CROATIAN AIR POLLUTION PREVENTION ASSOCIATION
in cooperation with:
INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
CROATIAN METEOROLOGICAL AND HYDROLOGICAL SERVICE
EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF CLEAN AIR AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ASSOCIATIONS – EFCA
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF AIR POLLUTION PREVENTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ASSOCIATIONS – IUAPPA
invite you to the
“AIR PROTECTION 2025“
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND 14th CROATIAN SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL MEETING
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition
Ministry of Science, Education and Youth
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Gordana PEHNEC – president
Pasquale AVINO
Darijo BRZOJA
Konstantinos ELEFTHERIADIS
Goran GAJSKI
Selahattin INCECIK
Mario LOVRIĆ
Marijana MATEK SARIĆ
Young SUNWOO
Martine VAN POPPEL
Bojana ŽEGURA
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Ranka GODEC – president
Silvije DAVILA
Ivana HRGA
Ivana JAKOVLJEVIĆ
Marija Jelena LOVRIĆ ŠTEFIČEK
Velimir MILIĆ
Marija OPAČAK EROR
Branko PETRINEC
Gordana PRŠLJA
Jasmina RINKOVEC
Vedran VAĐIĆ
Željka ZGORELEC
ADVISORY BOARD
Ivan GÜTTLER
Iva IVANKOVIĆ
Andrzej JAGUSIEWICZ
Ana LUCIĆ VRDOLJAK
Thomas REICHERT
Krešimir ŠEGA
Vladimira VAĐIĆ
Nina ZOVKO
PROGRAMME
Tuesday, 21st October 2025
EFCA Assembly meeting
16:00 – 18:00 – Registration and distribution of the conference materials
Wednesday, 22nd October 2025
9:00 – 10:00 – Registration and distribution of the conference materials
10:00 – 11:00 – Opening ceremony
☐ TOPIC 1: Air quality management
11:00 – 11:30 INVITED LECTURE: Marija Opačak Eror and Marijana Matek Sarić: AIR PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: A REVIEW OF ECONOMIC METHODS
11:30 – 11:45 Lucia Bustin, Sebastian Harald Schmitt, Florian Dahlkoetter, Carsten Kykal, Oliver Felix Bischof, and Torsten Tritscher: CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS FOR UFP MEASUREMENTS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE NEW EU AMBIENT AIR QUALITY DIRECTIVE
11:45 – 12:00 Ivana Grljak and Darijo Brzoja: BRIDGING THE GAP: EFFECTIVE AIR QUALITY COMMUNICATION IN THE AGE OF MISINFORMATION
☐ Sponsor presentations
12:00 – 12:15 SMART SENSE d.o.o.
12:15 – 12:30 KOBIS d.o.o. za proizvodnju, trgovinu i usluge
☐ Lunch break
12:30 – 13:30
☐ TOPIC 3: Air pollution sources and emissions
13:30 – 13:45 Darijo Brzoja, Mario Lovrić, Valentino Petrić, Bram Verbeek, Marko Kvakić, Vesna Gugec, Danica Kraljević, Velimir Milić, Valentina Jagić, and Stipica Šarčević: LEVERAGING MACHINE LEARNING FOR COST-EFFECTIVE AIR QUALITY MONITORING: THE LIFE CityTRAQ CASE
13:45 – 14:00 Ivana Jakovljević, Zdravka Sever Štrukil, and Gordana Pehnec: PAH CONCENTRATIONS AT AN URBAN TRAFFIC LOCATION IN CROATIA OVER FIVE YEARS
14:00 – 14:15 Željko Ćirović, Danka B. Stojanović, and Milena Jovašević-Stojanović: ANALYSIS OF DIURNAL AND SEASONAL VARIATION OF ULTRAFINE PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN THE CITY OF BELGRADE, SERBIA
14:15 – 14:30 Bruna Mariani, Marin Vojković, Jadranka Šepić, and Marina Kranjac: SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF AIR POLLUTANTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS IN SPLIT, CROATIA
☐ TOPIC 4: Machine learning and air quality modelling
14:30 – 14:45 Marko Kvakić, Angelo Riccio and Darijo Brzoja: IMPROVED REGIONAL AIR QUALITY FORECAST USING THE BAYESIAN SPATIO-TEMPORAL METHOD INLA-SPDE
14:45 – 15:00 Darko Mekterović, Marija Čargonja, Domagoj Mateljak, Boris Mifka, and Robert Pleše: CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY FUNCTION WITH UNCERTAINTY ESTIMATES IN AIR POLLUTION RESEARCH
15:00 – 15:15 Velimir Milić, Vesna Gugec, and Darijo Brzoja: ESTIMATION OF DUST, FOREST FIRE AND SEA SALT CONTRIBUTIONS TO SURFACE CONCENTRATIONS OF PM10 IN CROATIA
☐ Coffee break
15:15 – 15:45
☐ TOPIC 2: Air pollution sources and emissions
15:45 – 16:00 Ivan Bešlić, Domagoj Mihajlović, and Vedran Vađić: THE IMPACT OF WEATHER CONDITIONS ON AIR QUALITY IN THE AREA OF THE JAKUŠEVEC LANDFILL
16:00 – 16:15 Suzana Sopčić, Ranka Godec, and Gordana Pehnec: LEVOGLUCOSAN LEVELS IN THE PM1 FRACTION AT AN URBAN SITE IN ZAGREB, CROATIA: A FIVE-YEAR TREND
16:15 – 16:30 Valentina Jagić, Vesna Gugec, Stipica Šarčević, Velimir Milić, and Darijo Brzoja: AIR QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF ZAGREB, CROATIA in Croatian
16:30 – 16:45 Ivana Roksa and Monika Babačić: REDUCTION OF SOLID PARTICLE EMISSIONS FROM BE-TO SISAK BY INSTALLATION OF AN ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR in Croatian
16:45 – 17:00 Monika Babačić and Ivana Roksa: CERTIFICATION OF BE-TO SISAK UNDER THE SURE SCHEME FOR PROVING THE USE OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST BIOMASS in Croatian
Thursday, 23rd October 2025
☐ EFCA session “Methane Time”
09:00 – 09:20 INVITED LECTURE: Andrzej Jagusiewicz: TARGETING METHANE
09:20 – 09:45 INVITED LECTURE: Iva Prgomet Ernst, Tatjana Obučina and Nino Malešić: METHANE EMISSIONS AND NATIONAL INVENTORY REPORTING
09:45 – 10:10 INVITED LECTURE: Goran Kiš: METHANE EMISSIONS FROM LIVESTOCK: SOURCES, IMPACT, AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES
10:10 – 10:35 INVITED LECTURE: Martin Poulsen: VENTILATION AIR METHANE TREATMENT FOR UNDERGROUND COAL MINES
10:35 – 11:00 INVITED LECTURE: Jacek Skiba: PREVENTING METHANE EMISSIONS FROM UNDERGROUND COAL MINES
☐ Sponsor presentations
11:00 – 11:15 Altium International d.o.o.
☐ Coffee break
11:15 – 11:45
☐ TOPIC 7: Indoor air quality, energy efficiency and healthy buildings – hybrid mode
11:45 – 12:15 INVITED LECTURE: Ivan Notardonato, Mario Lovrić, Alessandro Battaglia, Piergiorgio Cipriano, and Pasquale Avino: VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AND ALDEHYDIC COMPOUNDS: INDOOR/OUTDOOR COMPARISON ACROSS DIFFERENT LIVING ENVIRONMENTS
12:15 – 12:30 Tajana Horvat, Ivana Jakovljević, and Gordana Pehnec: TOLUENE AS A COMMON VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUND IN HOMES: THE ZAGREB CITY AREA DURING TWO SEASONS
12:30 – 12:45 Marija Jelena Lovrić Štefiček, Silvije Davila, Gordana Pehnec, Goran Gajski, Ivan Bešlić, Luka Kazensky, Ivana Banić, and Mirjana Turkalj: A COMPARATIVE STATISTICAL ASSESSMENT OF PM1 MASS CONCENTRATION VARIATION IN RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS IN ZAGREB, CROATIA
12:45 – 13:00 Silva Žužul, Marija Jelena Lovrić Štefiček, Gordana Pehnec, and Ivan Bešlić: MICROPLASTICS IN THE INDOOR AIR OF ZAGREB HOUSEHOLDS
13:00 – 13:15 Iva Šunić, Dubravka Havaš Auguštin, Jelena Šarac, Kristina Michl, Rasmus Riemer Jakobsen, and Mario Lovrić: MICROBIAL COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD DUST IN CROATIAN HOMES: FINDINGS FROM EDIAQI PROJECT online
☐ Lunch break
13:15 – 14:00
☐ TOPIC 7: Indoor air quality, energy efficiency and healthy buildings – hybrid mode
14:00 – 14:15 Daniela Dejaco and Heimo Gursch: DATA QUALITY AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY TOOLS FOR CROSS-EUROPEAN COMPARISON
14:15 – 14:30 Valentino Petrić, Dejan Strbad, Nikolina Račić, Francesco Mureddu, and Mario Lovrić: HYBRID DIGITAL TWIN FRAMEWORK FOR REAL-TIME INDOOR AIR QUALITY MONITORING AND FILTRATION OPTIMIZATION online
14:30 – 14:45 Jose Fermoso, Alicia Aguado, Sandra Rodríguez-Sufuentes, Rubèn González-Colom, Josep Roca, Alba Gómez-López, Benigno Sánchez, Alberto Rodríguez López, María Figols, Manel Sanz, and Felipe López: HOSPITAL IAQ ASSESSMENT USING A HYBRID MONITORING STRATEGY: CONTINUOUS LOW-COST SENSING AND TARGETED SAMPLING AT HOSPITAL CLÍNIC DE BARCELONA. K-HEALTHinAIR PROJECT. online
14:45 – 15:00 Stavroula Katsikari, Vassiliki Vassilatou, Konstantinos Granakis, Raquel Pimenta, Ketlyn Oliveira, Susana Marta Almeida, Drew Henderson, Robert Ferguson, Heidi Salonen, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, and Evangelia Diapouli: CHARACTERIZATION OF ULTRAFINE PARTICLE NUMBER CONCENTRATION AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN MICROENVIRONMENTS CRITICAL TO CHILDREN’S EXPOSURE ACROSS DIFFERENT EUROPEAN COUNTRIES online
15:00 – 15:15 Pedro Pena, Renata Cervantes, and Carla Viegas: PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION IN URBAN AND RURAL HOMES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN online
☐ Coffee break
15:15 – 15:30
☐ Poster session
15:30 – 17:00
TOPIC 1: Air quality management
1. Nataša Belšak Šel, Matjaž Mlinarič, and Uroš Lešnik: ASSESSMENT OF AIR QUALITY IN RURAL AREA OF PTUJ MUNICIPALITY, SLOVENIA, FROM 2020 TO 2024
2. Marko Marić, Danijel Grgec, Želimira Cvetković, and Jasna Bošnir: ECOLOGICAL MAP OF THE CITY OF ZAGREB
TOPIC 2: Air pollution sources and emissions
3. Nikolina Račić, Mario Lovrić, Gordana Pehnec, Ivana Jakovljević, Zdravka Sever Štrukil, Silva Žužul, and Jasmina Rinkovec: USING EXPLAINABLE MACHINE LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT AFFECTS PAHs AND HEAVY METALS IN PM10 PARTICLES
4. Petar Uremović, Zoran Kovačević, Petar Maruna, and Luka Lučić: MEASURING CHARACTERISTIC ODOURS, DISTINCTIONS, AND APPLICATION OF HRN EN 13725 AND HRN EN 16841 STANDARDS
TOPIC 3: Air pollution sources and emissions
5. Dario Dabić, Goran Purić, and Ksenija Kuna TRENDS IN DAILY MEAN CONCENTRATIONS OF PM2.5 AND PM10 AT THE PUNTIJARKA MONITORING STATION (2022–2025)
6. Renata Kovačević, Bojan Radović, Viša Tasić, Tatjana Apostolovski Trujić, Tamara Urošević, Duška Kleut, and Milena Jovašević-Stojanović: LEVELS OF AIRBORNE METALS IN URBAN AIR DRIVEN BY DIFFERENT ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES: BOR AND BELGRADE
7. Uroš Lešnik and Jan Radanović: RESULTS OF AIR QUALITY MEASUREMENTS IN THE MEASUREMENT NETWORK OF MARIBOR, SLOVENIA, AND NEIGHBORING MUNICIPALITIES
8. Ivona Mikić, Valentina Gluščić, Ivan Bešlić, and Gordana Pehnec: INSIGHT INTO SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF WATER-SOLUBLE INORGANIC IONS IN PM2.5 AT A RURAL BACKGROUND SITE
9. Zdravka Sever Štrukil, Ivana Jakovljević, Gordana Pehnec, and Ivan Bešlić: POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN AIR OF SPLIT AND PLITVICE LAKES
10. Vedran Vađić, Predrag Hercog, and Bojan Abramović: AIR QUALITY MONITORING AT WASTE MANAGEMENT CENTRE BILJANE DONJE
TOPIC 4: Machine learning and air quality modelling
11. Vesna Gugec, Stipica Šarčević, Valentina Jagić,Velimir Milić, and Darijo Brzoja: PROJECTION OF THE IMPACT OF AIR POLLUTION FROM THERMAL TREATMENT OF WASTE USING THE ADMS 6 DISPERSION MODEL
12. Snježana Herceg-Romanić, Silvije Davila, Ivan Bešlić, Gordana Pehnec, Gordana Jovanović, Mirjana Perišić, and Andreja Stojić: REVEALING THE IMPACT OF TEMPERATURE ON URBAN BENZENE USING EXPLAINABLE AI METHODOLOGIES
13. Gordana Jovanović, Snježana Herceg-Romanić, Silvije Davila, Ivan Bešlić, Gordana Pehnec, Timea Bezdan, Mirjana Perišić, and Andreja Stojić: ADVANCED AI APPROACHES FOR UNDERSTANDING BENZENE POLLUTION IN URBAN ATMOSPHERE
14. Stipica Šarčević, Velimir Milić, Vedrana Džaja Grgičin, Marina Skender, Darijo Brzoja, Vesna Gugec, Valentina Jagić, and Marko Kvakić: LOTOS-EUROS CHEMICAL TRANSPORT MODEL-BASED ASSESSMENT OF THE SPATIAL REPRESENTATIVENESS IN THE CROATIAN AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK
TOPIC 5: Developing and testing measuring methods
15. Darijo Brzoja, Bram Verbeek, Marko Kvakić, Vesna Gugec, Danica Kraljević, Velimir Milić, Valentina Jagić, and Stipica Šarčević: EVALUATING LOW-COST AIR QUALITY SENSORS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: INSIGHTS FROM THE LIFE CityTRAQ PROJECT
16. Branko Petrinec, Tomislav Meštrović, Luka Pavelić, and Dinko Babić DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HYBRID GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETRY METHODS FOR ENHANCING THE CAPACITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOLOGICAL MONITORING AROUND NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
TOPIC 6: Health impacts of air pollution
17. Katja Kološa, Tim Ravnjak, Eva Kanalec, Sonja Žabkar, Luka Kazensky, Goran Gajski, and Bojana Žegura: GENOTOXIC POTENTIAL OF BENZO[a]PYRENE (B[a]P) AND DIBENZO[a,h]ANTHRACENE (D[a,h]A) IN HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR SPHEROID MODEL
18. Matjaž Novak, Martina Štampar, Alja Štern, Michael J. Burgum, Gillian E. Conway, Goran Gajski, Shareen H. Doak, and Bojana Žegura: ASSESSMENT OF GENOTOXIC AND INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES TO BENZO[b]FLUORANTHENE AND BENZO[g,h,i]PERYLENE IN A CO-CULTURE LUNG MODEL AT THE PSEUDO-AIR-LIQUID INTERFACE
TOPIC 7: Indoor air quality, energy efficiency and healthy buildings
19. Ivan Pavičić: DETECTION OF ASBESTOS IN THE SHIP’S INTERIOR
TOPIC 8: Climate and environmental impacts of air pollution
20. Želimira Cvetković, Ivana Ćosić, Ksenija Kuna, Danijel Grgec, Marko Marić, Jadranka Škevin-Sović, and Jasna Bošnir: THE INFLUENCE OF INORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN PRECIPITATION ON TOTAL DEPOSITED MATTER – A CASE STUDY FROM ZAGREB, CROATIA
21. Gordana Sinčić Modrić, Tamara Cirković, Goran Crvelin TOTAL DEPOSITED MATTER AS AN INDICATOR OF AIR QUALITY: MONITORING RESULTS IN THE CITY OF RIJEKA, CROATIA, IN 2024
☐ Conference dinner
20:00 – 24:00
Friday, 24th October 2025
☐ IUAPPA session – hybrid mode
09:00-09:30 INVITED LECTURE: Rajasekhar Balasubramanian: MITIGATION OF BLACK CARBON EMISSIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA online
09:30-10:00 INVITED LECTURE: Kim Oanh Nguyen: BIOMASS OPEN BURNING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: EMISSIONS AND MULTIPLE EFFECTS online
10:00-10:30 INVITED LECTURE: Sohyun Jeon, Seoyeon Moon, Jihu Lee, and Young Sunwoo: AN AIR POLLUTION POLICY DILEMMA – OZONE CONCENTRATION CHANGES UNDER AIR QUALITY POLICY IMPLEMENTATION BASED ON NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECTIONS IN KOREA
10:30 – 11:00 INVITED LECTURE: John Murlis: IMPLEMENTING AIR PROTECTION POLICY: AMBITION AND ACHIEVEMENT
11:00 – 11:30 INVITED LECTURE: Selahattin Incecik: POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON AIR POLLUTANTS AND FUTURE CLIMATE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
☐ Coffee break
11:30 – 12:00
☐ TOPIC 5: Developing and testing measuring methods
12:00 – 12:15 Silvije Davila, Marija Jelena Lovrić Štefiček, and Ivan Bešlić: FIELD CALIBRATION OF SENSORS FOR PARTICULATE MATTER
12:15 – 12:30 Ranka Godec, Helena Prskalo, Marija Jelena Lovrić Štefiček, Krešimir Šega, and Gordana Pehnec: COMPARING BLACK CARBON AND ELEMENTAL CARBON MASS CONCENTRATIONS: METHODOLOGICAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
12:30 – 12:45 Predrag Hercog, Mario Šantolić, Mirela Poljanac, and Vedran Vađić: SOME IMPORTANT DIFERENCES BETWEEN OLD AND NEW CROATIAN STANDARDS FOR AMBIENT AIR QUALITY
12:45 – 13:00 Mihriban Civan, Demet Arslanbaş, Abdulmounem Alchekh Wis, Hilal Yılmaz, Ubaidullah Habibi, and Serpil Yenisoy: A MODIFIED DIGESTION-EXTRACTION PROTOCOL FOR MICRO(NANO)PLASTIC DETECTION IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND FOOD MATRICES
☐ Lunch break
13:00 – 14:00
☐ TOPIC 6: Health impacts of air pollution
14:00 – 14:15 Gordana Pehnec, Ivana Jakovljević, Zdravka Sever Štrukil, Silvije Davila, Marko Gerić, Katarina Matković, Mandica Sanković, Antun Šumanovac, and Goran Gajski: GENOTOXIC POTENTIAL OF PAHs BOUND TO PARTICULATE MATTER IN AMBIENT AIR AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN CROATIA
14:15 – 14:30 Jasmina Rinkovec, Silva Žužul, Magdalena Vincetić, and Gordana Pehnec: HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METALS EXPOSURE IN THE AMBIENT AIR OF ZAGREB, CROATIA
☐ TOPIC 8: Climate and environmental impacts of air pollution
14:30 – 14:45 Željka Zgorelec, Gordana Pehnec, Aleksandra Perčin, Marija Galić, Iva Hrelja, and Jasmina Rinkovec: PLATINUM GROUP ELEMENTS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT (SOIL, PLANTS AND AIR) OF ZAGREB, CROATIA
14:45 – 15:00 Anita Vucić, Predrag Ilić, Sonja Kralj, Danijela Peroš – Pucar, Katarina Bukša, Sanja Bajić, Silvana Račić Milišić, and Kasim Agović: AllerShield: STRENGTHENING CROSSBORDER SOLUTIONS FOR MANAGING ALLERGENIC PLANTS AND ENHANCING CLIMATE RESILIENCE
15:00 – 15:15 Ana Alebić-Juretić: IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CITY OF RIJEKA, CROATIA
☐ Coffee break
15:15 – 15:30
☐ Round table in Croatian
15:30 – 16:30
☐ Closing ceremony
16:30 – 17:00
All presentations will be in English except – in Croatian
Saturday, 25th October 2025
9.00-16.30 – Excursion
NOTICE FOR PARTICIPANTS
All participants of the Conference are requested to send their presentations and posters to airprotection2025@huzz.hr no later than October 20, 2025.
Instructions for presentations:
Time for oral presentations in all topics is limited to 15 minutes (presentation + time for questions)
For Introductory lectures, EFCA and IUAPPA sessions time for presentation and questions is limited to 25 minutes per presenter.
Instructions for posters:
Maximum dimensions of poster should be 80 cm x 110 cm (width x height).
Authors may send the results presented at the Conference in the form of a scientific paper (“in extenso“) to be published in the Conference Proceedings which will be published in digital form after the Conference, or in journal Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology (http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/aiht), indexed in SCI Expanded, Medline/PubMed, Scopus and other databases. Instructions for preparing papers for the Proceedings can be found at www.huzz.hr. The papers should be sent as an attachment to: airprotection2025@huzz.hr no later than November 25, 2025. Submitted papers will undergo a review process.
CONTACT:
Ranka Godec, PhD
Croatian Air Pollution Prevention Association
Ksaverska c., 2, 10000 ZAGREB
Tel: +385 1 4682-585; 4682-586
Fax: +385 1 4673-303
E-mail: airprotection2025@huzz.hr or rgodec@imi.hr
Web: www.zastitazraka.imi.hr or www.huzz.hr
Hrvatski 
English (UK)