Project day - 10 July 2020

This project day of the School of Environmental Sciences of the University of Nova Gorica was cerried out in two parts. The first part featured the presentations of the group environmental projects of the first- and second-year students of the undergraduate study programme Environment, while the second part was allocated to the presentations of the diploma seminars of the third-year students.
First the group project and the final project report of the second-year students was presented, who dealt with an international topic that is Objective and perceived environmental quality in the towns of Zenica and Maribor. Due to the restrictions in terms of the delays in performing fieldwork and laboratory work as a result of the Covid-19 epidemy, the group had to adjust certain metods and procedures. Consequently, the questionnaires for the general public were offered to be filled out through online applications and the invitation to fill out the questionnaires was transmitted via social media and the questionnaires were thus not filled out on the spot (e.g. at schools). Despite this, the project group managed to complete the project in time and acquired a lot of useful data, which will hopefully contribute to solving the environmental problems in both countries, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first-year students carried out an interim presentation of their group project Identification of environmental stress conditions by comparative analysis of peroxidase activity in Vipava and Ljubljana, performed under the supervision of the mentors Dr. Sara Pignatelli and Prof. Dr. Ario De Marco.
In the second part of the project day, the diploma seminars of the 3rd-year students of Environment were presented. The seminars represent a final outcome of the practical placements, which the students had recently performed in various companies and organisations. The practical placements are an excellent opportunity for the students to obtain valuable experience and to establish contacts with their potential employers.

The following students presented their diploma seminars: Kaja Karner, who had performed her practical placement in the company Carniola, d. o. o. (the topic of her diploma seminar: Carniola, d. o. o. – Življenje slovenskega gozda/The life of the Slovenian forest); Franci Novak, who had performed his practical placement in the company Porsche Inter Auto, d. o. o. (the topic of the diploma seminar: Zmanjšanje ogljičnega odtisa pri Porsche Inter Auto, d. o. o./Reducing the carbon footprint in Porsche Inter Auto, d. o. o.) and Manuel Persoglia, who had performend his practical placement in Italy, in the Association Società Cooperativa Rogos (his diploma seminar was titled Ponovna vzpostavitev idealnih pogojev za vzdrževanje spontanih kraških rastlin z različnimi ekološkimi potrebami v botaničnem vrtu Carsiana/Reestablishing of the ideal conditions for maintaining spontaneous carstic plants with different ecological requirements in the Carsiana botanical garden). We are glad that the students have gained a lot of new knowledge during their practical placements and at the same time had the opportunity to work in the areas of their interest.

Speaking ot practical placements, the cooperation between the universiy and the companies and organisations is truly invaluable and on this occasion we would like to thank all the companies and organisations who have so far offered the opportunity of practial placements for our students. We would also like to thank to the representative of the Porsche Inter Auto, d. o. o., who attended today’s prpject day and shared her rich experience on the topis of reducing the carbon footprint in the production and retail of cars.

Author: Veronika Piccinini