SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU FAKULTET PROMETNIH ZNANOSTI

Their core work

The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences at the University of Zagreb is Croatia's leading academic institution for air traffic management (ATM) research. They specialize in applying AI and machine learning to improve situational awareness for air traffic controllers, and in modeling how adverse weather affects airspace capacity and traffic flow. Their work sits at the intersection of aviation safety, meteorology, and artificial intelligence — making ATM operations smarter and more resilient.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 involvement (2019) included a Widening Participation twinning project focused on open data and interdisciplinary research capacity building — suggesting an institution strengthening its European research profile. By 2020, they had moved squarely into applied ATM research, coordinating an AI situational awareness project (AISA) and contributing meteorological uncertainty modeling (FMPMet). The shift is clear: from building research capacity to producing domain-specific ATM intelligence tools.

They are moving toward AI and machine learning applications in ATM — expect future work combining weather data, knowledge graphs, and automation for air traffic decision support.

How they like to work

With 4 projects split across coordinator (1), participant (2), and third-party (1) roles, they demonstrate flexibility rather than a fixed position. Their 46 unique partners across 21 countries from just 4 projects indicate they operate in large SESAR/aviation consortia typical of EU transport research. As a relatively new entrant building credibility, they are a capable contributor who can also step up to lead when the topic aligns with their core ATM-AI expertise.

Despite only 4 projects, they have built a remarkably wide network of 46 partners across 21 countries — a result of participating in large SESAR Joint Undertaking consortia that span most of EU aviation research.

What sets them apart

They are one of very few Croatian institutions with deep involvement in SESAR ATM research, giving them a unique bridge position between Western European aviation research hubs and Southeast Europe. Their combination of AI/knowledge graph expertise applied specifically to air traffic controller decision support is a distinctive niche — not many academic groups merge ontology engineering with real-time ATM operations. For consortium builders, they offer a credible Widening Country partner with genuine technical depth, not just a flag-of-convenience participation.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AISA
  Their only coordinator role — applied knowledge graphs and machine learning to build AI situational awareness for air traffic controllers, their clearest statement of core expertise.
• FMPMet
  Addressed a concrete operational problem (how thunderstorm uncertainty affects airspace capacity), demonstrating applied meteorological-ATM modeling capability.