where he additionally performs detailed experimental analyses. In these areas he actively participates in multiple international and national research projects as well as in direct funded project with international and national industrial partners. He is author of more than 150 peer reviewed journal and conference papers and multiple of these papers are published in journals featuring top impacts factors in the fields. He is a member of EGVIA and EARPA as well as President of Strategic board of Slovene Strategic and Innovation Partnership (SRIP) Mobility and Leader of Sustainable energy pillar in SRIP Networks for the transition to Circular economy
Doc. dr. Miran Rodič
Primary field: Electric drives, power electronics
Complementary field: Electric drives; Control of AC motors, Electric drives, Electric vehicles, Rapid control prototyping, Hardware-in-the-loop, Functional safety, Model-based control. Power electronics: Control of power electronics converters, Electric vehicles, Rapid control prototyping, Hardware-in-the-loop, Functional safety, Model-based control.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Miran Rodič received a BSc, MSc, and Ph.D. from the University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics. He continued studies with the work in the frame of the postdoctoral project. He is employed as an assistant professor at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics. His research interests are in the fields of control of electric drives and power electronics systems, computer-aided control design, advanced testing systems (Hardware-in-the-loop, dynamic emulation), electrical mobility, and functional safety. In these areas, he participates in numerous national and international research projects and direct marketing projects. He has published research findings in several articles at conferences and in scientific journals. He is a member of the expert council of the Strategic Development Innovation Partnership (SRIP) Mobility, the international organizing committees EPE-PEMC and EPE, and the coordinator of the international CEEPUS network AutoAuto (autonomous vehicles). He is also active in the field of the SI-HU-AT trilateral for autonomous driving.
Doc. dr. Blaž Likozar
Primary field: Chemical engineering
Complementary field: Chemical Process Engineering; Chemical Reactor Engineering; Chemical Reaction Engineering; Catalysis; Optimisation; Intensification; Scaling; Multi-Scale Process Modelling; Thermodynamics; Kinetics; Transport; Mechanics; Hydrogen; Carbon Dioxide; Biomass; Hydrocarbons; Energy; Circularity
Prof. Dr. Blaž Likozar (senior research associate; assistant professor; department head) earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2008 at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology. He has been a member of the National Institute of Chemistry (NIC) since 2011, working as senior research fellow, assistant professor and department head in the field of chemical engineering (Department of Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering); he leads the program “Chemical Reaction Engineering”, as well as numerous research projects (e.g. 14 H2020). His present expertise lies (among others) in engineering, heterogeneous catalyst materials, and the modelling, simulation and optimization of process fluid mechanics, transport phenomena and chemical kinetics. He worked in 2014–2015 at the University of Delaware (Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, Newark, Delaware, USA) as a Fulbright Program researcher. Prof. Likozar has published over 180 scientific research articles, having the h-index of 27 (presently, >3000 citations). He mostly investigates the reactions of H2, CO2 and biomass.
