Lidija Ćurković graduated from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology at the University of Zagreb in 1990, where she later acquired her Master's (in 1995) and Doctor’s (in 1999) degrees. Since 2000 she has been working at the Department of Materials, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, where she is now a Full Professor and Head of the Laboratory for Engineering Ceramics. She is a member of the Croatian Academy of Technical Sciences (HATZ), the European Ceramics Society, the Croatian Chemical Society, the Croatian Society of Chemical Engineers and Technologists, and the American Nano Society. She was a member of the Croatian Technical Committee HZN/TO 503 – Metal Materials. She is a member of the Editorial Board of international journals Materials and Synthesis and Sintering, and was guest editor of several special editions of international journals. She was the leader of eight research projects. Her scientific work includes research in nanoscience and materials engineering, especially nanomaterials, technical ceramics, and catalysts. She deals with advanced methods of synthesis and sintering as well as the structure and properties of materials. She received the Annual Award “Fran Bošnjaković” from the University of Zagreb in 2015, and the National Annual Science Award in the field of Technical Science by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia in 2013.

Irena Žmak graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture at the University of Zagreb. She subsequently completed her postgraduate studies there in 2003 and received her PhD in Technical Sciences in 2009. She has been a Full Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, Department of Materials since 2023, where she began working in 1999.In 2024, she was appointed a member of the Scientific Committee in Electrical Engineering, Computing, and Technical Sciences, a branch of the Croatian National Council for Science, Higher Education, and Technological Development. She is a member of the European Ceramics Society and the Croatian Ceramics Society, where she served as secretary until 2024.  She also serves as secretary to the faculty’s alumni organization, where she has actively participated for the last two decades. Her main research interests include neural network modeling, waste management and recycling, sustainable development, advanced technical ceramics, and composites. She has been a member of the Local Editorial Board of the journal Transactions of FAMENA since 2019 and has served as a guest editor for three special editions of international scientific journals.She has led one project and collaborated on several others. Her teaching disciplines include Recycling, Modeling and Simulations, Materials Selection, and Advanced Materials Technologies.