Year in Review 2025: Confidence in the Future of Logistics
Objavljeno: 23. 12. 2025The end of the year invites us to take a broader view. It is a moment to pause, reflect on the path behind us, and look ahead with greater confidence. In times of rapid change and often uncertain forecasts, reflection on the future helps restore a sense of meaning and direction.
Optimism today does not mean ignoring challenges, but trusting our ability to respond to them thoughtfully—through knowledge, cooperation, and responsibility towards society and the environment. At the intersection of development, responsibility, and the future, logistics plays a particularly important role.
Logistics is entering a period in which its role goes far beyond operational efficiency. It is no longer only a question of how fast or how cheaply something can be moved, but whether it can be moved at all—and under what conditions. Recent global events have exposed the fragility of supply systems and, at the same time, highlighted logistics as a key mechanism for the stability of economies, environments, and societies.
We understand future logistics as a decision-making system based on data, anticipation, and responsibility. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence enable a shift from reaction to prediction, while sustainability is no longer an external requirement but an integral measure of success. Logistics is increasingly embedded in space—cities, regions, and communities—and actively contributes to quality of life, safety, and environmental balance.
In this context, knowledge becomes a decisive factor. Technology without an understanding of systems, ethical decision-making, and long-term impacts does not ensure resilience. Future logistics will require professionals capable of connecting data, people, space, and values. While logistics once primarily responded to market demands, it is now becoming an active shaper of the future—serving balanced development between efficiency, sustainability, and social responsibility.
The Faculty as a Response to the Future of Logistics
With this responsibility in mind, the Faculty of Logistics at the University of Maribor was founded twenty years ago. At a time when logistics was still largely perceived as operational support for industry, we recognised the need for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and research-based understanding of logistics and supply chains.
Two decades later, this orientation has proven to be the right one. Today, the Faculty operates as an educational and research centre, firmly embedded in the local environment while remaining open to the international academic space—where knowledge is not only transferred but co-created in dialogue with industry, public institutions, and society.
The year 2025 therefore represents an important milestone. The Faculty of Logistics celebrates its 20th anniversary in the same year that the University of Maribor marks 50 years of its existence. This dual anniversary highlights institutional maturity and a clear positioning within the national and wider European development landscape.
Looking Ahead – Space and Leadership
At times of celebration, our focus does not remain on the past alone. With optimism, it is directed forward. In 2025, we reached important turning points in realising the long-standing vision of a dedicated Faculty building—one that will provide even stronger foundations for education, research, and cooperation with the environment.
The new building is conceived not merely as infrastructure, but as a development platform: a space for modern learning and research environments and for the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and practice. It represents a clear commitment to a future in which the Faculty plays an active role in shaping a sustainable and resilient development environment.
On these foundations, we also opened a new leadership chapter in 2025. The beginning of the mandate of Dean Prof. Dr. Tomaž Kramberger and his team coincides with a period of important strategic decisions. The new leadership assumes responsibility for further strengthening educational quality, research excellence, and engagement with the wider environment.
Education, Research, and Projects – Connected and Concrete
In 2025, the quality of our educational activities was measured not through major structural changes, but through our work with students. Particular emphasis was placed on individual mentoring and the integration of study programmes with research and project-based work. Faculty members provided mentoring or co-mentoring for 94 final theses, reflecting our strong commitment to personal guidance and responsible support throughout students’ academic journeys.
This close integration of education and research is also evident in our scientific output. In 2025, academic staff recorded a total of 303 bibliographic entries, including monographs, university textbooks, original scientific articles, and numerous conference contributions. Research activities addressed contemporary challenges in logistics, mobility, sustainability, and digitalisation. Research excellence is further confirmed by the fact that Prof. Dr. Tone Lerher was once again ranked among the top 2% of the world’s most influential researchers.
Project work formed a vital part of the Faculty’s activities in 2025. The year was marked by both the launch of new research initiatives and the completion of several long-term strategic projects. A major milestone was the start of the Faculty’s first fundamental research project—ARIS project eSCURB, focusing on electric scooters in urban environments—which confirms the growing research maturity of the institution.
We also implemented PUŠ projects aimed at actively involving students in solving real-world professional challenges, while strengthening our international research ambitions through the development of the RISE research core, preparing a major international project application for 2026.
During the summer, the Faculty participated in the large-scale investment project INNOVUM and launched the project Digital Deep Tech Driven Circular Economy, led by Prof. Dr. Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, focusing on digital solutions for circular economy systems. Autumn marked the conclusion of several major projects, including the three-year NOO-funded project Establishing an Environment for Education in Green and Digital Logistics and Supply Chains, which resulted in the DigInGreen lifelong learning model, textbooks, a scientific monograph, and numerous academic contributions.
In the same period, two Erasmus+ projects and two ARIS Target Research Programme projects were successfully completed, further demonstrating the diversity and international integration of the Faculty’s project portfolio.
Project activities are closely linked to the development of research infrastructure. Through participation in the RIUM 2 operation, the Faculty will gain access to advanced research equipment in the coming years, enabling higher-quality laboratory, field, and teaching work.
Cooperation with industry and local communities was also particularly active in 2025. The Faculty completed 13 market-based projects, including four comprehensive Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans for Slovenian municipalities. For the eighth consecutive year, we also carried out the European Mobility Week project for the Municipality of Žalec.
International Openness and Community
International engagement remains a core element of the Faculty’s identity. In the 2024/2025 academic year, we hosted 81 incoming students, while 59 of our students participated in outgoing mobility programmes. We welcomed 19 visiting lecturers and experts, and 13 staff members gained professional experience abroad.
International activities were further enriched by events such as the Green Hackathon – Root to Fork, the 12th International Logistics Summer School focusing on healthcare logistics, and a student symposium held in Zagreb, providing students with opportunities to present their work in an international setting.
A special highlight of 2025 was the awarding of the title Professor Emeritus of the University of Maribor to Prof. Dr. Bojan Rosi, the first emeritus professor of the Faculty of Logistics. This recognition symbolises continuity of knowledge, academic integrity, and a lasting contribution to the development of logistics as a discipline.