Friday, 15 May 2026 Participation in the Erasmus+ BIP Program Monitoring Transitional Ecosystems at the University of Patras (Greece)
Five students from the Nature Conservation study program and Associate Professor Dr. Živa Fišer from the Department of Biodiversity at UP FAMNIT participated in the international Erasmus+ BIP program Monitoring Transitional Ecosystems, which was held this year at the University of Patras in Greece. The program brings together universities from Slovenia, Italy, and Greece and promotes interdisciplinary cooperation in the research and conservation of Mediterranean transitional ecosystems.
This year marked the second consecutive edition of the program; last year, a similar program was organized at the University of Cagliari in Sardinia.
Participants spent two days at the University of Patras, where lectures, presentations on research methods, and group work in international settings took place. Three additional days were dedicated to fieldwork in important protected areas of western Greece, including the national parks and Ramsar sites of Kotychi–Strofylia, Messolonghi–Aitoliko, and Amvrakikos National Park. Working in international groups, the students monitored the status of species, habitats, and ecosystem services, and also met with managers of protected areas.
The program offers students valuable international experience, opportunities to develop practical fieldwork skills, and participation in an interdisciplinary and intercultural environment. At the same time, it strengthens cooperation between universities and opens opportunities for further collaboration in biodiversity research and conservation in the Mediterranean.
Thursday, 14 May 2026 Presentation of the topic of the doctoral dissertation of Donya Bazyar Khoshroodi
We invite you to the presentation of the topic of the doctoral dissertation Development and Analytical Modelling of Demountable CLT–Concrete Composite Floors with Tightenable Notch Connections of the student Donya Bazyar Khoshroodi, enrolled in the doctoral study programme Renewable Materials for Healthy Built Environments (in English).
The presentation will take place on Tuesday, 26 May 2026 at 8.00 in the classroom Pseudotsuga, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM, Livade 6a, Izola and via Microsoft Teams on link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/372886381698943?p=rE2ma81s2YnpukITwu
You are kindly invited!
Wednesday, 13 May 2026 Francesco Ricci: Simulation-Based Evaluation of Trustworthy Recommender Systems
You are invited to a lecture by Francesco Ricci, which will take place on Monday, May 25, at 4:00 PM in the lecture room VP3, UP FAMNIT.
Francesco is a senior professor in Computer Science at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (UNIBZ), Italy. He is a member of the UNIBZ Competence Center on Sustainability and a member of the Steering Committee of the Digital Humanism Initiative, TUW, Vienna.
His current research interests focus on the usage of Artificial Intelligence techniques, such as Recommender Systems and intelligent agents, in supporting human collaboration with AI, and ultimately improving users' decision-making processes and well-being. He is interested in building systems that can help groups and individuals to make more rational and fair decisions in complex and context-dependent scenarios, such as news and tourism.
He is the author of more than 250 highly cited, refereed publications. He coedited the Recommender Systems Handbook, a reference publication, and served as president of the steering committee of the ACM conference on RSs.
Recommender systems (RSs) are personalized artificial intelligence (AI) tools routinely used by online platforms to promote algorithmically selected news, posts, music, travel, and videos. This talk will focus on the goal of making these systems more trustworthy, ensuring they better serve the various stakeholders interested in their functionality, especially the end users and the providers of the recommended items. A novel type of user/system interaction simulation framework, proposed as an approach to assess RSs performance, will therefore be presented.
Compared to the standard train/test ML evaluation approach, this framework enables a better estimation of the longitudinal and multidimensional effects (positive and negative) that an RS can have. The core idea is to more faithfully simulate users' reactions to the recommendations produced by the tested RS by relying on a calibrated algorithmic model of how users make their choices, i.e., select items among the recommended ones. This approach departs from the standard ML testing mechanism that leverages testing data sampled from historical user/ system interaction logs, which, unfortunately, were acquired when users interacted with unknown and different RSs.
The application and usefulness of this evaluation approach will be exemplified in a particular case study: sustainable tourism management, specifically, how to mitigate overtourism, respect local communities, and still satisfy tourist preferences.
Tuesday, 12 May 2026 May 12: International Women in Mathematics Day and research excellence in Izola
The Discrete Mathematics Day on the Adriatic Coast (DMD AC 2026) workshop is taking place today at the InnoRenew CoE building in Izola. The event brings together 38 mathematicians from across the Adriatic region with the aim of strengthening academic collaboration and fostering new connections between universities and research institutions. Organizers of the workshop are UP FAMNIT, UP IAM and SDAMS.
Several of the invited speakers are already engaged in ongoing collaborations with researchers at UP FAMNIT, while some are visiting our university for the first time. Professor Marston Conder recently participated in the CSD 11 conference in Kranjska Gora, also organized in cooperation with SDAMS. Professor Akihiro Munemasa is visiting UP for the first and he will also be an invited speaker at the 11th Slovenian Conference on Graph Theory, which will take place from June 20–26, 2027, in Bled. We are very pleased to see such ongoing collaborations and to welcome both new and returning colleagues to our university.
International Women in Mathematics Day
In 2019, six regional women-in-mathematics associations launched the first May 12 International Women in Mathematics Day celebration and formed a coordination group, making it the first and unique global initiative linking regional organizations for women in mathematics worldwide.
As May 12 is also celebrated as International Women in Mathematics Day, DMD AC 2026 provides a meaningful opportunity to mark this important occasion. The day is dedicated to recognizing the achievements and contributions of women in mathematics worldwide, promoting equal opportunities in the field, and encouraging young women to pursue mathematical careers. It is celebrated on May 12 in honor of the birthday of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman, and the first Iranian, to receive the Fields Medal.
In this spirit, the workshop organizers are especially proud to welcome a number of distinguished women among the invited speakers and to highlight their scientific excellence and leadership in mathematics. DMD AC 2026 is also listed among the global events celebrating women in mathematics: https://may12.womeninmaths.org/2026-list.
Between May 1 and May 20, two movies about women in mathematics are available to watch for free. Viewing links are available here: https://may12.womeninmaths.org/ideas#films.
»If we knew things would be so complicated, I think we would have given up,” she said. Then she paused. “I don’t know; actually, I don’t know,« she said. “I don’t give up easily.«
— from interview with Maryam Mirzakhani, in Quanta Magazine
Monday, 11 May 2026 Presentation of the topic of the doctoral dissertation of Vanja Mileski
We invite you to the presentation of the topic of the doctoral dissertation Time Series Forecasting of Customer Spend using Inception-Residual Convolutional Neural Networks of the student Vanja Mileski, enrolled in the doctoral study programme Computer Science (in Slovene).
The presentation will take place on Thursday, 14 May 2026 at 12.30 in the classroom FAMNIT-MP5.
Thursday, 7 May 2026 European Doctoral Day 2026
The University of Primorska (UP) has joined 200 European universities in their efforts to designate May 13 as European Doctoral Day. In Europe, where science and research are established as fundamental values, this initiative aims to highlight the importance of doctoral education, doctoral candidates, and PhDs for Europe as a whole.
At the University of Primorska, we will mark the first European Doctoral Day 2026 with a series of four events at the University’s member institutions:
UP Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies (UP FAMNIT)
Presentation of doctoral students’ research papers
Doctoral students will present their research areas and scientific results. The audience will include both academic staff from the University of Primorska and the wider public, as the event will be held in a hybrid format with the option to join via a publicly available link: https://upr-si.zoom.us/j/65127426860?pwd=kYjS6yFt6yeUcYAGGPcnJShbb5UI7r.1.
May 13, 14:00, lecture room VP3: Enrico Talotti (University of Nova Gorica, and University of Primorska) - Towards the enumeration of EL-semihypergroups
We investigate finite semigroups equipped with a preorder relation that is compatible with the semigroup operation and we develop an enumeration methodology based on automorphism group actions. For a fixed finite semigroup S, the automorphism group Aut(S) acts naturally on the set Pre(S) of compatible preorders via pushforward; the orbits of this action correspond exactly to isomorphism classes of preordered semigroups.Using known classifications of semigroups of small order, together with exhaustive generation of compatible preorders, our method yields a complete enumeration of preordered semigroups up to order five. Finally, this framework opens a computational window toward the study of more complex algebraic systems, particularly EL-hyperstructures arising in hypercompositional algebra, where preordered semigroups serve as a fundamental tool for their construction.
UP Faculty of Education (UP PEF)
May 13, 2026, 17:30 - 19:00: Doctoral Tea Party: a conversational gathering of graduates, students, and mentors from UP PEF
Doctoral students are invited to a Doctoral Tea Gathering – an informal discussion event aimed at connecting doctoral students and graduates of UP PEF, along with their mentors. Former doctoral candidates of UP PEF will also take part, including the faculty’s first doctoral graduate, who will share their study and career experiences and answer participants’ questions. The event is an internal UP PEF event, intended to foster connections and strengthen the doctoral community at the faculty.
More: https://pef.upr.si/sl/koledar-dogodkov/2026041610170236/doktorska-cajanka-na-up-pef
UP Faculty of Management (UP FM):
May 13, 2026, 15:30 - 16:30, lecture room 4: Discussion with doctoral students: Sustainable Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges
The discussion will highlight doctoral studies as a crucial phase of research training, with guests sharing their experiences with research work, the development of competencies, and the challenges they face during their doctoral studies. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of research and the placement of research work within a broader scientific and social context, career opportunities, and the transition to the academic or broader professional environment. We will address the challenges of doctoral studies in the rapidly changing Slovenian, European, and global environments, from the perspective of ICT development, artificial intelligence, and sustainability challenges. The discussion will also highlight the importance of international collaboration and knowledge exchange with researchers from European and other universities around the world.
UP Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica (UP FTŠ Turistica)
May 13, 2026: A gathering of graduate students, doctoral candidates, early-career researchers, doctoral program instructors, and potential employers. What competencies can and should a doctoral student in tourism acquire?
The event will be designed as a meeting of postgraduate students, doctoral candidates, early-career researchers, doctoral programme instructors, and potential employers of this graduate profile. It will serve as a platform for exchanging expectations, experiences, and perspectives on doctoral studies in the field of tourism. A key characteristic of this programme is its inter- and multidisciplinary nature, as well as the “contrast” between the applied nature of the field and the academic/scientific standards that shape the choice of dissertation topic, content, and study approach. The central question is how to effectively align the feasibility of the chosen dissertation topic, its scientific contribution, and the competencies expected from doctoral graduates by the professional sector.
The meeting will take place within the 2026 TTRA Europe Annual Chapter Conference; more detailed information is available at: https://www.turistica.si/si/extra-strani/2026-ttra-europe-annual-chapter-conference
The events are designed to foster networking and the exchange of ideas and information among various stakeholders, as well as to facilitate discussions on career paths and opportunities for young PhDs.
European Doctoral Day is a joint initiative of various European associations dedicated to promoting the importance of doctoral education. The initiative stems from a respect for science and research as fundamental European values. European Doctoral Day will also contribute to the formation of a common European identity and to the enrichment of the cultural and intellectual diversity of the European research area.
Thursday, 7 May 2026 International CSD11 conference in Kranjska Gora brought together researchers from 16 countries
The international conference Computers in Scientific Discovery 11 (CSD11) is taking place in Kranjska Gora from 4 to 8 May 2026 under the theme »Computationally Intensive Methods in Mathematics: Applications in Chemistry and Beyond«. The conference brings together researchers working at the intersection of mathematics, computer science, and the natural sciences, with a focus on algorithms, mathematical software, and data-driven approaches in scientific discovery. The organizers of this year’s edition are UP FAMNIT and the Slovenian Discrete and Applied Mathematics Society (SDASMS), while the sponsors are Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics (IMFM) and European Mathematical Society.
The conference hosts 46 participants from 16 countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malta, New Zealand, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Kingdom and USA.
The scientific programme includes invited lectures, contributed talks, and discussions on contemporary developments in discrete mathematics, computer science, chemistry, and physics. Special emphasis is placed on computer-assisted research, curated mathematical databases, and computational methods in scientific discovery.
Renowned scientists are participating in the conference as invited speakers: Marién Abreu (University of Basilicata, Italy), Milica Anđelić (Kuwait University, Kuwait), Marston D. E. Conder (University of Primorska, Slovenia, and University of Auckland, New Zealand), Jan Goedgebeur (KU Leuven, Belgium), Tatiana Jajcayová (Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia), and Hadrien Mélot (University of Mons, Belgium).
CSD11 continues the long-standing tradition of the Computers in Scientific Discovery conference series, which fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and connects researchers from different continents working in computationally supported science. Previous editions of the conference were held in Belgium, Canada, China, the United Kingdom and USA, and also in Slovenia in 2012.
More information about the conference is available at the website.
Jan Goedgebeur
Milica Anđelić
Irene Sciriha
Patrick W. Fowler
Tatiana Jajcayová
Hadrien Mélot
Jörg Arndt
