Vice-Rectors Vice-Rector for Science

Dr Valentina Gechevska was born on 9 September 1965 in Skopje.

She enrolled at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, at the University 'St. Cyril and Methodius' in Skopje, in the 1984/1985 academic year, and graduated in 1989. In the 1990/1991 academic year, she enrolled in postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, at the Institute for Manufacturing Engineering, and in early 1995, she obtained the degree of Master of Mechanical Sciences. She submitted her doctoral thesis to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at UGM and defended it in 2002, earning the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.

She has been employed at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UKI, since 1990, where she has been continuously elected to all academic and teaching positions. In March 2012, upon first election, and in February 2017, upon re-election, she was awarded the title of Full Professor in the field of Production Engineering, Technologies, Systems and Industrial Engineering and Management at the University 'St. Cyril and Methodius' in Skopje, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Skopje, at the Institute of Production Engineering and Management.

Her research interests are in the areas of: new product development, intelligent manufacturing processes, CIM, PLM, Lean Manufacturing, Mass Customization, Industry 4.0, innovation and technology management, smart manufacturing technologies and data management, circular economy and sustainable development. As a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UGJK in Skopje, She is involved in the curricula of all three cycles of study, has supervised more than 200 bachelor's theses and over 80 master's theses, is a member of more than 20 doctoral defence committees, and is the supervisor for 4 doctoral candidates.

From 2004 to 2008, she served as Pro-Dean for Science, International Cooperation and Development at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UGM, and chaired six committees of the Faculty's Academic Council and Dean's Office. From 2016 to 2020, Dr Gechevska was a member of the University Senate of UKIM, representing the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, and was appointed a member of the University's Science Commission. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Vice-Rector for Science at the University 'St. Cyril and Methodius' in Skopje.

He is the head of WEBLAB – the Centre for Distance Learning, a project unit at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, which he founded in 2007 in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Turin. Since October 2008, she has been the head of the Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Laboratory at the Institute of Production Engineering and Management, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UGJK. In March 2011, she founded and has since been the head of the Centre for Product Lifecycle Development and Management, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Centre, a project unit within MFS, which she founded in 2011 in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Turin and the University of Maribor.

Since 2010, he has been the founder and head of the Product Life Cycle Management study programme, at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, a joint programme of four universities from the region (UКИМ, the University of Novi Sad, the University of Zagreb and the University of Split), developed on the basis of a dual degree with the Polytechnic University of Turin.

In 2006, as Associate Dean, she worked on the team that launched the first interdisciplinary undergraduate programme at UКИМ, Environmental Engineering, under the ECTS framework with a dual degree with the University of Florence, administered by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

She has been appointed as a visiting professor for postgraduate courses at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, and at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor.

In activities of broader interest, participates in committees and working groups in the preparation of reports, strategies and action plans related to strategic documents, including: Product Safety Act – transposition of the European Directive (2007), member of the World Bank Working Group for the Regional Strategy for the Western Balkans on Research and Development towards Innovation (2011–2013), National Strategy for Industrial Policy (2018), National Roadmap for the Circular Economy (in progress) and Strategy for National Development (in progress).

He is a member of several national and international associations, societies and committees of professional and societal interest, the following being of particular note for their support of research activities: an invited member of the European Academy of Industrial Management (EAIM) (since 2022), Society of Mechanical Engineers (SME) (since 1995), Board of the European Engineering Professional Network (EPN Consulting, UK) (since 2008), Board of OpenAIRE (since 2021), Board of the European PLM Association for Scientific, Academic and Industrial Collaboration (PLM InNET, Italy) (since 2011), Working Group on Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Product Development, of the Technical Committee on Applications of Information Technology, of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) (since 2009), International Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Interoperability (InterIP-Vlab, Belgium) (since 2009), ICT Expert Association of MASIT (since 2005), Board of Directors of Metamorphosis (2005–2015). From 2018 to 2023, he was a member of the Academic Board of the Confucius Institute at UKIM, promoting research collaborations with academic institutions in China. He is one of the initiators and, since 2021, a member of the Council of CeNIIS – the Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research, which unites the Macedonian scientific diaspora, offering opportunities for scientific and international cooperation with UGM, as well as affiliation with UGM.

In her professional career, Dr Gechevska has published over two hundred (200) scientific papers, peer-reviewed and printed in the proceedings of international congresses, conferences and symposia. She is the author of over 60 scientific papers published in international scientific journals, 23 of which have an impact factor, in publications indexed in the Web of Science database of Clarivate Analytics.

He is the editor of seven scientific monographs published abroad by the University of Maribor, Slovenia, and the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, and is the author or co-author of 30 chapters in scientific monographs.

Between 2004 and 2010 she was editor of the scientific journal "Machine Engineering", published by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at UKI M, during which period she elevated it from a proceedings collection to an international scientific journal, maintaining its international indexing with the previous 35-year continuity.

He is an active member of the editorial boards of four international scientific journals published abroad, two indexed in the Web of Science database by Clarivate Analytics and two in the SCOPUS database by Elsevier.

Throughout his career, he has served as a member or chair of the scientific or programme committee of numerous international scientific conferences with peer-reviewed proceedings.

He is a regular reviewer for prestigious international scientific journals, many of which have a WoS impact factor (for publishers: Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, IEEE, etc.). He has reviewed scientific papers for international conference proceedings and for international and national publications, and has also reviewed eight textbooks for higher education and four for secondary education.

As an evaluator of project applications, participates in evaluation boards for several international project programmes and institutions that support research programmes (FP7, Horizon 2020, EIT Manufacturing, Estonian Science Foundation (ETF), INCO, COST,  Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), EC Executive Agency for Innovation (EAI)).

She has undertaken more than 40 study stays abroad (doctoral research at Oregon State University, USA; postdoctoral studies at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy; specialisation in Japanese Industrial Policy and Production Management, at the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Sapporo, Japan; PhD-nostrification programme at the University of Maribor and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Slovenia; specialisations at the universities of Vienna, Eindhoven, Turin, Prague, Bratislava and Ljubljana, study stays in countries of the region, as well as in Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, China, etc.).

Leader or participant in more than 30 international research and development projects under various donor programmes (FP6, FP7, CIP, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Life, EIT HEI, EIT Manufacturing, COST, IPA, ADA, CEI, WB, UNDP).

Has led or participated in more than 20 international projects under educational programmes (TEMPUS, CEEPUS, Erasmus+).