Official opening of the international scientific conference on the SMASH project

78 Slovenian and international researchers, who deal with the development of the most recent applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the natural sciences and the humanities, take part in the conference.

Researchers come from fifteen European countries (Slovenia, Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bolgaria, Romania, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Estonia), the United States of America, Pakistan and India.

The conference participants were greeted by Prof. Dr. Boštjan Golob, rector of the University of Nova Gorica, Dr. Tomaž Boh, director general of the Directorate for science and innovation at the Ministry for higher education, science and innovation, Prof. Dr. Boštjan Zalar, director of »Jožef Stefan« Institute, Dr. Mojca Ciglarič, dean of the Faculty for computer and information science of the University of Ljubljana, and Mag. Mojca Dolinar, director of the Office for meteorology, hydrology and oceanography of the Slovenian agency for environment (ARSO).

»The University of Nova Gorica is a small university, yet we have managed to be not only the university which applied to this project but also the university which coordinates the project, uniting five top Slovenian research institutions. With this project we will gain expertise, which will spread to other participants as well, not only academic but also non-academic, that is, small, medium and big companies«, Prof. Dr. Golob pointed out at the event.

As said by Dr. Tomaž Boh from the Ministry for higher education, science and innovation, the SMASH project is one of the projects that is also very important for the Ministry. »This has been the first time that in the context of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie instruments we have been, as a state, successful in such a big project. Namely, it is a project which is partially financed by the European Commission and partially financed by the Republic of Slovenia, and it unites all those important things that we need for a good functioning of the higher education and research system and its links with society.«

The conference will offer an opportunity for an exchange of knowledge at an interdisciplinary level, within the academic sphere and with economy. Various forms of discussions will take place alongside the invited lectures anc presentations, and there will be also many opportunities for an exchange of ideas.

»We are happy to go into this project, as we are also one of the key partners in the project. We have had an excellent cooperation with the University of Nova Gorica all these years, as the Institute is one of its co-founders. So we are looking forward to our mutual work«, said director of »Jožef Stefan« Institute, Prof. Dr. Zalar, and added that »SMASH is an exceptionally important project, primarily from the point of view of gaining new research staff members, for we have observed a huge brain drain over the past years«.

SMASH is a multidisciplinary programme, financed by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND action, and it connects researchers from five excellent research institutions in Slovenia, 25 associated partners, Slovene companies and research institutions all over the world.

The aim of the SMASH network is the research in which the use of the artificial intelligence and machine learning methods create new approaches in contemporary science, with a special emphasis on data science, environmental science, personalised medicine, fundamental physics (particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology) and linguistics.

Andreja Leban, Public Relations