Milan Bufon, a social geographer, born on 28th May 1959 in Trieste, is a full professor at the Faculty of Humanities and a research councillor at the Science and Research Centre of the University of Primorska. His research interest is predominantly put on social and spatial convergences and divergences in the areas of social and cultural contact in Slovenia and Europe. Some of his most prominent scientific monographs are: Prostorska opredeljenost in narodna pripadnost, (Spatial Determination and National Affiliation) 1992; Prostor, meje, ljudje, (Territory, Borders, People) 1995; Confini, identità ed integrazione, 2002; Med teritorialnostjo in globalnostjo (Between Territoriality and Globality), 2004; Na obrobju ali v osredju? (On the Fringe or in the Centre?), 2008. Furthermore, he is the author of the first textbook for political geography in Slovenia entitled Basics of Political Geography (2001 and 2007)
Pedagogic activities:
Instructor for the following courses at UP FHS
1st level courses:
- Political Geography (basic course)
- Applied Social Geography (elective course)
- Slovenia and Foreign Territories with Slovene Minorities (elective fieldwork seminar)
- South-Eastern Europe (elective fieldwork seminar)
- Central and Western Europe (elective fieldwork seminar)
2nd level courses:
- Philosophy of Geography (basic course)
- Geography of Borderness in Minorities (elective module Geography of European Integrations)
- Planning in Border Areas (elective module Geography of European Integrations)
- Geography of the EU (interior elective course)
- Cultural Geography (interior elective course)
3rd level courses:
- Theory and Methodology of Scientific Research in Areas of Social and Cultural Contact (basic course)
- Geography of Frontiers and International Integrations (module Political and Social Geography)
- Cultural Geography and Geography of Minorities (module Political and Social Geography)
Cooperation in research programmes and projects:
For older projects: look at SICRIS
Projects in the period between 2009/10:
- Research programmes:
- Areas of Cultural Contact in Integration Processes, 01.01.2009 - 31.12.2011 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D.)
- Basic research projects:
- Development Opportunities of Slovenian Border Areas after the Entrance of the Republic of Slovenia into the Schengen Space, 01.01.2007 - 31.12.2009 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D.)
- We Called for Working Forces, but Got Humans – Analysis of Social Structure and Integration Strategies of Foreign Workers in Slovenia, 01.02.2008 – 30.01.2011, 1.2.2008 - 30.1.2011 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D.)
- Fertility Behaviour in Slovenia, 1840-2002: Economic, Social and Cultural Factors of Regional, Social and Ethnic Differences of Fertility in Ethnic Slovenian Territory, 01.01.2007 - 31.12.2009 (Principal investigator: Irena Rožman, Ph.D.)
- International bilateral projects:
- Contemporary Issues of Regional Development in Romania and the Republic of Slovenia in the Highlights of Contemporary European Integration Processes, 2008 – 2009 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D., Partner institution: Department of Geography, University of Oradei, Romania)
- Contemporary Issues of Regional Development in Poland and the Republic of Slovenia in the Highlights of Contemporary European Integration Processes, 2008 – 2009 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D., Partner institution: Department of Geography, University of Lodz, Poland)
- Contemporary Issues of Regional Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Slovenia in the Highlights of Contemporary European Integration Processes, 2008 – 2009 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D., Partner institution: Department of Geography, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Comparative Analysis of Border Areas in the EU and the USA: Cross-Border Practices and Integration Policies, 01.07.2009 - 30.06.2012 (Principal investigator: Milan Bufon, Ph.D., Partner institution: Department of Geography, University of San Diego, USA)
- Other international project, not financed by the Slovenian Research Agency
- Vital Historical Towns as Regional Centres in South-East Europe (ViTo) within the programme of the EU South East Europe: Transnational Cooperation Programme, 01.10.2009 - 31.12.2011 (Principal partner: Municipality of Ptuj).
Functions: (in the period between 2009/10):
- Head of the Programme Group and a member Science Board of the Science and Research Centre, University of Primorska, Koper (UP SRC);
- Head of the Institute for Geographical Studies UP SRC
- Coordinator of the doctoral study programme Geography of Contact Areas at UP FHS
- President of the Commission for Degrees and Titles UP SRC
- Member of the Commission for Degrees and Titles UP
- Member of the Commission for Art and Humanities of the Board of Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia
- Member of the Commission for Assessment of the Determination of Coherence of Elections into Science – Research and Research – Development Titles at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology
- President of the Sub-commission for Humanities and Social Sciences of the Commission for Assessment of the Determination of Coherence of Elections into Science – Research and Research – Development Titles at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology
- Member of the Commission for Assessment of Early Stage Researcher in Economy at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy of the republic of Slovenia
- Member of the national Committee of the Association of Slovenian Geographers
- President of the Board of Directors of the Slovenian Research Institute in Trieste
- Member of the Italian geographical society Societa’ Geografica Italiana and a regular reviewer of the journal Rivista Geografica Italiana, Florence, Italy
- Member of the World Political Map Commission within the International Geographical Union
- Head deputy and a member of the Slovenian Political Geographical Society, headquartered in Koper, University of Primorska
- Member of the Italian Commission for Minorities CONFEMILI which operates within the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages – EBLUL, Brussels
- Member of the Editorial Committee of the scientific journal Annales – Series Historia et Sociologia, Koper
- Member of the Editorial Committee of the scientific journal Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana
Member of the Editorial Committee of the central Romanian political geographical scientific journal Revista Romana de Geografie Politica, Oradea.
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