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Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik gave an invited lecture on June 16, 2025, at the University of Koblenz (https://www.uni-koblenz.de/de/informatik/ifi/news/from-grammar-inference-to-semantic-inference-of-domain-specific-languages), Koblenz, Germany. The lecture entitled "From Grammar Inference to Semantic Inference of Domain-Specific Languages" was given to master students at the University of Koblenz.

Klemen Berkovič achieved an impressive fourth place in the prestigious IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Competition with his research article, “Cooperative Coevolution Framework with Recursive Differential Grouping Algorithms for Solving Large-Scale Optimization Problems.”

The IEEE Region 8 SPC brings together top students in electrical engineering, computer science, and related disciplines from across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

The competition concluded last week at the international EUROCON 2025 conference, held in Gdynia, Poland, where the best student papers—previously evaluated by IEEE expert committees—were officially announced.

We warmly congratulate Klemen for this outstanding achievement, which not only confirms the high quality of research and expertise among our students but also highlights the strong presence of Slovenian students on the international stage.

Prof. Dr Marjan Mernik gave a keynote lecture at the 13th World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, WorldCist 2025 (https://worldcist.org/), Florianopolis, Brazil, titled "Exploration and Exploitation in Evolutionary Algorithms - Recent Developments".

A student of the Master's degree program in Computer Science and Information Technology, Rene Rajzman, received the first prize for his 1st Bologna cycle diploma thesis of the Computer Science and Information Technology program entitled "Optimization of weather model data using advanced machine learning methods" in the call for proposals "Technological networks Process control technology for the best higher education professional/university diploma thesis in 2023 and 2024", which is being held by the Cluster Competence Center for Modern Management Technologies (KC STV).

The winner received the certificate and cash prize on April 3, 2025 at the Automation in Industry and Economy conference AIG'25, Maribor.

Rene finished his diploma in cooperation with the company Operato d.o.o. (www.operato.eu) and under the mentorship of professor dr. Milan Zorman (UM FERI) and dr. Robert Meolic (Operato d.o.o.). Congratulations!

Paper "Cooperative Coevolution Framework with Recursive Differential Grouping Algorithms for Solving Large-Scale Optimization Problems", has been selected as one of the top five finalists in the IEEE R8 Student Paper Contest 2025. IEEE R8 includes Europe, Middle East and Africa. Klemen Berkovič will present his paper in person at the IEEE R8 flagship conference EUROCON 2025, from June 4–6, 2025, in Gdynia, Poland, where the final ranking will be determined.

Congratulations to Klemen Berkovič on this outstanding achievement!

The students of the 1st year of the master's study program in Computer Science and Information Technologies have arrived in California, where they will see companies, technological giants such as Google and Apple, and world-renowned universities such as Stanford University. Follow them on social networks (https://www.facebook.com/people/FERI-USA-2025/61566853695388/) and on their website (https://feriusa.um.si/).

Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik gave a keynote speech on November 19, 2024, at the 4th International Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, ISTDRAI 2024 (https://inovscitechconferences.com/24/dubai/robartInt/), Dubai, UAE, entitled "How Evolutionary Algorithms Can Efficiently Explore and Exploit the Search Space".

At the Information Society Conference, IS 2024 (https://is.ijs.si/?lang=en), the awards were presented on October 11, 2024. The “Donald Michie - Alan Turing” Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Information Society for 2024 was awarded to Prof. Dr. Borut Žalik. The recipients of the Legends of Computing and Informatics 2024 Award were also Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik and Dr. Milan Ojsteršek.

On August 26th, 2024, Mrs. Neža Borkovič from Val 202, Radio Slovenia, visited the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maribor, where she conducted an interview for podcast with team at the System Software Laboratory. The interview explored our ongoing research and innovations in the field of hybrid neural interfaces.

During the interview, we discussed the complexity around activity of 639 skeletal muscles, even providing a unique opportunity to listen to the sounds of muscle contractions. Head of Laboratory, Aleš Holobar, alongside colleagues Matej Kramberger and Tanja Botić, shared insights on a range of topics from common muscle cramps to the advanced control of bionic arms.

Engaging conversation is now featured in an episode of Ferkvenca X, offering listeners better understanding on the research work being done at our laboratory. We are proud to be recognized as an expert in hybrid neural interface research, supported by European funding through the HybridNeuro project.

Hear the full interview and learn more about the research happening at the System Software Laboratory. Recording of an interview available in the Slovene language:

https://val202.rtvslo.si/podkast/frekvenca-x/31057643/175068531

Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik gave an invited lecture on July 2, 2024, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (https://www.titech.ac.jp/english), Tokyo, Japan. The lecture entitled "Incremental Development of Domain-Specific Languages" was given to master students at Tokyo Tech.

Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik gave an invited lecture on June 25, 2024, at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (https://www.kyutech.ac.jp/english/), Fukuoka, Japan. The lecture entitled "Exploration and Exploitation in Evolutionary Algorithms: Recent Developments" was given to graduate students at Kyutech.

On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at 2 p.m., in the G2-Beta lecture hall, we are organizing a lecture for doctoral students entitled "A health data Analytics maturity model for hospitals information systems" by Prof. Dr. Álvaro Rocha from the University of Lisbon. A summary of the lecture and a short biography of the lecturer can be found in the attached document.

Welcome to joint the lecture!

For many years, the Institute of Computer Science at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, has actively promoted Computer Science and Information Technologies to pupils, students and the general public. In the years 2021-2023 alone, we conducted more than 70 educational events, including professional excursions for students, public presentations of student projects, numerous workshops for secondary and primary schools, FERI Academy summer schools on Computer Science, public discussions, presentations at festivals and fairs, media interviews and shows, professional workshops and many other events. The Slovenian Scientific Foundation recognised these activities and, for the third time in the last nine years, awarded the Prometheus Science Award to the Institute of Computer Science.

For the discipline of computer science, three researchers from the Institute of Computer Science also made it to the ranking. Position in the ranking is based on a researcher’s D-index (Discipline H-index), which includes publications and citation values exclusively for an examined discipline. The D-index threshold for including a scholar to be considered was set to 30. The list of the best researchers according to the D-index worldwide in the field of computer science can be found at https://research.com/scientists-rankings/computer-science, in Slovenia https://research.com/scientists-rankings/computer-science/si and at the University of Maribor https://research.com/university/computer-science/university-of-maribor.

Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik gave invited lectures on March 20 and 21, 2024, at the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra (https://nitkkr.ac.in/), Kurukshetra, India. The lectures entitled "From Grammar Inference to Semantic Inference" and "Exploration and Exploitation in Evolutionary Algorithms: Recent Developments" were given to undergraduate students at NIT Kurukshetra.

Prof. Dr. Marjan Mernik received the Entrepreneurs, Academicians & Researchers Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement in Academia and
Research from the MTTF (MathTech Thinking Foundation). Candidates had to meet the following criteria: more than 20 years of activity with significant contributions in the field of publications, mentoring of doctoral students, invited lectures, and to be among the 2% of scientists on the Stanford University list. The award was held on 19/03/2024 at Poornima University, Jaipur, India.

Dear!

We invite you to attend the 18th professional conference entitled ‘Computer image processing and its application in Slovenia 2024 (ROSUS 2024).’ This one-day conference will take place on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Maribor. The afternoon section is practically oriented.

Detailed information and application form are available at http://rosus.feri.um.si/.

For students, an entrance to the conference is free of charge (registration is mandatory at e-mail rosus.feri@um.si).

Organizing Committee of the ROSUS 2024 Conference

40 years ago the first generation of computer science students enrolled at the then Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Maribor. The Computer Science study program at that time had three majors in the 2nd year: Software, Informatics, Logic and Systems. All first-generation students chose the Software major, which was the forerunner of today's Computer Science and Information Technologies study program.
At the 40th anniversary of the enrollment of the first generation of computer science students at the University of Maribor and, at the same time, the 35th anniversary of the first graduates in computer science at the University of Maribor, the former students visited the faculty again. They were received by the head of the Institute of Computer Science, prof. dr. Aleš Holobar, and visited the Laboratory for Geospatial Modelling, Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence (GeMMA).

The Slovenian part of the 24-hour virtual global programming competition IEEEXtreme (https://ieeextreme.org/) took place again this year at UM FERI on the last weekend of October, this time for the third time. At the same time, Slovenian teams competed with teams from all over the world in a single world competition, while the overall ranking was also updated live.

Among the registered teams in Slovenia, the CodeMonkeys team (Enej Krabonja, Oskar Forštnarič, Sven Wolf Zajšek - all three students of ŠP R-IT) took first place. This team is also the youngest team registered for these competitions in Slovenia. Among the teams in IEEE Region 8, the team achieved 717th place and was ranked 2361st out of 4221 ranked teams in the world ranking of this competition. This year, 1,229 more teams than last year entered this world ranking, making this year's competition the biggest ever (https://mga.ieee.org/news/32-ieee-news/504-mga-scoop-december -2023-ip).

This year's team competed under the mentorship of Assoc. prof. dr. Ales Zamuda. Both in the promotion of the event and the organization, the assistant Jani Dugonik helped, who also heads the IEEE Student branch of the University of Maribor. The event was sponsored by IEEE Slovenia and IEEE CIS Slovenia, the Institute of Computer Science and the Institute of Informatics.

More about this event at UM FERI is written in the report for IEEE (https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/381068), and the list of competition results is available on the website of the competition (https://ieeextreme.org/ ieeextreme-17-0-ranking/).

Congratulations!