Franc POHLEVEN

Dr. Franc Pohleven is a retired full professor emeritus of the Faculty of Biotechnology, UL. After graduating from the Tabor Secondary School in Maribor, he enrolled in the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Biotechnology, UL, where he obtained his bachelor's degree and later his master's degree and doctorate in the field of fungal physiology. His first research was on mycorrhiza, and since 1990 he has been studying wood pests (wood fungi and insects) and developing environmentally friendly procedures and means for the protection of wood, especially objects and objects of cultural and historical heritage. Until his retirement, he introduced and taught several courses on wood pathology and protection, biotechnology of higher fungi, mushroom cultivation and conservation at the Faculty of Biotechnics and at the member institutions of UL and UM. In these fields he organised four international scientific congresses and several COST meetings in Slovenia. He was the head of the Slovenian Forest-Lumber Technology Platform (SGLTP) and a shortlisted member of the Board of the Forest-Based Sector Technology Platform (FTP) in Brussels, as well as the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnics.
In the field of research and development, he has worked closely with scientific institutions in the EU, Imperial College London, Technische Universität Wien, Bundesforschungsanstalt für Forst- und Holzwirtschaft Hamburg, BAM Berlin, in the field of conservation with the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, in the field of medicinal fungi with the Edible Mushroom Institute in Shanghai, in the field of conservation with the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., in the field of medicinal fungi with the Edible Mushroom Institute in Shanghai, in the field of COST, bilateral and other international projects. He is the author of numerous scientific and technical papers and co-author of several patents, two of which have gone into industrial production. In 2009, he was awarded the Jesenko Lifetime Achievement Award by the Faculty of Biotechnology. In 2017, the Rector appointed him Professor Emeritus of the University of Ljubljana.

From the point of view of environmental protection and the fight against climate change, he has been advocating wood processing and the popularisation of the use of wood products for many years. Since 2009, he has been organising voluntary exhibitions and events at Cankarjev dom and around Slovenia, which aim to raise public awareness of the importance of wood processing and use for the protection of nature and human health. He proposed that 13 May be declared International Wood Day.