Marko Hölbl

Marko Hölbl is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Vice-Dean for Research at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research covers the broad field of cybersecurity, ranging from cryptography to user aspects of information security and privacy. He teaches courses including Information Security Fundamentals, Data Protection and Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, and Dynamic Web Solutions in the study programs Informatics and Data Technologies and Media Communication at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, as well as Data Protection and Computer Forensics in the Information Security program at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, and Cyber and Network Security in the Information Activity Coordinator program at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

During his doctoral studies he was a visiting researcher at the Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Graz University of Technology, Austria, and later returned there in 2014, 2016, and 2018. In 2023 he was a visiting researcher at INSA Centre Val de Loire, Laboratory Orléans Computer Science (LIFO). He is actively engaged in professional networks, serving as Secretary-General of the CEPIS LSI (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies, Legal and Security Issues), a member of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) WG6: SRIA and Cyber Security Technologies, Vice-President and Executive Board Member of the Slovenian Society Informatika, and a former member of the European Commission’s NIS WG3 platform. He is also Vice-President of the Slovenian Society INFORMATIKA, a member of the management board of SRIP GoDigital, an executive board member of the Association for Informatics and Telecommunications, Cybersecurity Section with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, a member of the Cryptography Consultative Working Group with the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information, and Secretary-General of the European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE).

He has coordinated and participated in numerous projects, seminars, and workshops. Currently he is involved in the Digital Europe project AKADIMOS, supporting the European Cybersecurity Skills Academy, and the ESA RPA project PQC Key Management. He coordinated the project Comprehensive Analysis and Strategy for Increasing Resilience to Cyber Risks in the Slovenian Armed Forces’ ICT and Weapon Systems, and the EC H2020 project CyberSec4Europe. He has contributed to several Erasmus+ projects including ATHENA, DiT4LL, TECHWHIZ, and Cyber F-IT, and was previously active in Erasmus+ projects such as InSign and I-ACE, the EC Tempus project ECESM, and bilateral collaborations with the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Novi Sad.

His bibliography includes more than 600 works, spanning conference papers, book chapters, and journal articles in leading JCR IF journals, with over 2,000 citations in WoS, more than 3,100 citations in SCOPUS, and more than 4,400 citations on Google Scholar. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Computers & Electrical Engineering (Elsevier) and Frontiers in Blockchain. He edited the IFIP SEC 2020 proceedings published by Springer and serves as guest editor for the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics for a special issue on “Federated Learning and Digital Twins for Smart Healthcare.” In the past he was guest editor for special issues in Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing (Hindawi), Sustainability (MDPI), and Computers & Security (Elsevier). He regularly reviews for top journals indexed in the Web of Knowledge.