Simon Lesjak

I studied Water Science and Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering at the University of Ljubljana, where I completed my master's degree with a thesis on fish pass design. I also studied at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto as part of the Erasmus Programme. During my studies, I was involved in the project Planning of Bicycle and Pedestrian Paths in the Slovenian Municipality of Šentrupert within the Creative Path to Knowledge Programme co-funded by the EU and the Slovenian Government, where I worked on spatial planning of the conceptual design. Later, I worked in spatial data acquisition and processing using satellite imagery for the project Update of Actual Land Use Data for Agricultural and Forest Lands within the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia. I was involved in event organisation and content preparation at the organisation Doves – FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education) which focuses on empowering young people to build an environmentally conscious world through a solutions-oriented approach. Additionally, at the Institute for Ichthyological and Ecological Research, on the project NAture Insurance: Assessment and Demonstration project (NAIAD), I did hydrological modelling aimed at nature-based solutions for flood protection and flood risk management. In addition, I was employed at the Slovenian Water Agency where I worked on hydraulic modelling for the Interreg Italy–Slovenia project, Vipava/Vipacco and Other Transboundary River Basins Flood Risk Management (VISFRIM). In the past three years I have been a researcher at the Institute for Hydraulic Research, working on various projects: (1) I was engaged in river renaturation and water management strategy preparation for the project Integrated Ecoremediation of Kučnica as a Sustainable Water Management Strategy with the Aim of Improving the Ecological Status (RENATA) within the framework of the Interreg Slovenia-Austria Programme; (2) I did hydraulic modelling and flood analysis for the project Analysis of Flood Event in August 2023 in Slovenia; (3) I worked on sediment transport modelling in the Ptujsko jezero river reservoir within the project LIFE IP RESTART (Boosting Waste Recycling Into Useful Products by Preparing the Environment for a Circular Economy in Slovenia); and (4) I am currently working on open science principles implementation at the Institute within the framework of the project Support for the Implementation of Open Science Principles in Slovenia (SPOZNAJ).