We had the opportunity to talk to Assoc. Prof. Dr Amra Hasecic in our new BH academic interview!
🎓Dr Amra Hasečić is an associate professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Sarajevo, in the Department of Process Engineering, and currently serves as Vice-Dean for Research.
Her research covers the numerical modelling of heat and mass transfer, fluid dynamics and the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to the analysis of multiphase flows.
She earned her doctorate in 2017 with the thesis "Numerical modelling of radiative heat transfer in multiphase flows with free surfaces", developing a mathematical model and a numerical method for simultaneously solving radiative heat transfer problems under such conditions.
Her papers have been published in prestigious scientific journals, including IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, where she co-authored the paper "Investigation of the Contamination Influence on the Parameters of Gas Flow through Multi-Hole Orifice Flow Meter", the International Journal of Thermal Science (Elsevier) and others.
A paper of hers on the numerical simulation of the resuspension of pollutant particles is currently in the process of publication in the journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (Nature). Alongside her academic career, Dr Hasečić has industry experience as an expert in the preparation and construction of small renewable energy power plants.
Prof. Hasečić has been awarded the prestigious Woman in Research postdoc fellowship for 2025 at the University of Münster, Germany. As part of her postdoctoral research at the Department of Mathematics (76–100 on the Shanghai ranking), Institute for Applied Mathematics, in the research group of Prof. Dr Mario Ohlberger, she will analyse the possibilities of applying machine learning principles to the numerical modelling of multiphase flows at high temperatures.
1. Can you tell us more about your work on the numerical modelling of heat transfer in multiphase flows?
Heat transfer in multiphase flows is a phenomenon found in all industries dealing with fluids at high temperatures, such as steel production, glass production and laser processing, where, in addition to high temperatures, two or more phases are in contact (e.g. liquid steel in contact with air). When it comes to natural phenomena, we see it in lava flowing down a volcano, where the lava cools on contact with the air and at some point solidifies. What makes the process more complex is the fact that in most cases we do not know where the interface between the phases will be, and the fact that, because of the extremely high temperatures, radiative heat transfer (in particular volumetric radiation rather than surface-to-surface radiation) is the dominant mode of heat transfer. Numerical simulations (computational fluid dynamics) allow us to numerically solve the complex mathematical equations describing the problems we analyse. However, the capabilities of numerical models decrease as the number of complex phenomena we want to analyse simultaneously increases, and in that case we have to develop a method capable of analysing exactly what we need. This is the case with the analysis of heat transfer in multiphase flows at high temperatures, where I first had to develop a mathematical model and a numerical method capable of such analysis, and only then analyse the problem itself. The method I developed can indeed analyse and incorporate all the physical phenomena occurring in these problems, even a change in the state of matter of one of the phases. However, such a model is extremely computationally demanding (high computational cost), so there is a challenge in applying it in industry, which may not have access to high-performance computers to complete the calculations within the time frames it needs. That is precisely the topic of my current research within the WIRE (Women in Research) postdoc fellowship I received at the University of Münster, where, with Prof. Mario Ohlberger of Uni Münster and Prof. Ricardo Vinuesa of KTH Sweden, I will analyse the possibilities of applying data-driven fluid mechanics, i.e. applying machine learning to what are now traditional computer simulations, specifically to the problem of heat transfer in multiphase flows at high temperatures, to see whether machine learning can speed up this numerical model.
2. Given that your research is highly applicable to industry, how do you see cooperation between researchers and industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Most of the research that my colleagues and I carry out is applicable to industry, but unfortunately very little of it has actually been applied in industry in BiH. The challenges of cooperation between researchers and industry exist in every country in the world, but what most countries with well-developed industry–university cooperation have, and we do not, is systematic state support for that cooperation. In most countries there are research funds aimed at cooperation between industry and researchers, where having an industry partner is a condition for applying. Only this year, through the research project funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Science in cooperation with UNDP, did we get one such programme, but the funding amounts are far too small for us to talk about any more substantial research projects. It is also necessary to strengthen communication and general awareness, both of what researchers work on and of the specific industrial problems that perhaps all companies in the same field face and that should be addressed through research projects. An excellent example of cooperation between industry and researchers can be found at City University London, where their Centre for Compressor Technology founded the CERES consortium. The consortium consists of companies from the field of compressor technology that pay an annual membership fee. They meet twice a year to discuss problems arising in the companies, and the consortium members from City University London present potential topics for final-year projects and doctoral theses whose completion could offer answers to their challenges. At these meetings, some of the proposed topics are chosen for further work, and the membership fees paid are in fact used to engage researchers to work on this research, i.e. to fund the necessary research.
3. Can you share your experiences of working on international projects and how these experiences have influenced your career?
International projects are a window on the world. Through international projects I have had the opportunity to meet top experts in the field that interests me, exchange ideas with people from all over the world and show colleagues from other countries what I work on and what the focus of my research is, which has resulted in new international project applications. What all my international visits have in common, whether through an international project or one of the mobility programmes, is that I came home with a wealth of new ideas and motivation for further work. Every bit of networking with researchers (and here I must stress that, alongside international networking, it is also important to network at the local level) has brought me a new experience, and from every conversation I inevitably learned at least one new thing that I could apply to improve either my work, my approach to students or organisation in general.
4. Your research often links science and practical applications. How can we motivate young researchers in BiH to develop projects that have a significant impact on industry and society?
Most research can be applied to industry and used to improve its processes; the only question is how much of that research is actually applied. I believe that funds for research projects that require an industrial partner in the project would do a great deal to link research and industry, and in this way the projects that are being developed anyway would also gain that component of real impact on and application to industry and society.
5. In your opinion, how can the Academic Directory help strengthen the visibility of researchers in BiH, especially in the technical sciences?
The Academic Directory is an excellent initiative launched by our very own colleagues who, as circumstances would have it, completed most of their training outside our country and themselves wanted to network with researchers in our country working in the same fields as they do. That is precisely the strength of the Academic Directory, because it is designed to respond most efficiently and quickly to, and help, researchers in BiH who want to network with other researchers, both in BiH and outside our country, while greater visibility can only be achieved through joint projects and research arising from that networking.
