Elena BUŽAN is a molecular ecologist. She has more than 15 years of experience in genetic and genomic data analysis. Her work involves the application of molecular genomic techniques to a variety of conservation and evolutionary problems, both basic and applied. She has a strong interdisciplinary background and broad research interests, including previous experience in linking disease occurrence to wildlife distribution and applying landscape genetic approaches—such as gene evolution and immunology. Elena has been project leader for numerous international, national, and bilateral projects and has coordinated the study programmes Conservation Biology and Nature Conservation.

She led international H2020 projects in bioscience research and coordinated the H2020 project STEP CHANGE (Science Transformation in Europe through Citizens’ involvement in Health, Conservation, and Energy Research), which linked several pilot studies in Citizen Science Research across Europe and Uganda, including those focused on the role of citizens in wildlife conservation.  In her second mandate, she is actively involved in the Expert Group for Open Science at the European University Association. She is also the university representative for LifeWatch and Slovenian National Supercomputing Network (SLING). She is a member of the Expert Council for Animal Protection at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia