Science Arena
What?
In the Science Arena, you’ll be working on oceanographic research data correlated with the understanding of the ecosystem for renewable development by using your basic knowledge in biology, chemistry, and physics. A group of mentors from different science fields are designing these challenges, based on real-life problems that you’ll be facing there.
Who?
You’ll need a multidisciplinary team made up of biologists, chemists, and physicists, as well as students from similar disciplines, to successfully solve a complex task. Skills like Excel, R, and other statistics programs for data analysis are the ones that’ll help you the most at it.
Why?
If you have a scientific-educational foundation and you want to gain experience by working in a multidisciplinary team on real scientific problems that you won’t encounter at university, then this Arena is the right place for you. During these four days, you’ll have a chance to work with other young and ambitious people that share your way of thinking and have the same passion for challenges. By working in teams and having your unique approaches, you’ll be able to find solutions to the given problems. Depending on the results, you’ll be able to demonstrate your thoughts, ideas, and solutions to our jury and experts from the academy and industry.
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Competences
Biology
Analytical chemistry
Basics of statistics
Database search
Literature search
Critical thinking and problem solving
Mentors
Karlo Lovrečić
Karlo Lovrečić works as a pharmacovigilance specialist at IQVIA. He graduated in molecular biology from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. During his studies, he specialized in bioinformatics, immunology, and precision medicine. He also participated in organizing student symposia and career days. In his free time, he enjoys playing the card game Bela and watching TV series.
Bobana Samardžija
Bobana Samardžija is an assistant at the University of Rijeka, specializing in molecular neurobiology with a focus on protein aggregation in chronic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. Bobana has conducted part of her scientific career at prestigious institutions, including Johns Hopkins University and Forschungszentrum Jülich, and has published several scientific papers on the mechanisms of protein aggregation in psychiatric disorders. She actively participates in science popularization through projects like the Festival of Science and Researchers' Night. Outside of her research activities, she enjoys traveling, trying new foods, and attending concerts.
Marko Marohnić
Marko Marohnić is a doctoral student in virology at the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana. He specializes in the isolation and detection of plant viruses from the environment using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analyses. Marko earned his undergraduate degree in biology and later his master's in molecular biology at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb. During his student days, he worked at the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science in Zagreb and participated in organizing the popular science festival "Women in Science 2022". In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing guitar, and traveling.