Dr Matej Lipar studied geography and history at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and completed his PhD at the La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. His primary work is focussed on karst phenomena in eogenetic carbonate rocks, and Quaternary to Miocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, including speleothem science. Through a range of research projects, his work extends beyond Slovenia to international settings, including Australia, the Caribbean, and Pacific islands, where studies of young karst systems provide key insights into processes that once shaped the Slovenian karst and contribute to its interpretation today.
Dr Matej Lipar has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers, including in the prestigious Science Advances and multiple times in Earth-Science Reviews (both journals with impact factors above 10). His research has an H-index of 12 and over 360 citations (Google Scholar), with several articles cited more than 40 times, reflecting a strong impact in the field.
As a recognised expert in aeolianite karst, particularly in Australia, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, and the Mediterranean, he has carried out extensive research on the karst of the Nullarbor Plain. His work has led to the discovery of pocket valleys, denuded caves, a unique bioherm, and a tornado erosional scar. He works closely with the traditional owners of Australia, and in 2024 he was invited as a special guest by the Noongar people to present his research at the Dandjoo Koorliny Boodjar Moort Conference.
He has led and completed numerous national and international research projects totalling almost €3 million in competitive funding, with strong interdisciplinary links in geology, geochemistry, hydrology, cryosphere studies, and physics. His findings have received broad attention in major media outlets (e.g. ABC News, The Independent, Scientific American, AGU Eos) and achieved record Altmetric scores for Earth Surface Processes and Landforms and the Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science.
He maintains strong collaborations with leading Australian institutions (University of Queensland, University of Western Australia, University of Melbourne, ANSTO) as well as with institutions worldwide, including the University of Warsaw, University of Bari, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Bermuda.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering, La Trobe University, 2015
- School Teacher of Geography and History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, 2010
Selected presentations and lectures
- ANZGG (Australian & New Zealand Geomorphology Group Conference): 2022 (Alice Springs) - Enigmatic annular landform on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. (main author: Lipar, M; co-authors: Ferk, M.; Šmuc, A.; Barham, M.)
- ICG (International Conference of the International Association of Geomorphologists) 2022 (Coimbra) - Quaternary coastal dune limestone karst. (main author: Lipar, M.)
- ICS (International Congress of Speleology): 2022 (Le Bourget-du-Lac) - Fluviokarst on quaternary eogenetic conglomerates : an example from Slovenia. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Ferk, M)
- EGU (European Geosciences Union General Assembly): 2022 (Vienna) - Challenges in characterisation and mapping of solution pipes. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Szymczak, P.; Ciglič, R.; Prakash Sharma, R.; Zorn, M.; Stepišnik, U.; Ferk, M.)
- MedGU (Mediterranean geosciences Union Annual Meeting): 2021 (Istanbul) - Syngenetic karst, a global overview. (main author: Lipar, M.)
- IKS (International Karstological School Conference): 2021 (Postojna) - Imaging solution pipes : case study from Miocene calcarenites in Poland. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Kowalczyk, S.; Oryński, S.; Owoc, B.; Prakash Sharma, R.; Szymczak, P.)
- EGU (European Geosciences Union General Assembly): 2021 (Vienna) - Impact crater versus bioherm on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Ferk, M.; Šmuc, A.)
- DSO (Long Term Environmental Change Conference): 2021 (Ljubljana) – Stalagmites and palaeoclimate in Slovenia : current research. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Lojen, S.; Ferk, M.; Tičar, J.; Hrvatin, M.; Zorn, M.)
- AESC (Australian Earth Science Convention): 2021 (Australia) – Solution pipes and focussed vertical water flow in carbonates with high matrix porosity. (main author: White, S.; co-authors: Lipar, M.; Szymczak, P.; Webb, J.)
- EGU (European Geosciences Union General Assembly): 2020 (Vienna) - Recently exposed subglacial carbonate deposits at the retreating Triglav Glacier, Slovenia. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Martín-Pérez, A.; Tičar, J.; Pavšek, M.; Gabrovec, M.; Hrvatin, M.; Komac, B.; Zorn, M.; Zhao, J.; Drysdale, R.N.; Ferk, M.)
- INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research Congress): 2019 (Dublin) - The preliminary results of the Holocene stalagmite paleoenvironmental record from Postojna Cave, Slovenia. (main author: Lipar, M; co-authors: Drysdale, RN; Zhao, J.)
- ANZGG (Australian & New Zealand Geomorphology Group Conference): 2019 (Inverloch) - Deep caves on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. (main author: Lipar, M; co-authors: Ferk, M.; Lojen, S.; Barham, M.)
- IKS (International Karstological School Conference): 2019 (Postojna) - Water-rock interaction in Postojna Cave: can we use stable oxygen isotopes as palaeothermometer? (main author: Lipar, M; co-authors: Dolenc Batagelj, K.; Drysdale, R.; Zhao, J.)
- DSO (Long Term Environmental Change Conference): 2019 (Ljubljana) - Subglacial carbonate deposits: their implication on palaeoenvironment from the Last Glacial Maximum. (main author: Lipar, M.; co-authors: Ferk, M.; Martín-Pérez, A.; Tičar, J.; Pavšek, M.; Gabrovec, M.; Hrvatin, M.; Komac, B.; Zorn, M.; Zhao, J.; Drysdale, R.N.)
- Lipar M, Zorn M, Ferk M, Cof K, Čretnik J, 2025. The susceptibility of subglacial carbonates to frost weathering. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 50
- Lipar M, Barham M, Adnišik M, Šmuc A, Webb JA, McNamara KJ, Šoster A, Ferk M, 2024. Ironing out complexities in karst chronology: (U-Th)/He ferricrete ages reveal wet MIS 5c. Science Advances 10
- Lipar M, Lojen S, Breg Valjavec M, Andrič M, Šmuc A, Levanič T, Tičar J, Zorn M, Ferk M, 2024. Holocene climate variability in Slovenia: A review. Acta Geographica Slovenica 64
- Lipar M, 2024. Tornado scar on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science 74
Lipar M, White S, 2023. Quaternary Coastal Dune Limestone. In: Australian Caves and Karst Systems. Springer. - Lipar M, Ferk M, Šmuc A, Barham, M, 2022. Enigmatic annular landform on a Miocene planar karst surface, Nullarbor Plain, Australia. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 47
- Lipar M, Szymczak, P, White SQ, Webb J, 2021. Solution pipes and focused vertical water flow : geomorphology and modelling. Earth-Science Reviews 218
- Lipar M, Martín-Pérez A, Tičar J, Pavšek M, Gabrovec M, Hrvatin M, Komac B, Zorn M, Zupan Hajna N, Zhao J-x, Drysdale RN, Ferk M, 2021. Subglacial carbonate deposits as a potential proxy for a glacier's former presence. The Cryosphere 15.
- Lipar M, Zupanič Pajnič I, Cotman M, Zabavnik Piano J, Zhao J-x, Pekarovič D, Leskovar T, 2020. DNA, spectroscopic and geochemical analyses of bone fragments and associated speleothems in Postojna cave, Slovenia. Acta Carsologica 49.
- Lipar M. Stepišnik U, Ferk M, 2019. Multiphase breakdown sequence of collapse doline morphogenesis: an example from Quaternary aeolianites in Western Australia. Geomorphology 327.
- Lipar M, Ferk M, Lojen S, Barham M, 2019. Sulphur (34S/32S) isotope composition of gypsum and implications for deep cave formation on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia. International Journal of Speleology 48.
- Lipar, M, Webb, JA, Cupper, ML, Wang, N, 2017: Aeolianite, calcrete/microbialite and karst in southwestern Australia as indicators of Middle to Late Quaternary palaeoclimates. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 470.
- Lipar, M, Ferk, M, 2015: Karst pocket valleys and their implications on Pliocene-Quaternary hydrology and climate : examples from the Nullarbor Plain, southern Australia. Earth-Science Reviews 150.
- The great Miocene barrier reef of southern Australia (March 1, 2026 - February 28, 2029)
- Ironing out complexities in karst chronology: the Quaternary aeolianite karst phenomenon (June 1, 2025 - May 31, 2028)
- Denuded caves of the Nullarbor Plain (fundamental project • October 1, 2023 - November 30, 2026)
- Solution pipes as a novel palaeoclimate proxy (fundamental research project • November 1, 2021 - October 31, 2023)
- Geomorphological peculiarities of AEOLianite KARST and their palaeoclimatic significance (fundamental research project • September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2022)
- Novel proxies of the Holocene climate variability in stalagmites in Slovenia (fundamental research project • September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2023)
- Geomorphological characteristics on eogenetic carbonate rocks in Slovenia and United States of America (bilateral project • October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2021)
- Karst artefacts of the remote northern part of the Nullarbor Plain (research project • November 6, 2017 - November 5, 2023)
- Collection and interpretation of data from stalagmites to interpret palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment (postdoctoral research project • June 1, 2017 - May 31, 2020)
- Award from Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency for Excellent in Science (2025)
- Top Downloaded Article from Wiley Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (2024)
- Slovene Research Initiative Exchange award with Ohio State University (2020)
- La Trobe University Postgraduate Writing-up Award (Web of Science) (2014)
- Best presentation award at 25th Victorian universities Earth and Environmental Sciences Conference (2012)
- Slovene Research Initiative Exchange award with Ohio State University (2020)
- Department of Geography Award (University of Ljubljana) for special achievements during geography study (for a seminar Land use change, based on the distance of town centres in Slovenia according to Von Thünen model – using Esri ArcGis) (2007)
- Department of Geography Award (University of Ljubljana) for special achievements during geography study (for diploma Geomorphological features, developed on Tamala Limestone in surroundings of Cervantes and Jurien Bay, Western Australia) (2009)
- La Trobe University Full Fee Research Scholarship (2011-2015)
- La Trobe University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (2011-2015)
- Member of the Executive Board of the Geomorphological Society of Slovenia
- Section Editor of the journal Acta Geographica Slovenica
- Head of institute's Department for Geosciences