78 Les/Wood, Vol. 71, No. 1, June 2022 Les/Wood Novice/News Katedra za management in ekonomiko lesnih podjetij (Oddelek za lesarstvo Biotehniške fakultete) je prejela prestižno priznanje mednarodne asociacije WoodEMA The Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Companies (Department of Wood Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty) receives the prestigious award of the international association WoodEMA Leon Oblak Na 15. mednarodni znanstveni konferenci Wo- odEMA, ki je potekala od 7. do 10. junija v Trnavi na Slovaškem, je aktualni predsednik združenja prof. dr. Roman Dudik iz Prage Katedri za management in ekonomiko lesnih podjetij (Oddelek za lesarstvo Biotehniške fakultete) podelil prestižno priznanje mednarodne asociacije WoodEMA. Združenje za ekonomiko in management v pre- delavi lesa in pohištvu WoodEMA je mednarodna, nepolitična, neprofitna in odprta znanstvena asoci- acija. Cilj združenja je promocija znanosti in rezulta- tov znanstvenega in strokovnega dela svojih članov, medsebojno znanstveno sodelovanje ter podpora znanosti in strokovnemu razvoju na področju dela asociacije. Združenje WoodEMA je bilo ustanov- ljeno leta 2007, danes pa ima člane, ki delujejo na širokem spektru ekonomskih in managerskih področij v gozdarstvu, predelavi lesa in proizvodnji pohištva. Združenje ima skoraj 100 aktivnih članov na treh celinah, od ZDA do Indije in Malezije ter v Evropi od Španije do Rusije ter od Finske do Sever- ne Makedonije. Vsako leto združenje WoodEMA na svoji skup- ščini podeli “štipendijo Roy Damary” za mlajše raziskovalce, v skladu s svojim statutom pa lahko podeli tudi posebno priznanje asociacije uglednim članom ali instituciji, ki so pomembno prispevali k znanstvenemu in strokovnemu razvoju združenja. Letos je priznanje prejela Katedra za management in ekonomiko lesnih podjetij, kar je prvi primer v zgodovini asociacije, da je nagrado prejela katera od institucij. V obrazložitvi je bilo zapisanih veliko razlogov za podelitev tega priznanja. Vsi člani Katedre za management in ekonomiko lesnih podjetij so tes- no vpeti v delo asociacije in nosilci številnih funkcij. Prof. dr. Leon Oblak je bil prvi predsednik asocia- cije, kasneje član upravnega, trenutno pa je član nadzornega odbora. Doc. dr. Jože Kropivšek je bil eden od ustanoviteljev združenja in dolgoletni član upravnega odbora. Doc. dr. Matej Jošt je trenutno član upravnega odbora, naslednje leto pa bo prev- zel mesto predsednika asociacije. Anton Zupančič, ki je bil do leta 2018 član katedre, pa sedaj skrbi za urejanje spletne strani asociacije, ki je bila v celo- 79 Les/Wood, Vol. 71, No. 1, June 2022 Les/Wood Novice/News ti razvita v tej katedri. Katedra je tudi dvakrat zelo uspešno organizirala vsakoletno znanstveno kon- ferenco, in sicer leta 2011 v Kozini in leta 2021 v Kopru, ki je zaradi covid epidemije potekala v hibri- dnem načinu in je bila po dveletnem obdobju pan- demije prva konferenca, izvedena v živo na Univerzi v Ljubljani. Zaradi vseh zgoraj navedenih in številnih dru- gih razlogov, zaradi prizadevanj in predanega dela članov katedre v korist združenja, je mednarodno Združenje za ekonomiko in management v prede- lavi lesa in pohištvu Katedri za management in eko- nomiko lesnih podjetij podelilo priznanje asociacije WoodEMA za pomemben prispevek k razvoju zdru- ženja. At the 15th international scientific conference WoodEMA, held in Trnava (Slovakia) from June 7 to 10, 2022, the current president of the associa- tion, Prof. Dr. Roman Dudik from Prague, Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Companies (Department of Wood Science and Technology, Bi- otechnical Faculty), received the prestigious recog- nition of the international association WoodEMA. WoodEMA, the International Association for Economics and Management in Wood Processing and Furniture Manufacturing, is an international, non-political, non-profit and open scientific asso- ciation. The aim of the association is to promote science and the results of the scientific and profes- sional work of its members, mutual scientific co- operation and support of science and profession- al development in the association’s field of work. WoodEMA was founded in 2007 and today has members working in a wide range of economic and management fields in forestry, wood processing and furniture manufacturing. The association has nearly 100 active members on three continents, from the United States to India and Malaysia, and in Europe from Spain to Russia and from Finland to Northern Macedonia. Each year at its meeting WoodEMA awards a “Roy Damary Scholarship” to young scientists and, in accordance with its statutes, may give special recognitions to prominent members or institutions that have made significant contributions to the sci- entific and professional development of the associ- ation. This year, the Chair of Management and Eco- nomics of Wood Companies received the award, marking the first time in the association’s history that an institution has received this honour. Numerous reasons were cited in the rationale for giving the award. All members of the Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Companies are closely involved in the work of the association and hold many positions. Prof. Dr. Leon Oblak was the first president of the association, later a mem- ber of the Executive Board, and is currently a mem- ber of the Supervisory Board. Doc. Dr. Jože Kropiv- šek was one of the founders of the association and a long-time member of the Executive Board. Doc. Dr. Matej Jošt is currently a member of the Execu- tive Board, and he will assume the position of pres- ident of the association next year. Anton Zupančič, who was a member of the department until 2018, is now taking care of editing the association’s web- site, which was entirely developed in this depart- ment. The Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Companies has also organised the annual scientific conference twice, both times very suc- cessfully, in 2011 in Kozina and in 2021 in Koper, with the latter held in a hybrid mode due to the COVID epidemic, and after the two-year pandemic the first conference was held live and in person at the University of Ljubljana. For all these and many other reasons, due to the efforts and dedicated work of the members of the Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Companies, the International Association for Eco- nomics and Management in Wood Processing and Furniture Industry has recognised the Chair of Management and Economics of Wood Enterprises for its important contributions to the development of the association itself.