Prof. Dr Branka
Vojnović received a B.Sc. from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Textile Technology. She was a senior assistant, assistant professor and associate professor at the Faculty of Textile Technology at the University of Zagreb. She is currently a professor at the Department of Applied Chemistry at the Faculty of Textile Technology at the University of Zagreb. Her research activities include the development and optimisation of analytical methods for the determination of inorganic and organic pollutants in wastewater from the textile and leather industries. She also investigates the possibilities of using sustainable adsorbents (natural zeolites and biochar) in wastewater treatment to remove harmful metal ions and organic pollutants, especially dyes, surfactants and microplastic particles. Her areas of interest also include textile chemistry, textile technology, technical sciences, quality assessment and accreditation of laboratories in the field of chemical, analytical and environmental testing and sampling for environmental samples: air, water, soil and waste.
Petra Mihovilović received her master's degree in Chemistry in Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, in 2021. She is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Textile Chemistry. She was awarded in 2021 for her outstanding academic success the Medal of the Department of Chemistry, and in 2023, she was awarded the Textile Science Research Centre Annual Award for the most successful scientific and research work in the field of textiles in the category of young researchers. Since 2022, she has worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology. Her narrow field of scientific interest includes materials engineering and the development of sustainable technologies for wastewater treatment, with a special focus on the removal of microplastic fibers released from textile garments. In 2023, she became part of the research group of the Croatian Science Foundation project "Assessment of microplastic shedding from polyester textiles in washing process" - InWashed-MP, IP-2020-02-7575, led by Prof. Tanja Pušić, Ph.D.
