Faculty of Tourism as a local partner of the 24th Gathering of Slovenian Geographers in the Kozjansko region

At the beginning of October, after months of preparation, we partnered in organizing the traditional 24th Annual Meeting of Slovenian Geographers, which this year, after several decades, once again took place in the Kozjansko region. This unique landscape – close to where we operate and to which we are bound by many professional and personal ties – has been at the center of geographical research in recent years, particularly by the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The Association of Slovenian Geographers, as the main organizer, invited us to co-create the central part of the first day’s program of this two-day event. The co-organization of the gathering was supported by the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, while the local partnership was further strengthened by the Kozjansko Regional Park, which is also a regular destination for our fieldwork activities.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marjetka Rangus took on the demanding role of moderating a round table discussion addressing the challenges of sustainable development and peripheral border areas (the main themes of the meeting), while Nejc Pozvek, as a member of the organizing committee, carried out numerous organizational tasks and coordination activities to ensure the event ran smoothly.

Although geographers are part of our team (in addition to Nejc, also Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marko Koščak, Assist. Prof. Dr. Jani Kozina, and Assistant Erik Logar), this was the first major event where we actually presented ourselves “in the geographical field.” And we believe it won’t be the last, as we were extremely pleased with the collaboration and connections we established.