By young experts, for future experts
The Summer School of Science is organized by an expert team of young scientists and STEM majors, who ensure a high level of quality, as well as a personable touch.
Supervisors
President of the Society for Education Outside the Box
Leonardo is a passionate researcher and educator. He graduated Natural Sciences in 2016 at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, where he was awarded First Class Honours for excellent examination results. In 2021, he obtained his PhD in nanomagnetism at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where he investigated the physics of permanent magnets used in electric cars. He has published papers in prestigious scientific journals and specializes in researching nanomagnetic structures using transmission electron microscopy.
Apart from being a researcher, Leonardo is an educational consultant. He has worked with over 500 students, helping them score well in A levels, IB and PAT exams, and get accepted to prestigious universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge. He also advises university students on carrying out research for their Bachelor's, Master's or PhD theses.
Leonardo fell in love with S3 while he was a project leader in 2018. He returned in 2019 and 2020 as an organizer, and he currently supervises the activities of S3, especially in designing the program and projects. The main thing that Leonardo appreciates about S3 that it is a safe space for everyone to learn, grow and make friends no matter their background. He cherishes the fact that S3 is an interdisciplinary environment that encourages participants to both develop critical thinking and research skills as well as emotional intelligence.
Petra is a computer vision researcher focused on understanding how to best train deep learning models and ensure these systems are safe, reliable, and effective in real-world applications.
Her path to science has been anything but linear. She initially chose IT as a pragmatic career choice, earning her master’s degree and working as a software developer. When the Computer vision group at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb found itself with an unfilled PhD position, she grabbed that opportunity switch to a topic she found more meaningful and impactful. She recently finished her post doc in Bielefeld, Germany.
Petra has participated twice as a project leader at the S3 Summer School of Science, an experience she found quite inspiring. The energy and enthusiasm of the organizers and participants motivated her to contribute to the School’s continuation. She particularly values how it demystifies science, showing that it is accessible to anyone with curiosity and a willingness to learn.
In her free time, Petra enjoys music, pub quizzes, movies, British crime dramas, long walks, volleyball, and biking. A self-proclaimed serial hobbyist, she dabbles in yoga, painting, crocheting, language learning, and gardening. She is currently attempting to set up a book and movie club between Zagreb and Bielefeld.
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Organizing team
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Laura has always liked asking questions, whether it be about the mundane or the incomprehensible, and maintains that childlike curiosity to this day. She has accumulated a number of different interests, ranging from music to film to nonograms and, of course, science. Her love of science started as a fascination with all things cosmic, mostly due to her outright obsession with Carl Sagan. This passion grew and eventually branched out into other fields. Ultimately, however, her wish to study the universe itself prevailed, which is why she obtained a master's degree in gravitational physics.
She came to the Summer School of Science as a participant at S3 in 2017 and returned in 2018. She absolutely loved her time there and was eager to come back in the future (in fact, she came back to visit the Summer School several times). She got the opportunity to contribute as a technical assistant in 2020 and is now coming back as an organizer for the fifth time in a row.
Whenever she can, Laura enjoys playing guitar or listening to music, which she considers indispensable. She also spends her free time drawing, learning new things of various sorts (like piano, languages or info from the rarest of Wikipedia pages), reading more books at a time than she probably should, as well as walking, cycling or... basically, quite a few things, many of which she has a terrible habit of doing late into the night.
Luka is a natural builder with an innate drive to understand how the world works. While his foundations are in physics and mathematics, the discovery of computer science shifted his trajectory, turning programming into his primary professional passion. He has built a career around this expertise, founded on a love for both technical problem-solving and teaching others.
This marks Luka’s fifth consecutive year as an organizer for the Summer School of Science. His roots in science communication run deep; back in high school, he gave lectures on satellite construction as part of Croatia’s first satellite project (which successfully reached orbit in 2024!). Today, he continues this mission by developing science workshops for students and leading digital literacy initiatives for seniors.
Professionally, Luka leads 0x20, an IT company crafting custom web solutions. He also manages the finances for the Society for Education Outside the Box. To decompress, he swaps his keyboard for a lacrosse stick, dives into complex board games, or tests his wits in escape rooms.
0x20, Croatia
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia
There are not enough hours in a day for all the hobbies Karla would like to pursue. Her interests range from photography, ornament-making, and reading books to watching TV shows and volunteering. She has always been in awe of how things around her function, especially the human body and mind, which led her to choose medicine as her field of study. Karla is currently a fifth-year student at the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek and hopes to never lose her insatiable curiosity, the driving force behind everything she does.
Traveling has always been her passion - whether exploring new places with friends or embarking on solo adventures and student exchanges. These experiences motivate her to learn new languages, discover different music, and step outside her comfort zone. Although her life may seem chaotic at times, she is always “the mom” of the group, taking care of everyone and everything.
In the summer of 2023, she worked as a technical assistant at S3, and this year, she has the opportunity to contribute as part of the organizing team. The Summer School of Science is not her first experience with summer science camps - she loved participating as a child and is eager to help bring one to life.
Jelena has always been a curious mind, the kind of kid who wanted to understand every how and why, especially how certain mechanisms and processes work. That curiosity eventually brought her to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb, where she completed her Bachelor's and Master's studies in Computer Science, and took her first serious research steps. Her urge to understand the world's inner workings led her further into AI research, and she is now an ELLIS PhD student at the University of Freiburg in Germany and the University of Oxford. Her current work sits at the intersection of machine learning, computer vision, and interpretability -- she is still taking things apart to see how they work, only now instead of toys, it's neural networks, and they are even harder to put back together. Hearing her friends talk about the Summer School of Science, Jelena knew she wanted to be part of it. It is a great initiative built on exactly the kind of curiosity and enthusiasm she values most. This is her first year as an organizer.
Outside of research, Jelena never runs out of things to try: from dancing to martial arts, skiing to scuba diving, painting to crocheting. But what she enjoys most is searching for hidden waterfalls in the hills around Freiburg and the Swiss Alps. Her friends like to joke that she's the grandma of every group she's ever been in, so rest assured: you will be well looked after, well fed, and gently reminded to bring a jacket and always wear sunscreen.
University of Freiburg, Germany / University of Oxford, United Kingdom
University of Zagreb, Croatia / University of Grenoble, France
Jakov is a second-year PhD student at the Physics Department of the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Science, where he works as part of the Light Fermion Spectroscopy group. He is currently in Grenoble, as part of his joint PhD. The group's research focuses on the properties of a number of fascinating new materials, which they investigate using infrared spectroscopy in high magnetic fields at ambient and high pressures. Jakov will gladly tell you all about his experiences with some of the most powerful magnetic fields in the world. Outside of work, he is very passionate about sharing his love for science and his many hobbies, including piano, and indoor and outdoor climbing.
Technical assistant
Tena has always been a creative soul until she discovered mathematical tournaments. Although her participation in every one of them was bribed by a chocolate bar, she got quite good and that's where love was born. Later on she would start drawing in her free time which in the end led her to combine her biggest aspirations into one. Most of her time as a teen, Tena spent studying for competitons ranging for mathematics and Croatian to art and volleyball. In spite of being a student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture where she's studying Architecture and Urban planning, she still finds time to tutor and write for architectural magazines. She loves listening to music, that's why she is no stranger to frequent concerts which often include travelling a long way.
Tena is communicative and friendly so it doesn't suprise us that she took part in few Erasmus+ projects, led the "Bourek - one man, three cities" project and went to OBC camping centre. As a people person she takes any given opportunity to volunteer. Her brother is her role model, so, when she saw he was organizing the Summer School of Science, she decided to join in and take on the role of a technical assistant, which she is reprising in 2026 for the third time.
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia