Project team and partners

The European Researchers’ Night is a European Union project taking place within the Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe, and is part of MSCA and Citizens actions, which aim to bring science and research closer to European citizens, i.e. to us all.

The main theme of our European Researchers’ Night – Humanities Rock! project in the next two years is expressed by the slogan Human(e) to animals. This is because the global challenges of our time affect both humans and animals. The project activities are thus specifically focused on the relation and interdependence between the human and animal worlds and the exploration of this relationship in various contexts of any kind. We do so by bringing together scientists, researchers and artists from the University of Ljubljana, our peers and partners, seeking answers to the challenges and dilemmas of our time at the intersection of science and art. In our discoveries and studies, we engage everyone, both young and old, addressing both the scientific, academic community and the general public.

The main events of our project will take place on 30 September 2022 in the Novi trg square and on 29 September 2023 in the Mestni trg square in Ljubljana; meanwhile we continuously keep track of developments in sciences and arts, hoping for the best.

Honorary patron of the project European Researchers’ Night – Humanities Rock! in 2023 is the President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar, PhD.

Meet the team

Sašo Jerše PhD

Project leader

 

Historian, professor



Sašo Jerše is a man with a richer past than future. He is also a historian who believes that the Slovenian Reformation was mostly a peculiar devoutness and that peasant revolts were only a devout attempt at preserving the old feudal order, no more and no less. However, at any time, both historical facts, i.e. a firm belief in one’s own cause and an active devotion to it, can, he believes, serve as an inspiration to everyone wishing to have a future of their own instead of a foreign past.

As a lover of the arts, he is no more stranger to sin than he is familiar with virtue.

Mateja Gaber PhD

Project ambassador

 

Slovenian and German studies graduate, fashionista



The theatre, ballet, opera, concerts, art museums and exhibition galleries are where she feels at home. Her thoughts wander between medieval German lyric poetry, Japanese haiku and symbolism, between Walter von der Vogelweide, Issa and Rilke. Her ears are fond of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Wagner and Chopin, but also the Doors, Guns N’ Roses and Led Zeppelin. She admires Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty as well as Coco Chanel, Kirchner and IRWIN. She cooks and bakes in the Arabic and Austro-Hungarian fashions.

 

“Nema smrti, postoji samo život!” (Ivan Kožarić)

Ika Bartol

Head of the Scientific Research Institute of the Faculty of Arts

 

 

Social science graduate, treasurer, advisor



I, too, know less about myself than others know about me. In the eyes of others, my world seems richer than I dare hope it is myself. I know from experience, however, that the world of numbers and facts is in harmony with the breadth of my spiritual landscape.

 

Every invoice must be paid in the end.

Ema Karo

Manager of relations with the European Commission

 

English studies and comparative literature graduate, advisor



She skilfully navigates words and numbers and often finds herself at the crossroads between imagination and reality, where she usually opts for the latter. In her free time, she likes to get lost on forest trails and in theatre performances and is a fan of good food for the soul and body.

 

“Don’t believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” (Douglas Adams)

Jasna Mažgon PhD

Evaluation manager

 

Education expert, methodologist, German studies graduate, professor



As a teacher of pedagogical statistics and methodology, she is fond of the strictness of numbers, which can capture the structure of the world. In this context, she is, of course, aware that as long as a person is good with them, numbers attest to everything, even what is not necessarily true. As a result, she accompanies quantification with softer, qualitative approaches, which help reveal what numbers cannot capture. By combining quantitative and qualitative elements, she looks for ways to outline the best of all worlds.

“All is for the best in the best of possible worlds.” (Voltaire)

 

Tina Čič

Project coordinator

 

Journalist



I used to discover the touch of nature in the company of four cats; now I am friend to one white horse. I am in love with sunshine and the sea, with life, which intertwines structure and chaos, the predictable and the unpredictable, the known and the unknown, interaction with people and moments of silence.

 

The most beautiful things come from silence. They are born in moments when we approach the new and unexpected.

Barbara Tomšič

Project coordinator

 

Sociologist, culturologist



She is professionally active in culture and art without limiting herself to specific genres and forms. Liaising and networking, towards which she is driven by a permanent curiosity and desire to discover new things, are at the core of her work.

She sees the European Researchers’ Night as a new opportunity, as a wishing well of sorts.

Blažka Müller PhD

Presenter and moderator

 

Linguist, lusitanist, presenter, translator



She was born sometime between telling a story of Krjavelj (an eccentric character in a novel by Josip Jurčič) and singing the children’s folk song about šmentana muha (a “darn fly”). She attended school at Homer’s, Garcia Lorca’s, Márquez’s and Agatha Christie’s; she still likes to visit the latter to drink a cup of cocoa, though she always denies this, claiming she only reads high literature – be it prose, poetry or drama. She has always frequented theatres, on either side of the stage lights, and television, where she mostly appears in front of the cameras.

 

She has a PhD in linguistics, puzzling over Portuguese and Spanish in particular.

 

She translates literary texts. She is a presenter, moderator, and loves her work. She is a cheerful person, but books often make her cry. She likes to look at treetops, tide pools, undulating grass…

Bor Pungerčič

Communication manager



He has no trouble with speaking for others. Let alone for himself. But he finds speaking about himself much harder. As quotes are fashionable, he asks you to decipher this one:

 

„… in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni …“

Agate Lielpetere

Graphic design



Through visual art, illustration, design, gardening and cooking, Agate avoids boredom. The visual language is her mother tongue. She says a bad sense of humour runs in her family, and since a person can’t choose their family, we should blame them.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Marijo Županov

Photography



Trash-glam, queer, he snaps photos, scrolls around Instagram, prefers to “listen” to the sounds around him rather than music and advocates everyday style over intellectual taxidermy.

Klemen Humar

Video production



As a downhill biking enthusiast, he is very familiar with unpredictable situations and can easily come up with solutions. He has directed his passion for adrenaline to photography and film, where he is adept at capturing a moment at its most beautiful, exciting or unexpected.

Mister Doggy

Mascot



Donators

Supporters

Media Sponsor