Prof. Emer. Stanko Tonković, PhD , was elected as Honorary Life Member (HLM) in International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering ( IFMBE ). HLM is recognition for long-term work and promotion of BMI. Professor Tonković made a pioneering and significant contribution to the development of biomedical engineering internationally and in Croatia and in introducing biomedical engineering to University programs in the southeast region of Europe fulfilling by his activities the educational mission of the IFMBE. During his many years of work and academic activity, Professor Tonković held many administrative positions at the Faculty, including the position of Dean of the Faculty from the adacemic year 1994/95 to 1997/98. The title of IFMBE Honorary LifeMember is bestowed on individuals who have rendered exceptional service to the Federation. In 2022 a total of 10 recipients have received the IFMBE Honorary Life Member Award which is inducted every 3 years during each World Congress for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. The International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) is primarily a federation of national and transnational organizations that represent national interests in medical and biological engineering: building up biomedical engineering and health research and professional networks, exchange of knowledge, fostering international mobility of researchers and students, making medical and engineering knowledge and health care available to all. The objectives of the IFMBE are scientific, technological, literary, and educational.

The three-day international conference Combinatorial Constructions Workshop was held at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing from June 27 to 29, 2022. The conference brought together researchers working in the fields of discrete mathematics, combinatorics, design theory, finite geometry, graph theory, coding theory, cryptography and algebraic combinatorics. FER and the Department of Applied Mathematics hosted 50 domestic and foreign participants. The conference was opened with welcoming speeches by the president of the organizing committee, Assoc. Prof. Anamari Nakić and deputy head of ZPM, Assoc. Prof. Josipa-Pina Milišić.

University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb is announcing C A L L   F O R   A P P L I C A T I O N S to the Postgraduate doctoral study programme Electrical engineering and Computing for obtaining the academic degree of Doctor of Science (6 semesters, the first enrolment period in the academic year 2022/2023) in the area of technical sciences, scientific fields of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING and COMPUTING. Students can enrol in the 3-year study (full-time study) or the study with an extended duration of research work, in the duration of 5 years (part-time study). Enrolment quota: 60 students. Students of the doctoral study pay the tuition fee in the amount of HRK 60,000.00, paid in instalments of HRK 10,000.00 per semester. Classes begin in October 2022. Applications are submitted to the Registry Office at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Unska 3, every working day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., from the day of the announcement of the Tender until 25 August 2022 inclusive. Interviews with candidates, which are an obligatory part of the enrolment procedure, will be held on 30 August and 31 August 2022 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Candidates will receive notifications on the exact time of their interviews via email. More information is available by telephone at (01) 6129 920 or via email: doctoral.study@fer.hr , and information on the postgraduate doctoral study can be found at https://www.fer.unizg.hr/en/studies/doctoral .

Assoc. Prof. Tomislav Capuder, PhD, participated in a panel discussion entitled "European Circuit" held on 3 May 2022 as part of the conference "Green Plan in the Croatian Economy - Energy: RESISTANCE IN CRISIS". Topics of discussion were electricity generation, Croatia's energy self-sufficiency, electricity prices and stability, the European Green Plan, and smart grids. Professor Capuder pointed out that Croatia has had a good energy heritage in terms of installed capacity of hydropower potential for about 50 years. He added that wind energy has gone through a good development curve and still has room for growth, but he believes that we are not using the potential of solar energy enough. Regarding the infrastructure for RES, he stressed that new technologies bring new requirements, especially considering that new advanced grids have to be built. Read more about the conference in the article published in Poslovni dnevnik, and a video of the panel can be found here .

Considering the great success of the urban garden set up at FER last year, the members of the Laboratory have set up an even bigger urban garden in the yard of FER again this year! As well as last year, various sensors will monitor the condition of the tomatoes and peppers planted by our colleagues from the  Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb . The aim is to determine the influence of the selected substrate (which one part of the seedlings are enriched with) through the collected data from the sensors, plant condition and yield. The garden was set up as part of the project “ IoT-field: Ecosystem of networked devices and services for the Internet of Things with application in agriculture “, a three-year interdisciplinary research project in the field of smart agriculture that began in March 2020 so it is in its last year now. It is coordinated by FER in cooperation with the  Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek  (FERIT) and the  Agricultural Institute Osijek  (PIO). Check out how the set-up of the garden and sensors took place last year, here . Watch a video about the urban garden at FER, from September 2021 (in Croatian)  here. Find out more about the project here .

On Wednesday and Thursday, May 11 and 12 , the 15th Job Fair took place. Martinovka Sports Hall switched its primary role those two days and became a meeting spot for 134 companies from 15 different industries and over 5 thousand STEM students. A rich program at Martinovka The whole-day program included 129 booths which students could visit and a big part of them had their own additional activities in which students could participate, such as trying out modern technologies such as VR headsets, competing in riddles or trying out their luck in different games and win interesting gifts. A special program took place on the stage at the same time. Company representatives talked about their experience in 24 talks divided into 3 categories : Career Switch, What the Tech?! and Recycled Technology. The first day was completed as a whole with a midday panel discussion about "How does artificial intelligence impact our society?" in which representatives from the economy and academic community found out how artificial intelligence came to be, how they use it, what the benefits are and what we can expect from the future. The second day got spicy with an interview better known as Hot talk in which Luka Drezga, COO at Ars Futura participated by answering questions about the work and home parts of life, all while trying out hot sauces. His victory is proudly marked with the highest score.

Research associate from the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems ( LARICS) , Marsela Polić, PhD, is one of this year's scholarship holders of the National Scholarship Program "For Women in Science" organized by L’Oréal Adria and the Croatian Commission for UNESCO at the Ministry of Culture and Media. The scholarship program has been running in Croatia for sixteen years, and by decision of leading Croatian scientists, four scholarships in the amount of 5,000 euros are awarded to the four best Croatian scientists under 35 from the field of natural sciences, including interdisciplinary fields, which are in the final year of their PhD studies. Congratulations Marsela!

By the end of 2021, FER was conducting over 260 scientific research projects , further consolidating its status as the most sought-after partner for applied research and innovation development in the Republic of Croatia. According to numerous key figures, FER ranks first among domestic research institutions , and our quality is recognised beyond the country's borders. FER draws more money from the European Union for hiring researchers and purchasing research equipment than almost all the faculties of the University of Zagreb combined. The total value of projects in which FER was involved in 2021 was almost 3 billion Kuna, of which about one seventh was allocated to the Faculty and used for hiring researchers and purchasing research equipment . We also note that 10 per cent of the funding for research projects financed by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 framework programme in Croatia goes to FER. Thanks to the projects, the Faculty employs 350 people (which is almost half of the total number of staff) whose income does not depend on the state budget, as they are financed from numerous projects carried out by FER. Looking at the structure of projects by funding source, it can be seen that the ratio between domestic and international projects in 2021 was clearly in favour of projects funded from domestic sources. Most projects were funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (58 per cent), followed by the European Regional Development Fund (35 per cent) and the European Social Fund (0.7 per cent). In terms of international projects, the Horizon 2020 programme dominated (30 per cent), followed by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Programme - COST (21 per cent), Erasmus + (14.5 per cent), bilateral projects (13 per cent), INTERREG (6.5 per cent) and others (16 per cent). FER works continuously to expand its research, innovation, and development capacities and to improve the quality of its own research and innovation work. It also promotes research aimed at pushing scientific boundaries, in line with the needs of the economy and in cooperation with Croatian and European institutions. We are proud that for years FER has played a leading role in building a strong ecosystem that drives the Croatian economy based on knowledge and innovation.