V001 / JSI

On 23–24 June 2025, the FishEUTrust project coordinated by prof. dr. Nives Ogrinc (Department of Environmental Sciences) participated in the "R&I for a Competitive Green Transition" conference in Brussels, a key satellite event of the European Research and Innovation Days. This high-level gathering brought together leading policymakers, researchers, and innovators to explore how science can power Europe’s green and blue transitions. Out of more than 150 projects, FishEUTrust was honoured to be one of just 15 selected to exhibit at the event. The project also caught the attention of European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva, who learned about our cutting-edge tools to foster transparency and trust in sustainable seafood. The team showcased two of FishEUTrust’s flagship innovations: Sensor technology for detecting bacteria and antibiotics in seafood, An immersive Virtual Supermarket experience. Events like this highlight the important role of innovation in creating a sustainable future—and show how FishEUTrust is leading the way in building a more transparent seafood system for everyone.

A ceremonial event marking the 20th anniversary of the Slovenian Fusion Association (SFA) was held on 24 June at the ICJT, Jožef Stefan Institute. Founded in 2005, SFA is one of Europe’s leading groups in fusion research and an important partner in the EUROfusion programme. The event was opened by Prof. Dr. Barbara Malič, Deputy Director of the Jožef Stefan Institute, who emphasised that fusion research is strategically important for the Institute and represents a field with great potential for a sustainable energy future. Dr. Tomaž Boh, Director-General of the Directorate for Science and Innovation, highlighted the importance of Slovenia’s participation in international research. Dr. Boštjan Končar presented the development of SFA from a small group to a key European partner, as well as its achievements and projects. The keynote speaker, Dr. Gianfranco Federici, Programme Director of EUROfusion, underlined SFA’s strong integration into the European fusion programme and the contributions of Slovenian researchers to developing technologies for future fusion reactors.

Researchers Fabio Staniscia and Matej Kanduč from the Department of Theoretical Physics used computer simulations to reveal that surface-active molecules (surfactants) bind differntly to highly curved water interfaces—such as those found on nanometer-sized droplets and bubbles—compared to flat surfaces. This discovery challenges the long-standing assumption that interfacial behavior is independent of system size and offers important new insights into the behavior of colloidal systems at the nanoscale. Surfactants are among the most widely used chemical substances globally, present in cleaning products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food formulations, and many industrial applications. A better understanding of surfactant behavior at curved interfaces allows for more precise formulation of emulsions, foams, and other colloidal systems, and contributes to improved modeling of environmental phenomena like aerosol behavior and cloud formation. The study was published in the renowned Journal of Colloid and Interface Science and highlights how fundamental physical discoveries can shape our understanding and have far-reaching implications for science and technology.

Members of the High Energy Group Physics group of Theoretical Physics Department (F-1) have successfully organized international workshop Portorož 2025: Particle Physics from the Early Universe to Future Colliders, 21. - 25. April, bringing together leading physicists working on open problems of theory and phenomenology of particle physics, such as flavour puzzle, hierarchy problem, strong CP problem and axion-like particles, CP violation in the universe, role of effective theories. The goal was to explore key topics in elementary particle phenomenology and theory. We've had 50 invited talks which sparked lively discussions on the modern directions in theory and phenomenology of the Standard Model and beyond-the-Standard-Model scenarios in different physical settings: hadron colliders including LHC and future High-luminosity LHC, future high-energy colliders, high-intensity experiments probing flavour dynamics and CP violation, early universe and astroparticle phenomena. The workshop achieved its main goal of connecting experts from different particle physics subfields to discuss about the near and long-term future of the field.