Team

She is the Head of the ZAG Administrative Services Sector and the Unit for Finance, Accounting and Project Support. She works at ZAG for the last 7 years. In the last decade, she was involved as a project manager in projects funded in the following international research programmes: FP7, Eco-Innovation, Interreg Central Europe and Interreg SI-AT. She has been involved in the financial management of H2020, FP7, Eco-Innovation, LIFE+, Interreg and EIT RawMaterials projects. She has also gained expertise in legal aspects of international projects, including intellectual property management. She is experienced in preparing and executing dissemination plans for projects, working closely with ZAG public relations service. The aspects of GDPR within research project execution are well known to her.

As an expert in the financial and legal field, she is appointed as the Project Manager of this project. She will help the PC and ERA Chair in financial monitoring of the project and ensure effective, efficient and on-time implementation of the project activities.

He is Head of the Department of Building Physics at ZAG with over 20 years of experience in research and conducting tests in building physics. His focus of research is in reaction to fire, the toxicity of fire effluents and previously also renewable energy, building physics, life cycle assessment, radon health risk prevention and radon mitigation in buildings. He is/has been involved in 8 research projects in EU FP 7 and H2020 programmes and 4 other projects funded by the EU (LIFE+, cohesion funds). He was also involved in numerous national industrial research projects. At ZAG, he was coordinating work in the national Competence centre for sustainable and innovative construction. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Scientific and professional council of SRIP Smart buildings and homes with wood chain, launched by the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy at the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as a mechanism for implementation of the smart specialisation strategy. He is a member of many professional associations: European Organization for Technical Assessment, where he is the convenor of PT 12 group, dealing with sustainable use of natural resources in construction products, Board member of ECO Platform, chairman of technical committee TGO at SIST and representative of SIST in CEN TC 350. He is (co-) author of over 30 scientific and technical publications. Data on publication is available on link.

She is the Head of ZAG Project Support Services. In the last decade, she was involved in the research part of two Interreg projects and has shifted her focus 4 years ago towards project management and proposal preparation within different calls, e.g. ARRS (Slovenian Research Agency), Interreg, H2020, EIT RawMaterials and other projects funded by Slovenian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport. In the meantime, she has also gained experience in legal aspects of projects, dissemination and communication, and intellectual property issues.

Additionally, she is a PhD student at the University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Information Technologies as part of their Renewable Materials and Healthy Built Environments PhD study programme. Within her studies, she is focusing on knowledge management aspects as a support mechanism to achieve better research results and scientific excellence and will offer support to the ERA Chair holder also in this aspect.

Dr Andrea Lucherini holds the position of Senior Researcher within the FRISSBE project. In 2013 and 2016, Andrea completed his BSc and MSc in Structural Civil Engineering in a joint programme between the University of Bologna (Italy) and the Technical University of Denmark (Denmark). In 2020, he attained his PhD in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Queensland (Australia). Between 2020 and 2022, he has been working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Ghent University (Belgium).

Andrea’s field of expertise is construction materials engineering, with a specialization in fire safety science and engineering. To date, Andrea’s research interests primarily focus on the performance of advanced construction materials and systems during and after a fire, material behaviour at ambient and elevated temperatures (heat transfer and structural mechanics), advanced experimental fire methodologies, fire protection (intumescent coatings), and fire dynamics for performance-based design of fire-safe structures, including computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) modelling. Andrea’s academic experience also includes teaching, mentoring and supervision of students (BSc, MSc and PhD) and researchers at world-leading universities.

His publication record can be found on his Google Scholar page. More info about Andrea's career is available on his LinkedIn page.

Dr Ulises Rojas-Alva recently graduated with a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where he also was a post-doctoral researcher for the last 5 months of 2021. He obtained his MSc in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2013, and his Architectural Technologist BSc from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). After finishing his MSc at DTU, he worked there as a Research Scientist for 2 years. During his PhD studies, Research Assistant position at DTU and his MSc thesis project, he worked on a range of research topics, including fire safety on spacecraft, flame spread and ignition of solid materials, in-situ burning of crude oils (ISB), and smoke management in tunnel infrastructures. Dr Rojas-Alva has collaborated with a broad range other research institutes and universities (NASA, ZARM, Bremen University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Sorbonne Université, Aarhus University, NOFO, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, S.L. Ross Environmental Research Ltd., and the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory).

The corresponding publications (peer-reviewed articles, conference papers and technical reports) can be found on his Google scholar page. You can find more about Ulises's career on his LinkedIn page.

Dr. Laetitia Marrot is a senior researcher within the FRISSBE project. She completed her Msc in Materials Science in 2010 in France, and graduated in 2014 with a PhD in biobased composite materials from the University of South Brittany. After her PhD, Dr. Marrot worked both in academia and industry for various fields (transportation, agriculture, packaging), in France and in the USA. Dr. Marrot started her research career in Slovenia in 2018, and she was awarded in 2020 funding for a two years Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) individual fellowship at the InnoRenew Center of Excellence.

Dr. Marrot’s main interest is to develop environmentally friendly materials to reduce our dependence on petrol-based resources. Her expertise spans plant fibers, polymeric and cementitious composites reinforced by natural fibers, biocarbon, smart textiles and sustainable coatings. Within the FRISSBE project, she researches innovative ways to increase the fire performances of sustainable bio-based materials.

Her publications are listed on Google Scholar and ORCID pages. More info about Laetitia's career is available on her LinkedIn.

Dr Gourav Kamboj, postdoctoral researcher at FRISSBE, recently graduated with a PhD from the Czech University of Life Science, Prague, Czech Republic where he was also a Researcher for the last 4 years of 2023. He obtained his MSc in Wood Science and Technology from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India in 2014, and his bachelor in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics (BSc) from the Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. After finishing his MSc at Forest Research Institute, he worked for C.L. Gupta Export LTD and Fab India overseas Pvt LTD as a Quality executive for 4 years. During his PhD studies, Researcher position at the Czech University of Life Science, he worked on a range of research topics, including cellulose nanofiber reinforced adhesives, modification of nanocellulose to make proper dispersion in hydrophobic polymers, cross-laminated timber, nanocomposites, thermally modified wood.  Dr Gourav Kamboj has collaborated with various other research institutes and universities (Purdue University-Indiana, Poznan University of Life Science, Mendel University). 

The corresponding publications (peer-reviewed articles, conference papers and technical reports) can be found on his Google Scholar. You can find more about Kamboj's career on his LinkedIn page. 

Nik Rus is the first PhD student to join the FRISSBE team and is currently working and studying to complete his PhD in the Renewable Materials for Healthy Built Environments programme at the University of Primorska.

His previous education took place at the University of Ljubljana, in the Faculty for Chemistry and Chemical Technology. There he finished his BSc in the Chemistry department with a degree in the field of organic chemistry. For the MSc, he continued his studies in the Technical safety programme at the same faculty with his Master's thesis entitled Hazardous waste collection centre safety concept.

Before returning to academia to pursue his PhD, he worked for a few years as an environmental specialist in the Sustainable development office at one of the largest Slovenian suppliers to the automotive industry. 

With his PhD project he would like to contribute his piece to the puzzle of successful sustainable transformation that we will all have to undergo if we wish to preserve the level of quality of life for people in the future.

Nik's bibilography is catalogued at his Google Scholar page. More details about his career are available on LinkedIn.

Ines Cilenti is a PhD student in the FRISSBE team and is currently working and studying to complete her PhD in the Renewable Materials for Healthy Built Environments programme at the University of Primorska.

Her first education took place in Italy at the “Sapienza” University of Rome, with a combined Bachelor and Master of Science in Binding Engineer and Architecture, which was completed in July 2015 with a Master's thesis dissertation focused on the design process of a skyscraper and insights in energy sustainability. In 2017, she joined the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE), obtaining a scholarship “Further training abroad” from “Sapienza,” driven by the idea to broaden fire safety knowledge in an international and innovative context and through learning by interacting with some of the greatest experts in the field. She finished the IMFSE programme with a thesis on “Crowd evacuation in high-density scenarios.” The research included field observation of a real event to validate a numerical model that could predict the behaviour of crowd in high-density and open-air environment and how such a model should be calibrated in high-density scenarios.

In between the two degrees she worked both as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Building Technology course at “Sapienza” the University of Rome and as a Junior Construction Engineer.

After the IMFSE she worked a few years as a Fire Safety Engineer, performing numerical analysis by creating computational fluid dynamic models both for smoke and heat control and evacuation for a wide range of buildings from the industrial plan up to offices, museums, stadiums and in the rail tunnelling and station field. Over the years, she grew an interest in even deeper knowledge in the field, and she is therefore returning to academia to pursue her PhD.

With her PhD project, which aims to compare and integrate numerical methods in fires, experimental methods and material research and behaviour, she would like to contribute to reducing the knowledge gap between the available research and the needs of industry stakeholders.

Ines' bibliography is catalogued on her Google Scholar page. More details about her career are available on LinkedIn.

Dr Aleš Jug joined the FRISSBE team as a professional research associate. Dr Jug has many hats. He brings over twenty years of experience and passion for fire prevention and risk management. He is also a qualified and experienced business continuity expert. Dr Jug holds a PhD in Transport and Logistics with an emphasis on Fire Safety Engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and an MSc. in Fire Protection Engineering and a PhD in Business Administration, both from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA. Dr Jug often teaches fire safety, risk management, and business continuity-related undergraduate and graduate topics in Slovenia, Croatia, and the US. Dr Jug serves as a vice president of the fire prevention commission, which operates as a part of the Firefighters Association of Slovenija, and as a president of the Slovenian Fire Protection Association.

His strong communication and organizational skills make him valuable to our expert team.

Previously, Dr Jug has served as a chair for CTIF Fire Prevention Commission. His research interest covers the field of fire safety and risk management, plus fire prevention. More info about Dr Jug’s career is available on his LinkedIn page.

Kirils Simakovs is a research assistant in the FRISSBE team. He earned his Bachelor`s degree in 2012 and Master`s degree in 2015, both in chemistry, from the Latvian State University (Riga, Latvia).

For the last 2 years, he has been working as a research assistant in the Polymer Laboratory at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry. His research activities were focused on the investigation of Polyurethane foams for application as insulation materials. His main responsibilities included sample preparation and testing using equipment such as Cone Calorimeter, Limited Oxygen Index (LOI), TGA and heat flow meter.

In addition, he has 4 years of experience in furniture design and manufacturing, along with 5 years of experience as a registration specialist in the pharmaceutical industry: Olainfarm JSC and 1 year of employment in Royal-Berry” EDVARK Ltd, a bio-juice manufacturer.

Kirils aims to learn more about analysis methods, equipment calibration and maintenance, and materials testing. In his free time, he enjoys exploring natural places, hiking, and fishing. Moreover, he is continuously working on learning more about fire testing methods, wood-processing techniques, coaching and other fields to grow more as a polyvalent person.

Martin Veit is a research assistant in the FRISSBE team, focusing on increasing the quality of measurements for fire experiments to support simulations of fire and smoke spread.

He finished his bachelor's degree at Aalborg University in Denmark, in the Department of the Built Environment, where he studied civil engineering. He continued at Aalborg University for his master’s degree, where he was enrolled in the master's program ‘Indoor Environmental and Energy Engineering’. For his master’s thesis, entitled Experimental and Numerical Investigations of the Effective U-value of a Full-Scale Wall Element, he studied internal convection in a sustainable loose-fill wood fiber insulation and its effect on the thermal performance of a full-scale wall element. During his master’s degree, he also worked with the airborne transmission of diseases, sustainability, and Building Performance Simulations using a stochastic modeling approach supported by Machine Learning.

During his studies, he worked as a student helper where he worked in the indoor environmental laboratory. Here he helped with several experimental setups, such as glare detection using Machine Learning and computer vision, characterization of material properties, and hotbox experiments on windows used for natural ventilation.

He continued at Aalborg University as a research assistant for a year, where he supervised students for their semester projects and worked on several research projects, working with API’s, databases, data treatment and analysis, along with a full-scale experimental setup using a large guarded and calibrated hotbox, and measurements on the use of Phase Change Materials in glazed facades.

Martin’s work and research can be found on his Google Scholar page. More details about his career are available on his LinkedIn.

Farith Hinojosa Coca is a Civil and Structural Engineer graduated from Tomas Frias University in Potosi, Bolivia. He has two years of experience as a UTA and three and a half years of experience as a Resident Engineer for several construction projects, such as schools, highways, and hospitals. Moreover, Farith has been part of important social and humanitarian organizations such as the Bolivian Red Cross and the Fire Department in his hometown.

Currently, he is a student of the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering – IMFSE and part of the SFPE IMFSE student chapter board. Farith’s main interests in the Fire Safety Engineering field include fire dynamics, structural design for fire, fire testing, mass timber buildings, and CFD applied to fire safety.

As part of the FRISSBE team, he is interested in applying and expanding all the knowledge acquired during his first year in the IMFSE program and being involved with real-world scenarios while working alongside experts in the field.

More information about Farith can be found on LinkedIn and ORCID.

Maria Binte Mannan is a dedicated master's degree student enrolled in the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE) program. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Building Engineering and Construction Management from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh.

Prior to joining IMFSE, Maria worked as a Project Engineer at an international charity organization called United Purpose. In her role as a Project Engineer, Maria undertook both structural and managerial responsibilities to address various challenges and contribute to societal progress in a sustainable manner. She was involved in an Earthquake Resilience Project where she monitored an Artificial Intelligence-based model to predict fire incidents and waterlogging evidence.

Maria's passion lies in the field of Fire Safety Engineering, with a specific focus on timber structures, fire dynamics in timber compartments, and the behaviour of materials when exposed to fire. As an intern at the FRISSBE project, she aims to expand her knowledge in these areas and gain insights into construction materials' behaviour in fire situations, with a focus on sustainability.

Matheus Pontes Lima graduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), in Brazil. Currently doing his master's in the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE).

His interests in fire safety are in wildfires, material & human behaviour in fire scenarios. As a FRISSBE intern, he expects to get in touch with the fire tests, and different materials and learn from the qualified professionals in FRISSBE.

Ash is a current student of the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE). Residing in Melbourne, Australia, Ash completed his undergraduate double degree in Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences from RMIT University. Ash began his professional career working for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service for just over a year. From there, Ash worked as a fire safety engineering consultant in the construction industry for a year, before pursuing the IMFSE.

Ash has worked on a wide array of projects in a PBD setting and helped establish the company’s response to the fire safety surrounding electric vehicles. He has experience in compartment fire simulations and occupant evacuations. He is interested in understanding the fundamentals of fire testing and behaviour and how codes are established. Outside of work, Ash enjoys playing tennis, cooking, and catching up with mates.  

Ash hopes to develop his skills and understanding at the FRISSBE project. Developing a deeper understanding of fire testing and behaviour is what draws Ash to the project. Further to this, the setting of sustainable built environments is a unique and critical issue that he looks forward to helping tackle.  

Marcel is a Project Support Officer at ZAG and employed at ZAG for 4 years. He works in project management for more than 5 years and was involved in financial management of H2020, LIFE, EIT, INTERREG, UCPM and other projects funded by several funding authorities. He is supporting the PC, ERA Chair and Project Manager in administrative matters and financial monitoring of the project.

She is part of ZAG's legal department since January 2022 with 12 years of experience in corporate law. She is mainly involved in all labour and civil procedures, as well as real estate matters. Within FRISSBE project she will be involved in all issues when legal judgment is needed.

Tamara is a Media and communication specialist with many experiences in public relations, promotion and journalism. She joined ZAG's PR team in March 2022. Within FRISSBE project she is in charge of all promotion and dissemination activities, such as updating the website and social media, preparing different text and visual material, contacting media and target groups, providing promo materials and so on.

Kika has been part of the ZAG's Human resources team since April 2022. She started her career in human resources as the head of a department in an international company, where she upgraded with passed professional exams and gained more than 10 years of experience.

Within the FRISSBE project, she will be in charge of international HR support.

Mateja Košir joined ZAG in 2019 and holds a PhD degree on Nanomaterials and Nanosciences. She is active in research, management and commercialization of projects addressing the problematics of industrial and mining waste treatment for their effective recycling in construction sector – closing materials loops and implementing circular economy business models. She is also specialising in intellectual property management and commercialisation activities and is ZAG’s appointed technology transfer officer. Within the FRISSBE project, she will be involved in the intellectual property management activities.

Damijana manages the administrative parts of day-to-day operations, ensuring that the bureaucratic parts of tasks are documented efficiently and properly. She possesses strong organizational, time-management, and communication skills. Attention to detail is also no stranger to her, as she is responsible for maintaining accurate records and ensuring that policies and procedures are followed. She prioritizes tasks and works efficiently to meet deadlines, often acting as a liaison between different departments.

Gizelle Danine Jamero was an intern at the FRISSBE team from July 4th to September 2nd in 2022 and the description has not been updated since.

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Gizelle Danine Jamero is currently a master’s degree student in the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE). She graduated from the premier university in the Philippines, University of the Philippines Diliman, with a BSc in Materials Engineering. Prior to joining the IMFSE, she worked for 8 years as a Piping Materials Engineer in multinational and Fortune 500 companies. She was involved in numerous energy, chemicals, and offshore projects and some notable projects that she has worked in include BASF PETRONAS Aroma Ingredients Complex in Malaysia and Shell Penguins Floating Production Storage and Offloading in the North Sea, UK.

Gizelle’s interests in Fire Safety engineering include Risk Assessment, Fire Dynamics, and Material Behavior in Fire. As the FRISSBE project intern, she hopes to expand her knowledge on these topics and learn more about construction materials in the context of fire and sustainability.

Daniela Šejnová Pitelková was an intern at the FRISSBE team from the start of November to the end of December 2022 and the description has not been updated since.

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Daniela Šejnová Pitelková graduated the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, programmes Fire Safety od Buildings (Bc.) and Integral Safety of Buildings (Ing.). She is a PhD student at the Department of Building Structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU in Prague with specialization in Fire Safety of Buildings (since 03/2020). She is a researcher (junior) in the FireLAB at the UCEEB CTU in Prague (since 07/2019), where she devotes to the preparation of experiments and research activities.

You can find more about her research work on ORCID and also LinkedIn.

Simon Bodin was an intern at the FRISSBE team from the beginning of April to the end of July 2023 and the description has not been updated since.

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Simon Bodin is currently a student at Polytech Angers, an engineering school in France. His specialization is in buildings and safety. Prior to joining the buildings and safety specialization, he worked for two years, also in Angers, on engineering competencies with a focus on mathematics and physics. He currently works on the renovation of buildings and their durability. He also studies the fire safety of buildings.

Simon is interested in fire safety engineering because he wants to design and manage the fire safety of very tall buildings.

As a FRISSBE project intern, he hopes to expand his knowledge on the topics of fire safety and learn more about construction materials in the context of fire and sustainability.