Rudi Vončina was born in Slovenj Gradec in 1968. Upon completing his secondary schooling in Velenje, he matriculated at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana from which he received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in 1997and 2001, respectively. In the period 2000 – 2003 he positively passed the National Professional Exams in construction of plants and facilities and in occupational health and safety. In 2004, the Slovenian Environmental Agency nominated him Environmental Expert and in 2005 he qualified himself for managing quality systems compliably with specifications of ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025.

Rudi Vončina joined the Milan Vidmar Electric Power Research Institute upon his graduation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. He first worked as a researcher in the Department for Power Plant and Facility Environmental Effects and in 2007 he took over the responsibility for the Environmental Department.

Fields of work of Rudi Vončina

The fields of work of Rudi Vončina are of a developmental-applicative character and are involved with power engineering and power plants and facilities with a special emphasize laid on electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic compatibility and grounding of the neutral point in the middle-voltage networks on one side and environmental protection and occupational health and safety issues on the other side.

By relying on his experiences acquired over many years of intensive work at the Institute, Rudi Vončina has participated in laying down and implementation of legal requirements regarding environmental issues of electric power plants, facilities and industry, adoption in practice of standardised procedures and setting-up quality systems for the Testing-measuring Laboratories of the Environmental Department.

Rudi Vončina regularly attends professional meetings, enabling him to exchange views and experiences with his colleagues acting in similar professional fields, and reports on development and practical implementation of technical solutions which are the result of the work of the Environmental Department and are important for the entire electric power system as well as for its individual parts, particularly from the point of view of issues regarding electromagnetic fields in power substations, grounding of the distribution electric power system (reactors), assurance of electromagnetic compatibility in electric power plants and facilities and, especially in recent years, occupational safety of workers whose workplace is exposed to electromagnetic radiation effects. To cope with the issue, he – compliably with endeavours of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs directed towards protecting such workers – has developed a computer-aided tool capable of reliable recognition of areas with regard to their risk-exposure rate.