The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE; https://www.stle.org/) is the world’s leading association in the field of tribology, founded in 1944 as the Society of Lubrication Engineers. STLE actively engages with over 15,000 individuals, and 250 companies and organisations, from the scientific and business sectors of tribology — specifically, lubrication and lubricants. It is a global organisation that brings together leading individuals from industry and academia with the aim of disseminating knowledge, developing state-of-the-art solutions, and promoting innovation across a wide range of industrial fields. STLE has developed a wide range of professional training courses and certification programs, publishes two scientific journals with SCI IF, i.e., Tribology transactions and Tribology letters, the professional journal Tribology and lubrication technology, and numerous other publications, and organises scientific and professional meetings.
Prof. dr. Mitjan Kalin has been actively involved in the STLE since the beginning of his career, and is one of only 300 people to have received the title of Fellow during its 80-year-plus history. At this year’s 79th annual conference, which traditionally attracts over 1,500 participants, he was elected as one of the directors of the Board of Directors, which, together with the Executive Committee, manages STLE. He is one of three European directors elected from a pool of 18, and one of only two from scientific and research institutions, as STLE is a distinctly application-oriented organisation that promotes the transfer of scientific research to the economy. Other directors come from well-known global corporations such as Shaeffler, Timken, Chevron, Koehler, BP, Shell, Lubrizol, Tesla, and others. Prof. Dr. Mitjan Kalin is now a member of the management boards of both global organisations. In the second, the ITC (International Tribology Council), which connects all global tribology associations, prof. Kalin is serving his second four-year term as vice president and member of the executive committee. His election to the position of director of STLE, which is a prestigious and responsible active role for an individual, also confirms the high reputation of Slovenian science in the field of tribology and the establishment of one of the largest and most active tribology groups in the world, operating at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana, i.e. Laboratory for tribology and interface nanotechnology.
