PEXIM scholarships for 2024/25 have been awarded to Marija Nedeljkovic and Pavle Padjin from Serbia, and Stefan Mikitj from North Macedonia. We awarded the scholarships together with our partners, the Company CWP, who will fund Pavle’s studies, and the NGO The Return Point, which will fund Marija’s studies.

All three candidates proved outstanding academic achievements, but more importantly, great dedication to bettering lives of their younger colleagues, and their communities.

Maria will pursue an MPhil degree in Data Intensive Science. Previously, she obtained a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Belgrade’s School of Electrical Engineering.

Her journey into the world of research began with a deep curiosity and ambition for math, science, and technical subjects. Throughout her academic journey, she sought practical experience through internships at places like the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, where se worked on a project related to finding correlations between neurons in the auditory cortex. She also gained experience within the biomedical department at jer university, where she researched Alzheimer’s disease recognition. Additionally, she had the opportunity to intern at New Enterprise Associates and try herself in the role of data analyst. It was during these experiences that she realized what tied all of them together: her fascination with uncovering hidden insights within data. As a result, her next step was embarking on an MPhil in Data Intensive Science at the University of Cambridge, where she primarily focuses on the analysis and machine learning of medical imaging data.

Engaging in initiatives that provide free education and promote community welfare is incredibly important to her. Through her volunteer work with the Science Engineering Centre PFE, she helped organize events and camps, create promotional materials, lead lectures, and hold workshops. She also collaborates with experts and mentors students on year-long projects, guiding both their practical work and scientific writing.

Maria is eager to return to Serbia and give back to the community by teaching and doing research. Through diverse initiatives, she hopes to create a supportive environment that encourages young minds to explore the exciting possibilities within science and technology.

Outside of academic pursuits, she enjoys exploring various forms of creative expression, such as painting, reading, and writing, as well as outdoor activities such as hiking and travelling.

Pavle will pursue an MPhil degree in Advanced Computer Science. Previously, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Belgrade, School of Electrical Engineering.

He has completed several internships related to machine learning and software engineering; His internships include Machine Learning Intern at Microsoft, Computer Vision Engineer Intern at Ydrive AI, and Software Engineer Intern at Tenstorrent.

He was a coauthor of the paper “Low Dimensional EEG Classification for Alzheimer’s Disease Recognition” where he with the team constructed a new method for recognizing Alzheimer’s disease. He attended several seminars and conferences including Eastern Europe Machine Learning (EEML) conference, ML in PL conference and Practical seminar in Machine Learning (PSIML).

Pavle is an associate at Science and Engineering center “PFE” where he provides free education for high school students. He holds lectures on various topics in Machine Learning, Signal and Image processing, Electronics, etc. He also mentors projects they choose and give them an opportunity to work on real world problems.

Pavle enjoys training and sports. He practices calisthenics and jiu-jitsu and enjoys reading fantasy and history books.

With innovation as his main motivation for starting a startup, he aspires to be an entrepreneur and research engineer.

Stefan will pursue an MPhil degree in Politics and International Studies. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with dual majors in Political Science and Social Research and Public Policy from NYU Abu Dhabi.

During his academic career, he conducted extensive research on education systems in North Macedonia and the U.S., focusing on gifted student programs, environmental curricula, and youth employment prospects. Stefan also created a model called the Macedonian Talent Retention Program to address brain drain and worked on revamping the Political Science degree at NYU Abu Dhabi. His capstone project delved into fake news, misinformation, and digital literacy in Europe, specifically Germany.

Demonstrating leadership, Stefan created the Weyak Leader Program for holistic living and learning with the NYUAD Office of Student Life, established the Social Science Peer Tutor Position, and developed the Four Year Academic Action Plan with the NYUAD Academic Resource Center.

Serving as the Social Science Representative in NYUAD Student Government, he advocated for student needs and worked on initiatives to improve campus life. As President of the NYUAD South Slavic Club, he promoted cultural awareness and fostered a sense of community among students from Balkan backgrounds. His dedication extended to serving as a Student Embassy Ambassador Liaison for the Macedonian and Serbian embassies, helping connect the student body with the activities and projects of our embassies. He currently writes political blogs for a Macedonian civic engagement site called ResPublica.

In his free time, he enjoys learning new languages, with a particular interest in Japanese. He also enjoys photography and videography, capturing moments and telling stories through visual media.

Writing is another hobby of his, allowing him to express his thoughts and creativity. Additionally, he contributes to the TED community by translating videos into Macedonian and Serbian, helping to make these videos accessible to a wider audience.