Silvija Seres

Contact Information

• Address in Norway: Lonnaasen 19A; 1362 Hosle; Norway
  
• Telephones:
  +47 6712 5691 (Norway home)
  +47 4801 1322 (Norway mobile)

Other

Some personal info: I was born in Yugoslavia on the 28th of June, 1970. I grew up in a quiet town called Novi Sad, which features the oldest beach on Danube, the probably most enjoyable fortress from Hapsburg monarchy, and three ruined bridges. Novi Sad was a great place to grow up in. So was Vojvodina - it is flat and agricultural, but beautiful, friendly, slow and culturally confused in a charming way. I was a Hungarian minority in this area, but it never mattered. Yugoslavia was in general a good place to be, from what I could see of those 17 years I've lived there, and from what I've learned about life by living in other places. But that's changed.

My family lives in Oslo, Norway. I have lived there from 1988 to 1997, and studied and worked and skied and did whatever you have to do to keep from freezing. Norway is beautiful and very kind; probably one of the very few places on Earth where the majority of people seriously believe in fairness and equality. It is also a paradise on Earth in the summer, an absolute must see. As for the winter: it is still beautiful, but you really have to be fond of the snow to enjoy the many months of it.

Between 1997 and 2002 I was at Oxford University, where I did a PhD. I also worked as a lecturer and a tutor at the Department of Computer Science and at Oriel College and some other places as well. Oxford has an amazing architecture and even more amazing set of people. Lots of interesting traditions, green parks, rivers and swans and dinners and gowns. It offers excellent rowing, good classical and contemporary music, and interesting plays. There is much nice hiking in the English countryside, and then there is Wales and Scotland and so much more "nearby". Nothing is very far away on this island.

I finished my PhD in April 2001. During my PhD, I spent several months as a visiting researcher, working for Digital Corporations System Research Centre in Palo Alto, doing development on algorithms and web software; working on a research project at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing; and as a professor, managing an academic programme at Dar al Hekma, the first private female university in Saudi Arabia. Around this time, I have been awarded a Prize Fellowship at Magdalen College at Oxford Univeristy, a true aesthetic and academic paradise if there ever has been one. It was the most inspiring setting for intellectual work one can imagine, with amazing people around every corner (and there are many corners in old colleges in Oxford). My academic publications from this period are here.

In January 2003 I did a one year MBA program at the school Insead in France, and I spent this year partly in Fontainebleau and partly in Singapore, between the two Insead campuses. Insead was a very rewarding but intense experience.

I have been back in Norway since 2004, working as a Vice President of Product Marketing in the software company Fast Search & Transfer. Since April 2008 I have been working for Microsoft as a Director of Business Management.

I also serve on several company boards, including the Norwegian Lottery and Aschehoug, and on the Technology Council of Norway. In the past I have served, among others, on the board of directors for Opera Software and ProfDoc public companies. My CV is here.

Andreas and I have two sons, Sander and Thomas. Both were born on May 8, Sander in 2007 and Thomas in 2009.

The photo-links below are intended for my friends scattered around the world. Most of them contain large images and may take some time to download.

• February '97: visting Sonia and Peter in Italy
• April '97: traveling in Peru with Andreas' family
• Summer '99: working in California at Compaq SRC
• Christmas '99: trek to Himalaya
• a weekend in Scotland, June 2000
• Visiting Christie in Ireland, July 2000
• Visiting grandmother in Yugoslavia, August 2000
• Celebrating Andreas's MSc at the Isles of Scilly, September 2000
• Our honeymoon in Cuba, September 2000
• A historical week in Yugoslavia, October 2000
• Photos from Sinai, April 2001
• Photos from Oxford, May/June 2001
• Photos from Yugoslavia, July/August 2001
• Our trip around southern and eastern Africa, August/September 2001
• Autumn photos of friends and family, October/November 2001
• A Swan knocking on our door, November 2001
• Early spring images from Oxford, February 2002
• Photos from a diving week on Maldives in February 2002
• Photos from my teaching job in Saudi Arabia in April 2002
• Photos from our Divemaster Course in Jordan in July 2002
• Friends in Oxford and Norway during summer 2002
• Friends in Oxford during autumn 2002
• Working and travelling in China in November 2002
• Winter photos from Insead P1 in Fontainebleau, France, in January 2003
• Spring photos from Insead P2 in Fontainebleau, France, in March 2003
• Summer photos from Sailing in Greece in June and July 2003
• Diving photos from a week on a liveaboard Oriana in Sharm during August 2003
• Autumn photos from travels based from Singapore, during Insead P5 in November 2003
• Travel photos from Bali during the Christmas break of 2003
• Trekking photos from Thailand, in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, in January 2004
• Winter and spring photos from Norway, from Oslo, Trysil and Tvedestrand, in March/April 2004
• Early summer photos from Norway and US, in May/June 2004
• Action photos from Norway, from Besseggen and other, in July/August 2004
• Seaside images from Montenegro, from Herceg Novi, Kotor, Savina and sailing in the beautiful Bay of Boka Kotorska, in August/September 2004
• Diving and sighseeing images from Sudan and Egypt, in December 2004
• Working and hiking in Puerto Rico, in January 2005
• Winter photos from Norway, in February and March 2005
• Easter photos from Oslo, April 2005
• Insead reunion at Jo's wedding, in Yorkshire, May 2005
• Visiting Paul in New York, May 2005
• Back home after grandmother's funeral in Vojvodina , June 2005
• Summer breather in Tvedestrand , July 2005
• Paul and Elissa's Wedding , London July 2005
• A relaxing week in Herceg Novi , Monte Negro August 2005
• Titti's Crayfish party , Jar August 2005
• Nenad and Asja's Norway visit, September 2005
• Deep Blue diving in Galapagos, December 2005
• Weekend in Paris with mother, February 2006
• Skiing in Trysil, March 2006
• Visting Susanne and family in Denmark, April 2006
• Reunion with friends from INSEAD in Sicily in June 2006
• Summer vacation in Tvedestrand in Norway July 2006
• Cycling along Rallarvegen in Norway August 2006
• Walking in Sweden in November 2006
• Driving in Andalucia in Spain December 2006
• Home with Sander in Oslo May 2007
• Summer in Tvedestrand in July and August 2007
• A few short trips to Dubrovnik in September 2007
• More summer in Herceg Novi in September 2007
• Sander's baptism in Monastery Celije in October 2007
• Beach life on Cook Islands and Fiji in the South Pacific in November 2007
• Celebrating the New Year in Trysil in Norway, January 2008
• Old photos from highschool Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj in Yugoslavia, 1987-88
• Natasa's nun initiation ceremony in Monastery Celije in Serbia, April 2008
• Twentieth high-school reunion in Novi Sad at J.J.Zmaj in Serbia, July 2008
• Hot summer on the South Coast in Norway, July 2008
• Visiting Susanna's family in Denmark, October 2008
• Cold vacation in the Canary Islands in Spain, December 2008
• Christmas holidays in Oslo and Trysil in Norway, December 2008
• Work conference in Las Vegas in US, February 2009
• Family and tons of snow in Oslo, February 2009
• Old photos of Backo Petrovo Selo, in Vojvodina from around 1920-1950
• Family and friends in Serbia, April 2009
• Family and friends in Norway, April 2009
• Old photos of Becej, in Vojvodina from around 1900-1970
• Arrival of Thomas, in Oslo in May 2009

Last updated April 2009.