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Welcome to the SLOfit Team, pleased to meet you!

 

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Gregor Jurak

Prof. Gregor Jurak, PhD

gregor.jurak@fsp.uni-lj.si

Prof. Gregor Jurak, PhD is a head of SLOfit research team and a full professor on Faculty of Sport at University of Ljubljana. His main research interests include Physical Fitness, Physical Activity, Motor Development, Didactics of PE and Sports management. Over the years, he has published over 100 scientific papers. He has published more than 70 research papers. He is or he was a head of few national project teams in EU projects CrowdHEALTH, SportGO, Sport in 3D, Sustainable management of sport facilities, EUPASMOS, EuPEO, FitBack and JoyMVPA. He has experience in setting up national programs in the field of health enhanced physical activity (he is the first author of current National Programme for Sport; co-author of few national promotional sport programs). He has also experience in setting up national IT projects in sport and physical activity (SLOfit, national sport facilities database, public financed sport programs database) and physical fitness intervention programs (enhanced PE, Healthy lifestyle program). He is also national delegate in few international organizations and forums (FIEP, EUPEA, GoFPEP, CEREPS) as well as member state expert in EU XGs Economic Dimension and Human Resource Management in Sport.


Gregor Starc

Assoc. Prof. Gregor Starc, PhD

gregor.starc@fsp.uni-lj.si

Asist. Prof. Gregor Starc, PhD is a project manager of SLOfit system. His main research interests include Physical Fitness, Physical Activity, Motor Development, Didactics of PE and Physical Anthropology. He is advisor to the WHO in the Children Obesity Surveillance Initiative group and was a temporary advisor of the WHO Heat for Walking group which produced a tool for economic assessment of walking and cycling. He has a rich experience in setting up national programs in the field of health-related physical activity


Marjeta Kovač

Prof. Marjeta Kovač, PhD

marjeta.kovac@fsp.uni-lj.si

Prof. Marjeta Kovač, PhD is a full professor and a researcher in Laboratory for the Diagnostics of Somatic and Motor Development. Marjeta graduated in 1980. In 1989 she finished her master's degree and in 1999 she finished her PhD. She is a head of the Department for Physical Education. Her bibliography contains 1087 bibliographic units. Her scientific research focuses on the field of environmental factors that affect physical, motor development and physical skills of children, didactic phenomena, evaluation, the role of physical education in the curriculum, working conditions, health problems and competences of PE teachers. She was the president of the Scientific Council of the International Congress of Sport and Youth (2008, 2010). She is a member of editorial boards and reviewer in various scientific journals. She is teaching graduate and doctoral students at the Faculty of Sports, University of Ljubljana and at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. She is the first author of the current Slovenian curriculum for Physical Education. She helped in the renovation and the preparation of the school system curricula in Kosovo. She wrote three university textbooks with revision and a number of other manuals. She led the Commission for examination and grading knowledge at the end of primary school education. She instituted programs of school sports competitions, swimming literacy and additional sports programs for children. She is collaborating with the National Educational Institute, Institute for Sport Planica, Federation of Associations of Physical Education teachers and with the National examination Centre. She is the representative for Slovenia in International Federation of Physical Education (FIEP).


Bojan Leskošek

Asst. Prof. Bojan Leskošek, PhD

bojan.leskosek@fsp.uni-lj.si

Asist. Prof. dr. Bojan Leskošek, PhD is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Sports, University of Ljubljana. Bojan teaches statistics and methodology in research and is part of SLOfit team from the beginning of the 80s, first as the programmer and head of data processing, later as a consultant, in particular statistical issues.


Vedrana Sember

Asst. Prof. Vedrana Sember, PhD

vedrana.sember@fsp.uni-lj.si

Vedrana Sember, PhD, finished her PhD on Faculty for Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies and is at the Faculty of Sports employed as a researcher and assistant at the department of Didactics. Vedrana Sember finished her Phd from the field of Physical fitness, Physical activity and Academic Performance of children and youth. Her research focuses on the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness and academic performance in children and adolescents. She became active as a researcher in 2015, where she became part of Global Matrix 2.0 Active Healthy Kids Alliance. In 2016 Vedrana represented Republic of Slovenia on International Scientific conference in Bangkok, Thailand.


Maroje Sorić

Assoc. Prof. Maroje Sorić, PhD

maroje.soric@kif.hr

Maroje Sorić, PhD is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. His research focuses on the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness and health, especially in children and adolescents. Within this field, he published a series of international notable scientific work and had numerous invited lectures. His participation in the SLOfit research team lasts for more than 10 years and is reflected in the number of joint research works. Maroje s also one of the authors of the national action plan to prevent and reduce obesity in the Republic of Croatia 2007-2010.


Neja Markelj

Asst. Neja Markelj, PhD

neja.markelj@fsp.uni-lj.si

Neja Markelj holds a PhD in Pedagogy from the Faculty of Arts in the field of international student assessment. She taught physical education in high school for more than 10 years and now works as an assistant at the Faculty of Sports of the University of Ljubljana as an assistant in the subject Didactics of Physical Education. She is interested in interdisciplinary areas of pedagogy, didactics and psychology.


Jerneja Premelc

Asst. Prof. Jerneja Premelč, PhD

jerneja.premelc@fsp.uni-lj.si

Jerneja Premelč, PhD, has been participating in the pedagogical process at the department of Polystructural conventional sports at the Faculty of Sports for several years. She has published several scientific articles. Her scientific research focuses on the field of reliability and validity of the judging system, performance analysis in sport, sports injuries and sport for health. She joined SLOfit team in 2021.


Kaja Meh

Kaja Meh, MA of psychology

kaja.meh@fsp.uni-lj.si

Young researcher and PhD student at the Faculty of Sport. She is a Master of Psychology; she holds a master's degree in sports psychology and dual career of athletes. She joined the team in 2018 and actively participates in the EUPASMOS and SLOfit projects.


Rok Blagus

Asst. Prof. Rok Blagus, PhD

rok.blagus@fsp.uni-lj.si

Associate Professor at the Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Sports at the University of Ljubljana and the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies of the University of Primorska. His research interests include the development of statistical methodology, especially in the field of predicting rare events and analysis of high-volume data. He is a member of the Methodological Council at the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.


Žan Luca Potočnik

Žan Luca Potočnik, MA of Physical Education

zan-luca.potocnik@fsp.uni-lj.si

He has master's degree in physical education. While studying for a bachelor's and a master's degree he gained experience in research of physical activity. Wearable activity monitors were of his special interest. In 2019 he was accepted in Program of young researchers funded by Slovenian Research Agency. Currently as a member of SLOFIT team he is employed as researcher at Faculty of Sports, where he is also doing his Doctorate in Kinesiology. His current research interests are physical activity interventions and children physical development. Purpose of his research is to analyse different types of approaches to physical activity interventions and how effective they are within groups of children with diverse physical characteristics.


Urška Kereži

Urška Kereži, philosopher and journalist

urska.kerezi@fsp.uni-lj.si

Is a researcher, employed at the Faculty of Sports, who graduated in philosophy and journalism. Her area of interest is related to the history of cultural and social practices of controlling, shaping and disciplining the body, including through exercise and sports. After two decades of work in journalism, she joined the SLOfit team in January of 2021. She participates in various projects, but above all she takes care of recognition and visibility of the scientific work created by the SLOfit research group, both among professionals and the general public.


Sara Besal

Asst. Sara Besal, MA of kinesiology

sara.besal@fsp.uni-lj.si

Sara Besal obtained a Master's degree in kinesiology at the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana. In her research thesis, she investigated the incidence and type of injuries in ju-jitsu fighting, besides this she has already published several articles related to sports diagnostics. As an assistant she teaches Martial Arts at Faculty of sport in Ljubljana. She is the founder of the Sports Academy Sportac, which is based on strength and condition training of young athletes, sports injuries rehabilitation, and exercising with special groups. In SLOfit team she works on various projects as a researcher.


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asist. Špela Mikeln, MA of Physical Education

spela.mikeln@fsp.uni-lj.si

Master Professor of Physical Education Špela Mikeln is employed at the Faculty of Sport within the Institute of Kinesiology as a researcher in the research team SLOfit. She participates in various projects related to the physical and motor development of children and youth, as well as their physical fitness. She earned her Master's degree in the field of physical preparation for artistic roller skaters, and she is currently continuing her education as a PhD student in kinesiology at the Faculty of Sport. Her research focuses on the impact of intergenerational changes in physical fitness on the physical maturation of children and adolescents in Slovenia and worldwide. She is a co-founder of the Artistic Roller Skating Club Zvezda, where she works as a technical and conditioning coach for recreational and competitive artistic roller skating.


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Asst. Prof. Shawnda A. Morrison

morrison@nus.edu.sg

Dr. Shawnda Morrison (PhD, CSEP-CEP) is a clinical exercise physiologist who has been collaborating with the SLOfit research team since 2015. Her main research interests encompass environmental physiology, thermoregulation, and countermeasures to exertional heat strain. She is currently serving as a Senior Research Fellow in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore as technical lead of a project called “Cooling Singapore 2.0”, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at determining how physical activity in the heat impacts vulnerable populations like children, heat-unacclimatised adults, and the elderly. This work is being conducted to better individualise global heat-health warning systems. Dr. Morrison is a Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist from the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology and Principal Investigator or member representative for the Republic of Slovenia on several international initiatives aimed to get kids moving, including: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Outdoor Play Canada, the FitBack Network, and the Global Heat Health Information Network. Her studies on the neuromuscular demands of passive heat stress and cardiovascular strain in the heat have led her to advocate for greater public health engagement on harnessing physical activity as a climate change countermeasure, especially in the paediatric population.


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Assoc. Prof. Petra Zaletel PhD

petra.zaletel@fsp.uni-lj.si

Dr. Petra Zaletel has been active in the field of dance and music-led fitness for 40 years, initially as a top athlete – an acrobatic rock and roll dancer, later as a dance judge and coach, and also as an aerobics instructor for group exercise to music and a sports aerobics coach. At the Faculty of Sport, she is responsible for the courses Dance, Aerobics – Group Exercise to Music, and Yoga in Sport. She also teaches the course 'Nutrition and Nutrition Supplements in Sport' in the international study program at the Faculty of Kinesiology in Split. Each year, she leads several continuing professional development programs in the fields of dance, aerobics, physical conditioning of children and youth, and yoga. She contributes to international scientific and professional conferences, symposiums, and congresses with many presentations, and as an invited lecturer, she shares her knowledge at foreign universities. She also lectures at webinars and seminars for international sports federations, associations, and sports clubs, including on topics of healthy lifestyles and sports nutrition. Zaletel is a member of the Dance Association of Slovenia, where she is responsible for annual athlete evaluations and participates in the training of professionals in the field of dance. She co-develops training programs for aerobics instructors at the Gymnastics Association of Slovenia and for group exercise at the Fitness Association of Slovenia. Zaletel is the author of ten textbooks, over 30 scientific papers, 90 professional articles, and two video teaching aids. She has mentored two doctoral theses, one scientific master's thesis, six Bologna master's theses, and has served as mentor or co-mentor for over 80 undergraduate theses in her field.


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Nika Bezjak, MA of kinesiology

nika.bezjak@fsp.uni-lj.si

Nika is a kinesiologist who joined the SLOfit team as a researcher. She earned her Master’s degree in kinesiotherapy and chose to study kinesiology due to her love of sports and desire to help people improve their well-being through movement. In her youth, she participated in athletics, and today, as a coach, she focuses on the movement development of young athletes. As a member of the SLOfit team, she participates in various research projects.


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Tjaša Rojko, MA of kinesiology

tjasa.rojko@fsp.uni-lj.si

Tjaša holds a Master's degree in Kinesiology. She is employed as a researcher at the Faculty of Sport in the SLOfit team and works on various projects. In the past, she was an active karate athlete and today she leads recreational exercise programs for adults and the elderly.


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Daša Pruš, MA of Physical Education

dasa.prus@fsp.uni-lj.si

Daša Pruš is a researcher and PhD student at Faculty of sport. She directs her research work toward studying the occurrence and consequences of Relative Energy Deficiency in athletes. In her Youth, she participated in many sports, including swimming, volleyball and dance. As a assistent she participated in the teaching process of the Dance and Aerobics courses and she currently leads laboratory sessions for the Sports Nutrition course. In 2024 she joind SLOfit, where she actively contributes to the ZMIGAJ! project and other research projects.