Organization of a summer school entitled 'Cities of the Future' within the project 'Internationalization of Higher Education'. In the frame of this event we co-organized with UL FGG and were editors of the scientific book with the title 'Cities of the Future'. The project was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the RS and the European Social Fund. The Seminar was intended to exchange information and knowledge on innovative approaches towards lowcarbon society, sustainable use of natural resources and integrated management of water food and energy in cities, which is becoming an extremely important for life quality. The Courser was given by established experts in the area.
C.01 Editorial board of a foreign/international collection of papers/book
COBISS.SI-ID: 274617856As a representative of the Sustainable Sanitation Task Force of Global Water Partnership (GWP), the project manager T.G. Bulc presented research findings and good practice examples and indicated possibility of sustainable management of municipal wastewaters in small settlements, which includes sustainable solutions, and nutrient capture and re-use. In Central and Eastern Europe almost 30 % of the overall population lives in the settlements with less than 2000 inhabitants which represent over 42 Million people. Only around 9 % of these are so far connected to wastewater treatment plants. Numerous small settlements that lack proper sanitation are going to be equipped with wastewater collection systems and treatment plants in the next 10 years. What kind of wastewater management will be selected and whether water and nutrient cycling are going to be considered, will have a significant effect on economic, environmental, and social wellbeing of the society. The project will enable opportunities to establish new national and international networks and exchange of knowledge, and good practices regarding closed loop solutions. It will also contribute to human resources development and creation of new activities, skills and jobs (green jobs), and start-up companies from the field of sustainable sanitation.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 4863851Alkane degrading microorganisms play an important role for bioremediation of petrogenic contaminated environments. In this study, we investigated the effects of compost addition on the diversity of alkane monooxygenase gene (alkB) harboring bacteria in oilcontaminated soil originated from an industrial zone in Celje, Slovenia, to improve our understanding about the bacterial community involved in alkane degradation and the effects of amendments. Soil without any amendments (control soil) and soil amended with compost of different maturation stages, i) 1 year and ii) 2 weeks, were incubated under controlled conditions in a microcosm experiment and sampled after 0, 6, 12 and 36 weeks of incubation. By using quantitative realtime PCR higher number of alkB genes could be detected in soil samples with compost compared to the control soil after 6, 12 and 36 weeks mainly if the less maturated compost was added. To get an insight into the composition of the alkB harboring microbial communities, we performed next generation sequencing of alkB gene fragment amplicons.
D.01 Chairing over/coordinating (international and national) projects
COBISS.SI-ID: 7886713Round table on public professional consultation Major infrastructure projects in Slovenia: from failure to sustainable investment organized by NGO-Umanotera wanted to confront government representatives (dr. Miro Cerar Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Igor Šoltes MEP) and professional public with the problem of the failure of large infrastructure projects and draw attention to good practices of small flexible infrastructure solutions, as green infrastructure (multi-purpose flood retention, nutrients recovery from waste water, etc.).
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 4822123As a representative of the Sustainable Sanitation Task Force of Global Water Partnership (GWP), the project manager T.G. Bulc presented findings of treatments wetlands (TWs) and nutrient capture research in context of municipal infrastructure of small settlements in Slovenia compared to other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In Slovenia, novel single stage VF systems for sewage treatment were installed in the size of 1.5 m2 per PE and planted with common reed (Phragmites australis). Performance efficiency of VF systems was monitored by means of hydraulic loads, hydraulic retention time, and evaluation of physical and chemical parameters at inlet and outlet. The results of the performance efficiency was evaluated and compared with comparable TWs, constructed in Denmark according to Danish guidelines. The performance results will be helpful in preparing Slovene guidelines for TWs with practical information about operational and legislation requirements.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 4866155