Igor Papič

Minister of Education, Science, and Sport
Slovenia
Papic

Igor Papič

Minister of Education, Science, and Sport
Slovenia

Biography

Dr Igor Papič was born on 24 May 1966 in Ljubljana. He is a Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana. From 2011 to 2013, he was the Vice Dean for the field of pedagogical work, from 2013 to 2017 the Dean of the Faculty, and from 2017 to 2021 the Rector of the University of Ljubljana.

He received his bachelor’s degree in 1992, his master’s degree in 1995 and his doctorate in 1998 from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. From 1994 to 1996, he trained at Siemens’ Power Transmission and Distribution Department in Erlangen, Germany. In 2001, he was a visiting professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. His research includes active compensators, FACTS devices (Flexible AC Transmission System), power quality and smart grid concepts.

He has led numerous domestic and international R&D projects. In 2009, he and his partners founded Reinhausen 2e, a spin-off company of the University of Ljubljana. The company specialises in the engineering and development of passive, hybrid and active compensators. He has been invited to lecture at the University of Manitoba, the University of Manchester, SmartGrids Austria, TNB Research Kuala Lumpur, the University of Alberta, Sichuan University and elsewhere.

From 2006 to 2017, he chaired the Programme Council of the Technology Platform for Smart Grids in Slovenia. He is currently a member of the Energy Council of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and president of the Electrotechnical Association of Slovenia.  He is also the editor of the international journal IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, the chairman of the International Working Group »Cigre Joint Working Group C4.42/CIRED Continuous assessment of low-order harmonic emissions from customer installations« and the vice president of the IEEE Harmonics Modelling and Simulation Task Force.

He was one of the initiators and the first president of the Rector’s Forum of South-East Europe and the Western Balkans. In 2020, he was also the first president of the European university alliance EUTOPIA.