Junior researcher at the Wine Research Center of the University of Nova Gorica won the scholarship of the national scholarship program called “Women in Science”
The collaborating partners of the national program “Women in Science,” namely, L’Oreal Slovenia, Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO, and the Slovenian Science Foundation awarded fellowships to the seventh generation of junior female researchers at a formal ceremony that took place at the National Museum of Slovenia yesterday. 5000 euro fellowship was given to Tina Jerman Klen, a junior researcher at the Wine Research Center and a final year doctoral student in the program Environmental Sciences at the University of Nova Gorica. The fellowship can be used for any type of research within the program’s parameters.
The application committee of the seventh L’OREAL-UNESCO »Women in Science« scholarship program (geared towards drawing attention to the importance of women’s role in science) received the largest number of applications so far and, for the first time, also applications from the field of biotechnology.
In her doctoral thesis, Tina Jerman Klen researches the transformations and the grouping of olive phenols during the production of olive oil. Olive phenols are supposed to be rich in antioxidants and therefore they play an important role in preventing certain types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, these chemical compounds, when found in used oil products, represent a huge environmental problem. Hence it is strictly prohibited to simply dispose them into the environment without proper measures being taken. The purpose of her research is to evaluate the efficiency of the already existing oil extraction techniques and find out if, by improved technological means, we could improve the quality of olive oil and, at the same time, reduce the environmental risks, mainly by recycling the waste materials. These actions could also contribute importantly to the Slovene olive oil production.
The award is a notable honor that confirms the importance of the work of Tina jerman Klen and her thesis advisor, Doc. Dr. Branka Mozetič Vodopivec. Moreover, it proves the high quality of studies at the University of Nova Gorica.
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Andreja Leban
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E: andreja.leban@ung.si