CoE MARBLE is pleased to announce the appointment of its Advisory Board members. Following a decision made by the Supervisory Board, Maarja Kruusmaa, Andreja Kutnar, and Mirko Kovac have been named as the first members of the Advisory Board, each with a two-year mandate.
Prof. Maarja Kruusmaa co-founded an Intelligent Materials and Systems Laboratory in Tartu University Institute of Technology (Estonia) in 2002, a research group that focused on developing and using smart materials for applications, including robotics. In 2008, she was invited to establish Centre for Biorobotics in Tallinn University of Technology. The research centre currently focuses on bio-inspired robotics, soft robotics, underwater robotics, experimental fluid dynamics and flow sensing. She is involved in several international collaborative projects for using soft materials in robotic surgery and developing and using bioinspired underwater robots. Prof. Kruusmaa is a co-founder of a start-up company Fits.me, offering virtual fitting rooms for online retailers with the help of robotics technology. As the R&D director of Fits.me she was responsible for developing the concept technology of shape-changing bio-robotics mannequins for imitating different body shapes. Prof. Kruusmaa serves as a program committee member in various journals and conferences, such as Living Machines, Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, Journal of Soft Robotics, IEEE Conferences of Advanced Robotics, etc. She is a member of DG CONNECT Advisory Board on ICT research at European Union, analyzing and shaping the research agenda of the European Union Horizon 2020 program.
Dr. Andreja Kutnar is a full professor in the field wood science at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia and director of the InnoRenew CoE. She was an Executive Board member of InnovaWood for six years and in the years 2020/2021 president of the Society of Wood Science and Technology Executive Board. Her areas of expertise include wood composites, therm- hydro-mechanical treatment of wood, and adhesive bonding. Her work focuses on research projects in the fields of natural science, technology, sustainable development of the wood industry, environmental impact assessment of new materials, products, and technologies from origin, manufacturing, use/alteration to reuse or recycle. In 2016, she was recognized with the “Prometheus of Science for Excellence in Communication” award for successful multi-level communication in wood science and supporting sustainable development. In 2018, she received the distinguished Zois Certificate of Recognition for important scientific achievements in the field of wood science. And in 2020, she was included in the prestigious European Commission campaign #EUwomen4future that draws attention to outstanding women working in research, innovation, education, culture and sport.
Dr. Mirko Kovac is Director of the Aerial Robotics Laboratory, Reader in Aero-structures at Imperial College London and Royal Society Wolfson Fellow. He is also heading Materials and Technology Centre of Robotics at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology in Zürich. His research group focusses on the development of novel, biologically inspired flying robots for distributed sensing in air and water and on autonomous robotic construction for future infrastructure systems. Dr. Kovac’s particular specialisation is in robot design, hardware development and multi-modal robot mobility. Since 2006, he has presented his work in >70 international proceedings and journals, has won several best paper awards and has delivered >30 keynote lectures as well as >50 seminar and conference talks. He obtained a total of £8m in research grants and he regularly acts as advisor to government, investment funds and industry on robotics opportunities.
CoE MARBLE is thrilled to welcome new Advisory Board members as their expertise will be instrumental in shaping the future of CoE MARBLE in striving to drive innovation in maritime technologies, and will play a pivotal role in guiding the Centre’s mission to advance maritime robotics and technologies for a sustainable blue economy.