Smiljko Rudan was born in Pula on 8th November 1968.
He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FAMENA), University of Zagreb, on February 1997.
From April 1997 he started to work as a junior researcher at the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, FAMENA. On three occasions, in years 1998, 1999 and 2000 he visited Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal, as a visiting researcher, where he participated in EU project FatHTS - "Fatique Based Design Rules for the Application of High Tensile Steels in Ships".
He obtained master's degree in 2002 with a thesis entitled "Spectral Fatigue Analysis of Ship Structures". He obtained his PhD degree in 2006 with a thesis entitled "Safety of Cargo Tank Structure on Liquefied Gas Carriers".
In 2008 he was elected to the position of Assistant Professor. In 2013 he was elected to the position of Associate Professor, at the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, FAMENA, Zagreb.
His research work is related to structural analysis of ship and offshore structures, ship vibrations, collision and grounding of ships and advanced use of finite element method in structural analysis.
Since 2011 he is a member of the FAMENA e-Learning Commission. Since 2011 he is a member of the FAMENA Internation Projects Comission. He is a member of Croatian Society of Mechanics. As the author or co-author he published more than 40 scientific and professional papers.
Smiljko Rudan participated or participates in the following scientific projects funded by MZOŠ:
- 1996.-2002., Project 0120001 "Konstrukcija brodova i plovnih objekata", Principal Investigator Dr. Ivo Senjanović
- 2002.-2007., Project 120-012 "Brodske i pomorske konstrukcije", Principal Investigator Dr. Ivo Senjanović
- 2007., Project 120-1201703-1702 "Sigurnost brodskih i pomorskih konstrukcija", Principal Investigator Dr. Kalman Žiha.
Smiljko Rudan participated or participates in the following EU funded projects:
- 2004.-2005., Project SAND.CORe "Coordination Action on Advanced Sandwich Structures in the Transportation Industry".
- 2006.-2009., Tempus project “Advanced Ship Design for Pollution Prevention”, kolegij “Collision and grounding as criteria in design of ship structures”.
- 2008.-2009., Project "Research Centre for Metal Industry in Istrian County- MET.R.I.S".
- 2012.- , Project "METRIS PLUS – Boosting Research and Innovation Potential of the Adriatic Cross-border Area in a Joint Research Initiative led by Metris Research Centre".