Wednesday, 21 May 2025 Second meeting of PhD mentors at the UP
On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, the Second meeting of PhD mentors was held at UP, organized by the Department for Research, Development and Artistic Activities. The event was attended by mentors (as well as co-mentors) of doctoral students who are pursuing their studies at UP.
The central themes of today's event were two important areas, namely the assessment of research work and the current situation regarding predatory publishing. The opening speech by the Rector of UP, Prof. Klavdija Kutnar, PhD, was followed by two presentations. First, the Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Prof. Gregor Majdič, PhD, presented the process of introducing qualitative evaluation of scientific research work at the University of Ljubljana (UL), which began in 2023. The new approach prioritizes qualitative assessment of the research achievements of researchers and research groups and their social impact, gradually moving away from the currently dominant quantitative criteria. Qualitative evaluation will gradually become a unified framework for the assessment of existing and new research programs at UL. Prof. Tomaž Pisanski, PhD (UP FAMNIT), entitled his presentation "Is it worth publishing in predatory journals?", in which he presented the field of predatory practices in scientific publishing and pointed out reasons for and against publishing in predatory media. He highlighted that the number of predatory publishers, journals, and conferences is still on the rise, with publishing results in them becoming more widely accepted. A discussion followed the presentations.
The event was organized as part of HRS4R (Human Resources Strategy for Researchers) activities to support PhD mentors at UP. The first Meeting for PhD Mentors at UP took place in November 2024 and addressed the question, "What does it mean to be a good mentor?". Assoc. Prof. Klen Čopič Pucihar, PhD, and Prof. Štefan Bojnec, PhD, shared their insights, experience, and challenges related to this topic. You can access the recording of the event, here. Futhermore, UP has established an intranet website titled "Mentorstva" on the O365 SharePoint application. The purpose of this website is to support the development of quality mentoring practices at UP. It provides essential information and resources related to mentoring, covering various aspects of the mentoring process. Topics include the candidate selection process, the roles and relationships of different stakeholders, managing expectations, the importance of the research environment and culture, effective science communication, and academic writing etc.
