Dr. Peter Panjan obtained his BSc in Engineering Mechanical degree (1980) at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana and Ph.D. at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana. His research activity is primarily directed toward the development of new PVD hard coatings and their implementation in industrial production, diagnostics of deposition processes and coating analytics. In the period 1999-2013, he was the head of the Department of Thin Films and Surfaces at Jožef Stefan Institute. He has published over 245 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He is the coauthor of 1 scientific monography, coauthor of 1 chapter in a scientific monography and author of 2 chapters in a monography.