Maya Petek, PhD, is a member of the MB since 2021. She received her higher education in the United Kingdom, culminating in a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Now she works as a researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor. She became an active member of the society upon her return to Slovenia at the end of 2020. She is interested in scientific policy, removing administrative barriers, and encouraging the circulation of knowledge and experts between Slovenia and the international research community.

Matja Zalar, PhD is a member of the society since 2016. She is interested in mental health and scientific policy but takes particular interest in the knowledge circulation between Slovenia and foreign countries, introduction of good research practices into the Slovenian research and scientific sphere, and re(integration) of scientists into the Slovenian research sphere. Matja was an early-career researcher at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, where she received her PhD in biotechnology in 2020 as part of the international Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks project PIPPI (Protein-Excipient Interactions and Protein-Protein Interactions in Formulation). After postdoctoral positions at Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, she returned to Slovenia to the University of Maribor with the help of the Aleš Debeljak Scheme. She is the coordinator for the Young Academy of Slovenia Mental Health Working Group and a member of the Mental Health Working Group at Eurodoc.

Rok Novak became a member of the Young Academy of Slovenia in 2019 and has been actively participating in the society’s activities since the middle of 2021 when he was elected to the MB. He works as an early-career researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute and is currently completing his third year in Ecotechnologies at the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School (IPS). He is mostly interested in science policy, both in the systemic changes within the scientific community and the relationship between the scientific community and the state. He has first-hand knowledge of the issues faced by doctoral students as he is the president of the IPS Student Council, having been vice-president of the council beforehand. In the past two years, he has become increasingly involved with science communication.

After finishing chemistry studies at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Maribor, Alja Čontala decided to continue her journey as a young researcher at the Advanced Materials Department at the “Jožef Stefan” Institute and International Postgraduate School. For the time of her undergraduate studies, she worked in faculty bodies. She has been a member of the Young Academy since 2022 and works as part of the working group for mental health, but is also interested in the mentoring and leadership, organization of doctoral studies and communication. She wants to bring compassion back to science, raise awarenes of its importance to general public, and inspire younger generations about it.

Dr. Matic Lozinšek was a member of the society’s MB from 2017 to 2021. He is interested in science policy, especially in connection with early-career researchers. In 2018 he filled in for the position of dr. Jernej Zupanc at a working group dedicated to preparing the proposal for the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act. Matic was an early-career researcher at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology at the Jožef Stefan Institute. He received his PhD in chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana. In 2014 and 2015 he continued his education in Canada after receiving the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship. He works as a researcher at the Jožef Stefan Institute where he and his colleagues received the Director’s Fund Grant in 2019 to found the Extreme Conditions Chemistry Laboratory at the institute. In 2020 he also received the ERC Starting Grant.

Dr. Tea Romih presided over of the Young Academy of Slovenia from December 2019 to December 2022 after being an active MB member from 2017 to 2019. She helped set up the website for the society and presided the committee of evaluators for the Mentor of the Year Award in 2017. As a member of the Young Academy of Slovenia, she appeared as a guest on several roundtables and radio interviews and moderated on events organised by the society, such as Experiences in Applying for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Funding, Open Science 2018 and Crowdfunding for Scientists with Špela Gorički. In 2016, she received her PhD in nanotoxicology from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana as part of the Slovenian Innovative Scheme for Co-funding Doctoral Studies. After defending her PhD thesis, she became active in many research-related fields, from visual communication of science to scientific translation and academic editing. From August 2019 to February 2022, she worked as a researcher in analytical chemistry at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana. She is currently employed as an information specialist for research data at the Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana.

Danila Rijavec was a member of the society’s MB from December 2019 to December 2022. In 2022, she finished her PhD thesis on administrative science through the lens of crisis management at the Faculty of Public Administration, University of Ljubljana. In her research, she focuses on smaller countries and their limitations in responding to larger crises, contrasting the smaller countries’ responses with those of bigger countries. She is active in the larger international research sphere and participates in the Jean Monnet Networks as an early-career researcher. She is a member of the faculty commissions for doctoral studies and scientific research activities. From July 2020 to December 2022 she was the coordinator for the Mobility Working Group at Eurodoc, and from July 2021 to December 2022 she also acted as an Administrative Board member and the Treasurer of the same organisation. As a member of Eurodoc, she has been a guest at multiple events addressing the topics of training for early-career researchers, which were organised in cooperation with Elsevier, EUA, The Guild, and ELITE Network.

Marko Drobnjak acted as a public relations coordinator for the society from 2019 to 2021. He is most interested in science policy as he maintains that properly financed and successful scientific activity within all scientific disciplines drives societal progress. Since 2018 he has been an early-career researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana. In his research, he focuses primarily on the role and perception of speech and language in legal procedures in general and is also working on automatic speech recognition systems. He uses the methodology developed by computational linguists and is currently undergoing research training as a Fulbright Visiting Student Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also finishing his PhD thesis. In 2020 he became one of the hosts for the Meta PHoDcast. In October 2022 he started the position of open science specialist at the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia – ARNES.

• Maša Mlakar, mag. angl. – EN/SL translation, EN proofreading
• Simon Zidar, dipl. biol. (UN) – graphic design
• Nina Lenarčič Jankovič, Majanafin d.o.o. – accounting
• Maja Ratej (Val 202), Renata Dacinger (RTV SLO), Anja Suvorov (RTV SLO), Mojca Delač (Radio Prvi), dr. Ambrož Kvartič (Radio Ars), Lea Udovč (N1) – professional event moderation
• Studio Železna – photography
• VideoLectures – event filming, livestreaming