Vili Podgorelec • Institute of Informatics

Vili Podgorelec

Full Professor , Intelligent Systems Laboratory

E-mail:	vili.podgorelec@um.si
Title:	full professor
Telephone:	(02) 220 7353
Room:	G2-1N.05
Contact hours:	link
LinkedIn profile:	link

Research areas

data analytics, data science
intelligent systems, systems theory
machine learning, data mining, knowledge discovery
semantic technologies, knowledge management
complexity, complex systems, complexity metrics
software engineering, medical informatics

Professional history

Full Professor of Computer Science, University of Maribor, Slovenia (since 2012)
- Deputy Head of the Institute of Informatics, University of Maribor, Faculty of EE&CS (since 2016)
- Senior research advisor, Centre of Open Innovation and Research, Slovenia (2013–2015)
- Visiting researcher, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (jul 2015–aug 2015)
- Visiting professor, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia (may 2012)
- R&D project coordinator/member (since 1997)
Associate Professor (Comp. Sc.), University of Maribor, Slovenia (2007–2012)
- Visiting professor, University of Szeged, Hungary (may 2009)
- Visiting professor, University of Applied Sciences Seinäjoko, Finland (feb 2008)
Assistant Professor (Comp. Sc.), University of Maribor, Slovenia, 2002–2007
- Visiting researcher, University of Madeira, Portugal (dec 2002–jan 2003)
Teaching Assistant, University of Maribor, Slovenia (2001–2002)
Research engineer, University of Maribor, Slovenia (1996–2001)
- Visiting researcher, University of Osaka, Japan (nov 2000–dec 2000)
- Visiting researcher, University of La Laguna, Spain (jan 2000–apr 2000)
- Visiting researcher, University of Nantes, France (dec 1997, dec 1998)
System Technician, University of Maribor, Slovenia (jan 1996–sep 1996)
Computer programmer, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain (oct 1995–nov 1995)

Teaching & lectures

Undergraduate study (BSc degree):
- Introduction to information systems (ITK 1 uni)
- Decision making models and systems (ITK 2 uni)
- Decision support systems (ITK 2 vs)
- Informatics in media (MK 1 uni)
- Practical course: Web systems (MK 3 uni)
Graduate study (MSc degree):
- Development technologies for intelligent solutions (ITK 1 mag)
- Communication research methods (MK 1 mag)
- Data mining and knowledge discovery (FZV, BioInf 1 mag)
Post-gradute study (PhD degree):
- Intelligent information solutions (RI dr)
- Expert systems and knowledge management (RI dr)
- Innovative information solutions for media (MK dr)

Selected R&D projects

Information systems research programme, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia (jan 2014–dec 2017) – senior researcher & key expert
Data analytics tool for automatic collecting and extracting of information about infrastructural business investments, Mikropis Ltd, Slovenia (mar 2016–feb 2017) – researcher & key expert
Operational programme for strengthening regional development potentials – Core@UM, Centre of Open innovation and research UM, European Regional Development Fund, EU (mar 2013–jun 2015) – researcher & scientific coordinator of the area of advanced computational methods
Analysis and upgrade of the Current Research Information System (SICRIS) with semantic component, Institute of Information Science (IZUM) Maribor, Slovenia (mar 2012–sep 2016) – researcher & project supervisor
Knowledge base development and implementation aiming at establishment of advanced Contact Centre, Employment Service of Slovenia (jun 2010 – feb 2011) – researcher & project leader
The conceptual design of a semantic service platform, COT Ltd, Slovenia (jun 2009 – sep 2009) – researcher & project leader
e-Health Service Platform research and development, SRC Ltd, Slovenia (oct 2010 – sep 2011) – researcher & key expert
E–learning support to data mining and security, Slovenian Research Agency and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Serbia (jan 2008 – jun 2010) – senior researcher & lecturer
The Introduction of the Knowledge Management System and the Approach for Continuous Education of the Employees in IT Sector, R&D Center IRC Celje, Slovenia (oct 2007 – sep 2008) – senior researcher & lecturer
Ontology based information integration using semantically annotated services, Slovenian Research Agency (oct 2007 – mar 2011) – senior researcher

Editing, reviewing

Guest editor

Journal of Medical Systems, Springer.
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, Elsevier.

Reviewer

IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE
IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in BioMedicine, IEEE
Applied Soft Computing
Expert Systems with Applications
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, Elsevier
Artificial intelligence in medicine, Elsevier
Information Processing Letters, Elsevier
Organizacija, UM FOV
Uporabna informatika, SDI

Publications

Selected peer-reviewed journal papers:

Grega Vrbančič, Vili Podgorelec, Automatic Classification of Motor Impairment Neural Disorders from EEG Signals Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Elektronika ir elektrotechnika, Kaunas: Technologija, 24(4): 3-7, 2018.
Miha Pavlinek, Vili Podgorelec, Text classification method based on self-training and LDA topic models, Expert Systems with Applications, Elsevier, vol. 80, pp. 83-93, September 2017.
Aleš Bošnjak, Vili Podgorelec, Upgrade of a current research information system with ontologically supported semantic search engine, Expert Systems with Applications, Elsevier, vol. 66, pp. 189-202, December 2016.
Sašo Karaktič, Vili Podgorelec, Improved classification with allocation method and multiple classifiers, Information Fusion, Elsevier, vol. 31, pp. 26-42, September 2016.
Luka Pavlič, Vili Podgorelec, Marjan Heričko, Polona Repolusk, An entropy-based algorithm for proposing a suitable design pattern, Informatica, Vilnius University - Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, 27(4): 843-862, 2016.
Sašo Karaktič, Vili Podgorelec, A survey of genetic algorithms for solving multi depot vehicle routing problem, Applied Soft Computing, Elsevier, vol. 27, pp. 519-532, February 2015.
Luka Pavlič, Vili Podgorelec, Marjan Heričko, A question-based design pattern advisement approach, Computer Science and Information Systems, ComSIS Consortium, 11(2): 645-664, 2014.
Matej Šprogar, Vili Podgorelec, Incremental approach to structurally difficult problems in genetic programming, Elektronika ir elektrotechnika, Kaunas: Technologija, 20(5): 154-157, 2014.
Rok Žontar, Ivan Rozman, Vili Podgorelec, Mapping ontologies to object using a transformation based on description logics, Information Technology and Control, Kaunas University of Technology, 43(3): 230-243, 2014.
Vili Podgorelec, Sašo Karakatič, A multi-population genetic algorithm for inducing balanced decision trees on telecommunications churn data, Elektronika ir elektrotechnika, Kaunas: Technologija, 19(6); 121-124, 2013.
Sašo Karaktič, Vili Podgorelec, Marjan Heričko, Optimization of combinational logic circuits with genetic programming, Elektronika ir elektrotechnika, Kaunas: Technologija, 19(7): 86-89, 2013.
Vili Podgorelec, Matej Šprogar, Sandi Pohorec, Evolutionary design of decision trees, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews - Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Wiley, 3(2): 63-82, 2013.
Vili Podgorelec, Analyzing EEG signals with machine learning for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Kaunas: Technologija, 18(8): 61-64, 2012.
Peter Kokol, Sandi Pohorec, Gregor Štiglic, Vili podgorelec: Evolutionary design of decision trees for medical application, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews - Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Wiley, vol. 2, iss. 3, pp. 237-254, May 2012.
Vili Podgorelec, Miha Grešak: Supporting the study process using semantic web technologies, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Kaunas: Technologija, No. 10(116), pp. 105-108, December 2011.
Vili Podgorelec, Sasa Kuhar: Taking Advantage of Education Data: Advanced Data Analysis and Reporting in Virtual Learning Environments, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Kaunas: Technologija, No. 8(114), pp. 111-116, October 2011.
Bostjan Grasic, Vili Podgorelec: Automating ontology based information integration using service orientation, WSEAS Transactions on Computers, WSEAS, Vol. 9, Issue 3, pp. 547-446, January 2010.
Bostjan Grasic, Vili Podgorelec, Marjan Hericko: Primerjava pristopov k razvoju ontologij (in Slovene), Uporabna informatika, Vol. 17, Issue 4, December 2009.
Vili Podgorelec: Improved Mining of Software Complexity Data on Evolutionary Filtered Training Sets, WSEAS Transactions on Information Science & Applications, WSEAS, Vol. 6, Issue 11, pp. 1751-1760, November 2009.
Vili Podgorelec, Bostjan Grasic, Luka Pavlic: Medical diagnostic process optimization through the semantic integration of data resources, Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, Elsevier, Vol. 95, Issue 2, Suppl. 1, pp. S55-S67, 2009.
Luka Pavlic, Marjan Hericko, Vili Podgorelec, Ivan Rozman: Improving Design Pattern Adoption with an Ontology-Based Repository, Informatica, Slovene Society Informatika, Vol. 33, Num. 2, pp. 189-197, 2009.
Vili Podgorelec, Luka Pavlic, Marjan Hericko: Semantic Web Based Integration of Knowledge Resources for Supporting Collaboration, Informatica, Slovene Society Informatika, Vol. 31, Num. 1, pp. 85-92, 2007.
Vili Podgorelec, Marjan Hericko: Estimating software complexity from UML models, Software Engineering Notes, ACM Press, Volume 32, Issue 2, March 2007.
V. Podgorelec, P. Kokol, M. Molan Stiglic, M. Hericko, I. Rozman: Knowledge discovery with classification rules in a cardiovascular dataset, Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, Elsevier, Vol. 80, Suppl. 1, pp. S39-S49, 2005.
Vili Podgorelec: Complexity-driven evolution of decision graph for classification of medical data, Informatica, Slovene Society Informatika, Vol. 29, Num. 1, pp. 41-51, 2005.
Vili Podgorelec, M. Hericko, Matjaz B. Juric, I. Rozman: Improving the Reliability of Medical Software by Predicting the Dangerous Software Modules, Journal of Medical Systems, Springer Science+Business Media, Vol. 29, Num. 1, pp. 3-11, February 2005.
Maurizio Pighin, Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Fault-Treshold Prediction with Linear Programming Methodologies, Empirical Software Engineering, Kluwer Academic Publishers, vol. 8, iss. 2, pp. 117-138, June 2003
Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol, Bruno Stiglic, Ivan Rozman: Decision trees: an overview and their use in medicine, Journal of Medical Systems, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, Vol. 26, Num. 5, pp. 445-463, October 2002.
Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Evolutionary induced decision trees for dangerous software modules prediction, Information Processing Letters, Elsevier Science B.V., Vol. 82, pp. 31-38, February 2002.
M. Zorman, V. Podgorelec, P. Kokol, M. Peterson, M. Sprogar, M. Ojstersek:Finding the right decision tree's induction strategy for a hard real world problem, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd., Vol. 63, pp. 109-121, September 2001.
Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Towards More Optimal Medical Diagnosing with Evolutionary Algorithms, Journal of Medical Systems, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, Vol. 25, Num. 3, pp. 195-219, June 2001.
M. Sprogar, P. Kokol, S. Hleb Babic, V. Podgorelec, M. Zorman: Vector decision trees, Intelligent Data Analysis, IOS Press, Vol. 4, Num. 3-4, pp. 305-321, 2000.
Vili Podgorelec, Janez Brest, Peter Kokol: Power of heterogeneous computing as a vehicle for implementing E3 medical decision support systems, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd., Vol. 58-59, pp. 179-190, September 2000.
Peter Kokol, Vili Podgorelec: Complexity and human writings, Complexity International, CSU Australia, Vol. 7, 2000.
Peter Kokol, Vili Podgorelec, Francis Dion, Rich de Loach: Intellectual Energy in Software Design, Software Engineering Notes, ACM Press, Volume 25, Num. 3, pp. 44-45, May 2000.
Peter Kokol, Vili Podgorelec, Ana Isabel Cardoso, Francis Dion: Assesing the State of the Software Process Development Using the Chaos Theory, Software Engineering Notes, ACM Press, Volume 25, Num. 3, pp. 41-43, May 2000.
Matej Šprogar, Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Odlocitvena drevesa in sistemi z vecdimenzionalnimi rešitvami (in Slovene), Uporabna informatika, letnik 8, st. 2, str. 79-86, 2000.
P. Kokol, V. Podgorelec, H. Habrias, N. Hadj Rabia: Ranking the Complexity of NIAM Conceptual Schemas by Alpha Metric, SIGPLAN notices, vol. 35, num. 3, pp. 59-64, ACM Press, New York, March 2000.
S. Hleb Babic, P. Kokol, V. Podgorelec, M. Zorman, M. Sprogar, M. Molan Stiglic: The Art of Building Decision Trees, Journal of Medical Systems, Plenum Press, Volume 24, Num. 1, pp. 43, 2000.
Milan Zorman, Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Using Intelligent Search for Finding Medical Sites, Medical informatics and the Internet in medicine, Taylor & Francis, vol. 24, num. 3, pp. 213-221, 1999.
P. Kokol, V. Podgorelec, M. Zorman, T. Kokol, T. Njivar: Computer and Natural Language Texts - A Comparison Based on Long-Range Correlations, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50, num. 14, pp. 1295-1301, December 1999.
Peter Kokol, Vili Podgorelec, Henri Habrias, Nassim Hadj Rabia: The complexity of formal specifications - assesments by alpha metric, SIGPLAN notices, vol. 34, num. 6, pp. 84-88, ACM Press, New York, June 1999.
P. Kokol, J. Brest, M. Zorman, V. Podgorelec: Integration of Complexity Metrics with the Use of Decision Trees, Software Engineering Notes, ACM Press, Volume 23, Num. 1, pp. 56-58, January 1998.
Vili Podgorelec, Peter Kokol: Genetic Algorithm Based System for Patient Scheduling in Highly Constrained Situations, Journal of Medical Systems, Plenum Press, Volume 21, Num. 6, pp. 417-427, December 1997.

Awards, competitions

Rector's Award for best student in generation (mentor)
Marko Kompara received the Rector's award for academic achievements of students of the University of Maribor in their enrollment generations, January 2017.
IEEE Region 8 Student Papers Competition, First Prize (mentor)
Lucija Brezočnik awarded first prize at the 25th International Electrotechnical and Computer Science Conference ERK 2016, Portorož, Slovenia, 2016.
Best PhD paper award
The 10th International Electrotechnical and Computer Science Conference ERK'2001, Portorož, Slovenia, September 2001.
SIAM Student Travel Grant Award
Recipient of the SIAM travel grant at the First SIAM International Conference on Data Mining, Chicago, IL, USA, april 2001.
1999 IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest Finals Winner
Winner of the 1999 IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest Finals, within the scope of the ISIE'99 Conference, July 1999.
Best presentation award
International ICSC Congress on Computational Intelligence Methods and Applications CIMA 1999, Rochester, NY, USA, June 1999.
Best student paper, honorable mention
At the 12th IEEE Conference on Computer Based Medical Systems, Stamford, CT, USA, June 1999.
GECCO'99 Graduate Student Workshop
Finalist at the GECCO'99 Graduate Student Workshop, Orlando, FL, USA, July 1999.
IEEE Region 8 Student Papers Contest, National Competition, First Prize
At the 7th International Electrotechnical and Computer Science Conference ERK'98, IEEE Region 8 Student Papers Competition, Portorož, Slovenia, 1998.
Best Student Paper Award
At the 10th IEEE Conference on Computer Based Medical Systems, Maribor, Slovenia, 1997.
IEEE Region 8 Student Papers Contest, National Competition, Third Prize
At the 6th International Electrotechnical and Computer Science Conference ERK'97, IEEE Region 8 Student Papers Competition, Portorož, Slovenia, 1997.
ACM Programming Contest 1997
Coach & team member of the University of Maribor team at the ACM Regional Programming Contest, Bratislava, Slovakia, November 1997.
ACM Programming Contest 1996
Team member of the University of Maribor team at the ACM Regional Programming Contest, Bratislava, Slovakia, November 1996.

Organization and chairing of conferences

Organizing

KM 2017, Knowledge Management Conference, Novo mesto, Slovenia, 2017.
ECOOP 2010, European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Maribor, Slovenia, 2010.
CBMS'2007, Computer-based medical systems, Maribor, Slovenia, 2007.
KMO-2006, Knowledge Management in Organisations, Maribor, Slovenia, 2006.
AISM-2004, Applications of Intelligent Systems in Medicine, Budapest, Hungary, 2004.
AASE-2004, Alternative Approaches in Software Engineering, Vienna, Austria, 2004.
DMSPD-2004, Data mining software prohects databases, Cambridge, USA, 2004.
CBMS'2002, Computer-based medical systems, Maribor, Slovenia, 2002.
ISM-EIS'2002, Intelligent Systems in Medicine, Malaga, Spain, 2002.

Chairing

Program co-chair, Knowledge Management KM 2017, 2017.
Program chair, Computer-based Medical Systems CBMS'2007, 2007.
Tutorial chair, Software Engineering Conference ~SE 2005~, 2005.
Publicity chair, Computer-based Medical Systems CBMS'2002, 2002.

Committees

KM 2017. (Knowledge management)
OTS'2010, OTS'2009. (Advanced technologies and services)
CBMS'2010, CBMS'2009, CBMS'2008, CBMS'2007, CBMS'2006,CBMS'2005, CBMS'2002, CBMS'97. (Computer-based medical systems)
SE-2008, SE-2007, SE-2006, SE-2005, SEA-2005, SEA-2003. (Software engineering & applications)
KMO'2006, EIS'2002, ENAIS'2001, ISA'2000, ADBIS'99, IC-AI'99. (Intelligent systems & knowledge management)
Multi'2006, IBIMA'2005, ISPDC'2003, ISI'2001. (Information systems)

Other information

Professional bodies

IEEE TC on Computational Medicine (former Vice President), Computer-Based Medical Systems Conference (Steering Committee Member), ACM Slovenia (Executive Board), NESSI Slovenia (Research Area Coordinator), SLAIS (Honorary Tribunal)

Key qualifications and skills

expertise in the fields of computational intelligence, data mining & knowledge discovery, data & information integration, applications of medical informatics;
21 years of professional experience in the field of computational intelligence and designing knowledge-based systems (primarily in medical informatics and bioinformatics);
over 15 years of experience in implementation of international and national IT projects related to analysis, design, implementation, integration and evaluation of intelligent information systems as Project Leader, Coordinator, Technical Expert and Researcher/Developer, in particular within the fields of medical informatics, bioinformatics, software development and healthcare (over 25 projects);
over 5 years of managing complex information systems development projects as leader/supervisor/coordinator (6 projects);
over 15 years in lecturing and teaching as Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (FERI) and Faculty of Health Sciences (FZV), as well as at several foreign Universities as a visiting professor;
over 10 years of coordinating study programmes at the bachelor, master, and PhD level of study (from curricula preparation and programme accreditation, to the planning and execution of courses);
the leading role in the world in the field of research and applications of decision tree classification (especially in medicine) – intelligent predictive methods to automatically learn patterns in the data and search for knowledge in a large amount of data; prominent role in the use of other methods of machine learning and data mining (8 projects);
in-depth knowledge of systems integration technologies and methods applied to intelligent data analysis, classification and prediction of human-centered data with recent experience (since 2006) in the implementation of several projects (12 projects);
large experience in implementing and managing IT projects, both with (inter)national research projects and R&D projects for the public sector and the industry – oriented towards the holistic development and management of knowledge-based information systems (IS) and services (17 projects);
highly skilled in the methodological aspects of IS development, in using new, more effective techniques, methods and methodologies for intelligent data analysis (data mining, knowledge discovery, prediction); in software and service engineering that focuses on innovation of information systems; in integration of information resources and enterprise services with the use of intelligent systems and approaches (10 projects);
over 10 years of experience in preparing and lecturing courses at the bachelor, master and PhD level: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Models and decision support systems, Decision Support Systems, Development Technologies for Intelligent systems, Expert Systems;
author of the university textbook Intelligent Systems, monograph Intelligent Systems and a Professional’s Everyday;