We are proud to announce that Dr. Jana Wedel, a research assistant at the University of Maribor and at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), has received the prestigious ECCOMAS PhD Award 2026.

The European award follows her earlier success in receiving the GACM Best PhD Award, which recognises the best doctoral thesis in computational mechanics in Germany. As the candidate selected by the German Association for Computational Mechanics, her dissertation then entered the European ECCOMAS competition.

Dr. Wedel received the ECCOMAS PhD Award for her dissertation Dancing with the Flow: Numerical Modelling of Non-Ideal Micro-Particles in Fluids, completed under the supervision of Prof. Paul Steinmann (FAU), and Prof. Matjaž Hriberšek and Prof. Jure Ravnik of the University of Maribor. Her research makes an original contribution to the modelling and simulation of non-ideal microparticles in flows, extending conventional models to account for non-spherical, inhomogeneous, colliding and deformable microparticles.

A total of 17 outstanding doctoral dissertations were nominated by ECCOMAS member associations from across Europe. Each association selected its candidate through its own evaluation process. Competing with 16 other finalists, Dr. Wedel was selected as one of only two recipients of the ECCOMAS PhD Award 2026.

The evaluation committee praised the winning dissertations for their scientific excellence, originality, innovative numerical developments and potential to open new research directions.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Jana Wedel on this exceptional achievement and significant international recognition!