On April 22, 2026, the XI. International Scientific and Professional Student Conference SKEI 2026 was held at the University of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” in Vukovar under the motto “Shaping a Sustainable Future: Knowledge, Innovation and Responsibility.” The conference brought together students and their mentors, who presented research papers in the fields of management and entrepreneurship, marketing, trade, informatics, law, economics and finance, digitalization, as well as biomedicine and healthcare.

The event was formally opened by the Dean of the University of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” in Vukovar and President of the Croatian Conference of Universities of Applied Sciences, Assist. Prof. dr. sc. Željko Sudarić, prof. of profess. stud., along with representatives of partner co-organizing institutions, thereby confirming the strong international dimension of the conference.

A total of 81 full papers were submitted to the conference, and all accepted papers will be published in the SKEI 2026 Conference Proceedings. Selected papers, based on reviewers’ evaluations, will be published in the SKEI International Interdisciplinary Journal available on the Hrčak portal.

This year, the conference once again brought together partners from the region and across Europe: University “VITEZ” from Travnik, the University of Novo Mesto, the Modern Business School MBS from Belgrade, University FINRA from Tuzla, Kaunas College Higher Education Institution from Kaunas, and University of Applied Sciences Baltazar from Zaprešić.

We thank all students who embraced the research challenge and presented the results of their work to an international professional audience. Special thanks go to the mentors whose contributions were crucial to the quality of the presented papers, as well as to all members of the organizing committee who ensured an inspiring environment for the exchange of ideas.

You can watch a video of the conference here.