FOUNDERS

Professor Emeritus Dr. Anton Bebler

(1937–2026)

Professor Emeritus Dr. Rado Bohinc

Connecting science for its decisive role in shaping the social levers of sustainable development is not only our right, it is also our social responsibility.

Professor Dr. Boris Cizelj

Sustainable development demands responsibility towards society at all levels. Despite strategic commitments, action remains insufficient. A shift in mindset is essential to prevent unacceptable conditions for future generations.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Lucija Čok

In an era of global awareness of developments in postmodern society, it is important that, within individual social groups, the economic and technological influences on the culture of coexistence and on the preservation of civilizational norms and values are studied.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Martin Čopič

I joined AZTRS because I believe that climate change represents a critical threat to the future, and it is everyone's task to contribute, to the best of our ability, to the transition towards a sustainable functioning of society.

Professor Dr. Jože P. Damijan

I joined AZTRS because I believe that Slovenia needs an association of researchers that views development holistically — sustainably.

Professor Dr. Mladen Dolar

The world is going to ruin — more than ever in my (rather long) lifetime. Every initiative that seeks to stand up to this and to gather reasonable and warm-hearted people is welcome.

Academician Professor Dr. Igor Emri

I joined AZTRS mainly for two reasons: (i) Because the aims of AZTRS align with the mission of the Council for Development at SASA, which I co-coordinate, and I believe that only through cooperation can we achieve more! (ii) Research-based inventions and innovations are a necessary condition for sustainable development. As the author of several breakthrough inventions, I believe I can contribute constructively to the desired and necessary progress of Slovenia.

Professor Dr. Mejra Festić

Throughout history, associations of academics have often led to improvements in the functioning of social systems through the concentration of knowledge and ideas. AZTRS is a continuation of these evolutionary movements.

Professor Dr. Andreja Gomboc

Slovenia's sustainable development is inseparably linked to global science, to the understanding of planet Earth and its near-space environment. The use of space technologies, which plays an increasingly important role both in everyday life and in solving humanity's global problems, must follow the principles of sustainable development.

Professor Dr. Milena Horvat

She joined the Academy for Sustainable Development out of her deep commitment to protecting the environment, improving the quality of life, and the sustainable management of natural resources.

Professor Jana Javornik, PhD

The responsibility of science lies not only in producing responsible science, but also in communicating it responsibly. In Slovenia it is essential to raise awareness that everyday ordinariness also unfolds within an institutionalized knowledge industry.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Maca Jogan

I decided to take part in the Academy after recognizing the goals of this scientific community, which for decades have also been the quiet partners of my work.

Professor Dr. Miha Juhart

I joined the Academy because I care about tomorrow.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Lučka Kajfež Bogataj

Respecting the principles of sustainable development is a necessary precondition for the development of modern science. The Academy can help along this path.

Dr. Tomaž Kalin

Professor Dr. Aleksandra Kanjuo Mrčela

Convinced that addressing the accumulated challenges of today requires multilateral and multidisciplinary cooperation and debate within science, she took part in founding the Academy in 2023.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Andrej Kirn

I decided to take part in founding AZTRS because I believe such an institution is urgently needed at a time when we know how we ought to act to perhaps avoid ecological and other catastrophes, yet we nonetheless act as if we did not know it.

Dr. Zdenko Kodelja, Research Councillor

Joining the founding of AZTRS is part of the fundamental academic mission — that it is not enough merely to understand the world around us critically, but that we should also strive, through joint efforts, to change it.

Professor Dr. Bogomir Kovač

I believe that concern about the demographic deficit is unwarranted, if society were aware of the significance of the socially, biologically and medically complex process of population ageing.

Professor Dr. Tamara Lah Turnšek

I joined the founding of the academy because I served for 18 years as president of the Council for Environmental Protection of the Republic of Slovenia.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Franc Lobnik

He joined the initiative to found AZTRS because he believes that the time is catching up with us — or has already caught up with us — when sustainability-oriented and socially engaged, responsive (in)action will distinguish between fruitful and fruitless academic activity.

Professor Dr. Vlado Miheljak

I supported the founding of AZTRS and joined it in the conviction that in Slovenia we need an academic institution that will address the pressing questions of contemporary society and its sustainable development, and will loudly warn of natural and social risks.

Professor Dr. Vesna Mikolič

The topicality and centrality of the theme of 'sustainable development' calls for comprehensive and special treatment.

Academician Professor Emeritus Dr. Zdravko Mlinar

Taking part in the Academy for Sustainable Development of Slovenia is important to me because I want to contribute to a holistic approach to solving social challenges.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Stane Pejovnik

In the Academy I recognized most of the people for whom the protection of human rights is a basic guiding principle, which promises the possibility of social progress in a reasonable direction.

Professor Dr. Dragan Petrovec

Every gathering of intellectuals is very important, because without the confrontation and clashing of opinions at a high level, our Slovenia will get nowhere.

Academician Professor Dr. Jože Pirjevec

I gladly supported the Slovenian Academy of Sciences for Sustainable Development from the very first meeting when the idea was born, up to the founding act, because I am of the opinion that our scientific-research community is too little critical, too quiet and consequently unheard at the level of critical assessment of social developments and progress.

Professor Dr. Rado Pišot

I joined AZTRS mainly because interdisciplinary cooperation among scientists in the field of sustainable, nature-friendly development in Slovenia needs to be significantly strengthened and deepened.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Dušan Plut

I decided to support the founding of the Slovenian Academy for Sustainable Development for two reasons. First, because as humanity we have, in our development, sunk into a deep crisis from which we can extricate ourselves only through strong cooperation towards sustainable solutions.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Danijel Rebolj

After gaining independence in 1991, Slovenia failed to give the state substance; its development was haphazard and without long-term planning. In AZTRS I see an opportunity for interdisciplinary reflection on how to give meaning to sustainable development and adapt it to Slovenian conditions.

Professor Dr. Božo Repe

I decided to join the Academy because it has gathered an enviable circle of respected, critical and engaged scientists who care about the development of Slovenia.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Ciril Ribičič

We live in a pivotal time that calls into question natural (climatic and biotic) balances, peace, democracy, human rights and fundamental humanistic values. AZTRS opens an opportunity for a scientific understanding of these processes, which are disruptive to the survival of civilization.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Rudi Rizman

The decision to join the Academy is entirely clear. With all my 50+ years of experience and rich knowledge in the field of developmental, socially responsible and innovatively sustainability-oriented architectural and design projects, I can contribute to society in my environment.

Professor Nada Rožmanec Matičič

I responded to the invitation of Prof. Dr. Niko Toš because I feel the absence of new schools of thought in the humanities and of interdisciplinary dialogue with the natural sciences.

Professor Dr. Svetlana Slapšak

Sustainable development is rapidly becoming the fundamental problem of survival on this planet, from the local to the global level.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Lojze Sočan

Ah, these scientists — it takes 100 years for them to get moving.

Academician Professor Dr. Slavko Splichal

I believe that AZTRS is an urgently needed institution in the Slovenian and wider context for improving sustainable development.

Professor Dr. Peter Stegnar

I joined AZTRS to contribute my expertise in the biomedical field to a more sustainable and integrated world.

Professor Dr. Veronika Stoka

I decided to support the founding of AZTRS because we must enable younger generations to meet their needs at the same or a higher level than was given to us.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Ivan Svetlik

I joined the Academy for Sustainable Development because I believe that, given the waning role of public intellectuals as individuals, it is necessary to form collective groups of scholars who recognize the need for expert interventions in public debate.

Professor Dr. Darko Štrajn

Perhaps it is precisely in the contradiction between the concepts of 'sustainability' and 'development' — which are in essence intransitive — that the challenge of joining the group of AZTRS initiators is contained.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Niko Toš

I joined AZTRS because I believe that sustainable development is of key importance for the further development of Slovenia, and because currently no other organization is focused on this problem.

Professor Ddr. Boris Turk

I joined AZTRS in the hope that this is a socially conscious environment that will not engage in party politics but will instead highlight the problems arising from human interference with the planet.

Professor Dr. Dušan Turk

For too long we believed that our resources were inexhaustible, or that the Earth was large enough for all of us and our infinite development. Now it is evident that things cannot go on like this for much longer.

Professor Dr. Goran Turk

He supports the newly founded AZTRS academy because no such organization exists here, yet its founding is urgently needed, as it brings together a range of respected researchers.

Academician Professor Dr. Vito Turk

The project seems interesting to me because it opens up numerous possibilities for a serious treatment of vital questions of the future, and the chance to try to build, at least for some of them, the minimal intellectual consensus that we need in Slovenia.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Danilo Türk

I supported the founding of the Academy of Sciences for Sustainable Development of Slovenia because SASA does not take positions on important social questions relevant to the development of Slovenian society.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Lojze Ude

I decided to join the founding of AZTRS because for many years I have missed a functioning connection between Slovenian science, Slovenian society and decision-makers.

Associate Professor Dr. Vesna V. Godina

I decided to join the founding of AZTRS because for many years I have missed a functioning connection between Slovenian science, Slovenian society and decision-makers in Slovenian society and the state.

Professor Dr. Mitja Žagar

Since the 1970s, when I began working in the UN Clubs of Slovenia, I have advocated for environmental protection and taken part in ecological and peace efforts and movements.