On Tuesday, 27th November 2018 in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, the gala award ceremony was hosted for the Zois awards and recognition; Puch awards and recognitions; and the Ambassador of Science of the Republic of Slovenia.

Zois recognition is an important certificate and award for researchers with high achievements in the field of science, research, and development. The winners are those researchers who permanently contribute to the development of science and research in the Republic of Slovenia.

President of Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor. Image: Lea Primožič

Our director, professor of Wood Science at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies at the University of Primorska, and scientific colleague at the UP IAM institute Dr Andreja Kutnar is among this years winners of the Zois award for important scientific achievements in the field of wood science.

Winners of the Zois award. Image: Jerneja Svanjak

Dr Kutnar is one of the world’s leading scientists in the fields of wood composites, thermo-hydromechanical treatment of wood, sustainable built environments, and environmental impact analysis. With interdisciplinary and international research, she co-created and established a new research area – restorative environmental and ergonomic design, which is also one of the key research areas at the InnoRenew CoE.

In addition to the successful establishment and leadership of the project and the research institute InnoRenew CoE, Andreja has coordinated several international consortiums. For example she connected researchers from 39 countries in the networks of COST Actions.

Her bibliography involves 54 original and 10 scientific papers, 39 articles in reviewed scientific publications, 11 chapters in a scientific monograph, and a scientific monograph which was published in 2014 at the prestigious Springer publishing house. The great impact of her work can be seen also in 353 citations in the last ten years, 292 citations in the WoS database, and 342 citations from the Scopus database.

Dr Kutnar is pleased to receive the award: »I am honoured to receive this award and happy to see that my passion for wood is being shared with the wider society.»

We congratulate our director Dr Andreja Kutnar for this excellent achievement and important award.

Dr Andreja Kutnar and Dr Dragan Marušič. Image: Mitja Tretjak

Dr Andreja Kutnar. Image: Mitja Tretjak