Research team

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.

He has been cooperating with the Faculty of Polymer Technology since the establishment of The Polymer Technology College (VŠTP) at the time, and he  also is an honorary member of the FTPO Academic Board. He is also a higher education teacher in the field of plastics processing technologies. He started his funtion as a dean on January 1st, 2020.

Assoc. prof. dr. Irena Pulko graduated with B.Sc. (2004) from the University of Maribor and then continued to pursue doctoral studies on porous polymers. During her Ph.D. study, she visited the laboratories of Prof. N. R. Cameron at University of Durham, Prof. C. Slugovc at TU Graz, and Prof. K. Jerabek at Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals in Prague.

She obtained her doctorate in 2009 and is currently a teacher and a vice dean for Education at Faculty of polymer technology. Her research focus is on the synthesis and characterisation of polymers mainly polymers prepared from high internal phase emulsions, biopolymers and biopolymer composites. She was project manager of the project Creative Core FTPO. She was involved in various research projects, namely FP7 SME 2008-2 Europian project HIP (Development of lowcost, lightweight highly insulating polymers for refrigerated transport, heating and cooling installations), PolyRegion, PolyRegion-Pro Act, Whole Cyrcle, etc..

Silvester Bolka received his Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer Technology in 2013 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

During his professional career he served in various technical functions for Elan d.d. (Begunje, Slovenia), Elan GmbH (Fürnitz, Austria), R-Plast d.o.o. (Lesce, Slovenia) and Centre of Excellence Polymer Materials and Technologies (Ljubljana, Slovenia).

He joined FTPO in 2014 and serves as Head of Centre for Cooperation with Industry. His research interests comprise thermal, mechanical and chemical characterization of materials, processing technologies with emphasis on extrusion/compounding and injection moulding of thermoplastics, (bio)composites, biopolymers and polymer recycling.

Assist. Prof. dr. Matija Hriberšek graduated (2011) and received his doctorate (2018) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana. After graduation, he started working at the company Gorenje d.d., where he worked as an engineer in the development of washing and drying appliances. In 2013, he joined the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana as a young researcher in the Cutting Laboratory, where he worked on numerical modeling of cutting processes. In 2019, he joined the company Podkrižnik d.o.o. as a researcher, where he was engaged in research in the field of high-performance polymer composite materials for propulsion applications.

He presented his research findings as a leading author in 10 original scientific articles, as well as a co-author of chapters in 2 scientific monographs. His area of ​​research is the characterization of advanced polymer composite materials, 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. Janez Slapnik received his Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer technology in 2017 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

He joined the FTPO in 2015 and serves as an assistant. During his career he acquired additional experience at Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH and Vienna University of Technology. His research interests comprise materials for 3D printing, biopolymers and innovative processing methods.

Teja Pešl received her Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer technology in 2020 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

She joined FTPO in 2017 and now serves as an assistant.

Rebeka Lorber received her Diploma (M.Sc.) in Polymer Technology in 2020 from the Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia.

She joined FTPO in 2018 right after graduation and now she serves as assistant.

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.

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 serves as assistant.