On Monday, 29 September 2025, PhD student Tjaša Žerdoner successfully defended her doctoral dissertation titled “Source Apportionment of Pb in PM10 from the Upper Meža Valley by the Use of Advanced Analytical Techniques.” The dissertation was completed under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tea Zuliani and Asst. Prof. Dr. Janja Vidmar, with Prof. Dr. Johanna Irrgeher, leader of the Weave project DISCOVER, between Slovenia and Austria, on the Austrian side, serving as a member of the evaluation board.

Tjaša’s research directly contributes to the goals of the DISCOVER project, a Weave bilateral collaboration between Slovenia and Austria, which seeks to improve our understanding of the sources, transport, and impacts of potentially toxic elements in the Drava River Basin.