Katarina Aladrović Slovaček
project associateAssociated professor, (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education), Doctor of Science in the field of Philology. Her research focuses on topics related to mastering Croatian as a mother tongue, learning the Croatian standard language, and developing communicative competence in Croatian in early school age. She was a research fellow on a national scientific research project, a collaborator on two projects funded by Croatian Science Foundation and one project under the Horizon program. Since 2024, she has been the principal investigator of the project Development of the Vocabulary of Younger School-Aged Children Through Innovative Aesthetic and Embodied Learning Methods (HRZZ IP-2024-05-8350).
She has been a collaborator on four international Erasmus+ projects and actively participates in numerous teacher professional development programs. She is the head of the postgraduate doctoral study Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Context of ECEC at the Faculty of Education in Zagreb.
Biography: https://www.ufzg.unizg.hr/zaposlenici/aladrovic-slovacek-katarina/
Bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/28215
Emina Berbić Kolar
project associateFull Professor (J. J. Strossmayer University in Osijek, Faculty of Education), Doctor of Humanities, field of philology. She deals with Croatian dialectology, especially Old Stokavian dialects, the vitality of organic idioms and their protection and preservation. She has trained at several universities abroad. She founded the Department of Croatian Language at Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey and was the first professor at the established department. As a guest lecturer, she has taught Croatian language on several occasions at the Teacher Training College in Baja, Republic of Hungary.
She is a member of the editorial board of eight journals, six international and two national, and the deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Pannoniana. She is a member of one COST project, and has also participated in several projects from the Erasmus + program, ESF, infrastructure projects, projects of the Ministry of Culture and Media, university and internal projects. She is a member of the Sectoral Council for Philology. At her home faculty, she was the head of the doctoral study program and vice-dean for several terms. Since 2022, she has been the dean of the Faculty of Education in Osijek.
Complete biography: https://www.foozos.hr/en/department-of-croatian-studies/
Complete bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/28357?lang=en
Rona Bušljeta Kardum
project associateAssociate Professor (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Croatian Studies), Doctor of Science in the field of humanities, specializing in history. The reception of innovations in history textbooks is the topic of her doctoral dissertation. Her research activities are situated within the interdisciplinary field of educational sciences, particularly in pedagogical disciplines, which, as an integral part of the educational sciences, necessarily engage not only with pedagogy in a narrower sense but also with other pedagogical topics, including curriculum, didactics, and methodology, especially the didactic-methodological aspects of textbooks.
She has further advanced her expertise through multiple professional development programs at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, Germany. As a co-author, she has contributed to the creation of history textbooks for secondary and primary schools, as well as workbooks, all of which have been approved by the relevant Ministry. At her home institution, she currently leads the lifelong learning program in Pedagogical-Psychological-Didactic-Methodological Teacher Education and the Program for Methodological Training and Professional Development of University Teachers and Associates.
Complete bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/28361
Lidija Cvikić
head researcherFull Professor (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education), Doctor of Science in the field of humanities, specializing in philology. Her research focuses on topics related to acquisitiion of Croatian as a mother tongue and foreign language, multilingualism, educational language policy, and textbook discourse. She was a research assistant on three national scientific research projects and a researcher on two bilateral and three Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) projects. She has taught Croatian language in programs at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. From 2023 to 2025, she served as the head of Croaticum – the Center for Croatian Language and Culture at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
She is a member of a COST action project and has participated in several Erasmus+ program projects. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Foreign Languages. At her home institution, she has held the positions of head of the Department of Croatian Language and Literature, Performing and Media Culture, and Vice dean for Science, Arts, and International cooperation. She is also a member of the Board for Language Lectures at the Ministry of Science, Education, and Youth and the Sectoral Council for Philology.
Complete bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/27005
Marko Ćaleta
project associateFull professor (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education), Doctor of Science in the field of natural sciences, specializing in biology. His scientific focus includes broad topics within the fields of biology and ecology, with a particular emphasis on ichthyology and taxonomy. In his professional work, he addresses issues related to the transfer of scientific content from the field of biology to the primary school level, as well as methods for promoting and developing scientific literacy, especially the content knowledge as a key component of it. He is also a consultant and reviewer for publishers of textbooks in the fields of Nature/Biology.
Complete bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/5020
Gordana Dobravac
project associateAdjunct assisstant professor, Associate Professor (Faculty of Speech and Language Therapy, University of Rijeka), Doctor of Science in the field of Cognitive Science. Her scientific work is focused on cognitive processes in language learning (both mother tongue and foreign languages), as well as a neurolinguistic approach to language acquisition, particularly among bilingual speakers. She has been a researcher on two projects funded by Croatian Science Foundation, as well as on several projects under the Tempus program and one project under the COST Action. As a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, she completed her advanced studies at Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and at the University of Houston, USA, as well as at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Dubravka Glasnović Gracin
project associateAssociate Professor (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education), holds a PhD in Mathematics Education (PhD from the University of Klagenfurt). Her areas of scientific and professional interest include research on mathematics textbooks and other resources for mathematics teaching, mathematics in STEM education, and the popularization of mathematics through interdisciplinary projects. From 2007 to 2010, she was a member of the PISA mathematics working group at the NCVVO (National Centre for External Evaluation of Education). Since 2011, she has been a member of the working group for National Mathematics Exams at the NCVVO.
She has collaborated on an HRZZ (Croatian Science Foundation) project, serves as a visiting professor in the doctoral program of Mathematics Education at the University of Klagenfurt, and has participated as a lecturer in numerous international conferences. Highly active in professional work, she is the author of about ten textbooks and other teaching materials for mathematics and is also a member of the committee for professional mathematics exams in elementary education.
Complete biography: https://www.ufzg.unizg.hr/zaposlenici/glasnovic-gracin-dubravka/
Full bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/29708
Diana Stolac
project associateProfessor Emerita (Distinguished Professor at the University of Rijeka), Doctor of Science in the field of philology. Her exceptionally rich scientific work covers a range of topics related to the Croatian standard language and the history of the Croatian language, with particular significance in the areas of lexicology and lexicography (she is the author of a dictionary), studies on the syntax of the Croatian language, and linguistic stylistics. As a collaborator, she has participated in around ten competitive research projects, four of which she led, including projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ).
She has been a visiting professor at several domestic and international universities, contributed to teaching in several doctoral programs, and at the University of Rijeka, she launched the doctoral program in the history and dialectology of the Croatian language, serving as its long-time director. She is highly active in public scientific and professional activities at the national level and is currently a member of the Croatian Language Council. For her scientific and professional work, she has been awarded the City of Zagreb Award, the University of Rijeka Charter, and the University of Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) Appreciation Award.
Complete biography: https://www.enciklopedija.hr/natuknica.aspx?id=70923
https://portal.uniri.hr/Portfelj/Details/01206
Full bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/16052
Ivana Trtanj
project associateDr. Ivana Trtanj is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, holding a PhD in Linguistics. In her scientific work, she focuses on the themes of acquiring Croatian as a first language, with a particular interest in early literacy, the development of discourse competence, and children’s narrative skills (on which she has published a monograph). Dr. Trtanj has also contributed to several research projects, including two funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ).
In addition to her academic research, she has extensive practical experience in Croatian language proficiency assessment, having been involved for nearly a decade in the development of exams for non-native speakers of Croatian. Currently, she serves as the Head of the Department of Croatian Studies at her institution, following her previous role as Chair of the Subdepartment of Linguistics.
Biography: https://www.foozos.hr/hr/odsjek-za-kroatistiku/
Bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/28175
Tamara Turza Bogdan
project associateFull-time professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education, and holds a doctorate in the field of humanities, specifically in philology. Her research focuses on topics such as the methodology of teaching Croatian language and literature, the development of literacy in preschool and early school age, and the relationship between regional dialects and standard Croatian in education for younger students. At her home faculty, she participates in the doctoral program in Language, Literary, and Cultural Contexts RPPO.
She has been involved as a researcher in several national scientific projects and has led a bilateral Croatian-Slovenian research project. She was also the leader of the Erasmus+ DEAL project, which received the European Commission’s award for innovative teaching in 2022. At the Faculty of Teacher Education, she was the vice dean for development and students of the Department in Čakovec.
Biography: https://www.ufzg.unizg.hr/zaposlenici/turza-bogdan-tamara/
Bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/2770
Perica Vujić
project associateMaster of Education in Croatian Language and Literature and Master of Education in History, Assistant (University of J. J. Strossmayer in Osijek, Faculty of Philosophy). He has worked as a teacher and instructor of Croatian language and history in several schools, and as a Croatian language lecturer at the University of Novi Sad.
He is currently a student in the postgraduate doctoral program in Linguistics at the Faculty of Philosophy in Osijek. As a successful doctoral candidate, he is a recipient of a doctoral scholarship and has actively participated in several international conferences with presentations. His research interests include Croatian syntax and the history of the Croatian language in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tanja Maltar Okun
project associateTeacher of Science and Biology, graduated engineer in biology, Doctor of Science in the field of Educational Sciences. In her doctoral thesis and in the research and scientific papers published after her PhD, her focus has been on the development of scientific literacy. For four years, she was the head of the Science Department at her home institution, and she has published open educational content on the repository edutorij.e-skole.hr; Google Sites. In collaboration with publishers Profil Klett d.o.o. and Školska knjiga d.o.o., she developed additional digital teaching materials for Biology at the national level. She was a member of the group for evaluating national exams in Biology. In 2020, she was awarded and selected by the Ministry of Science and Education as one of the most successful educators in the 2019/2020 school year.
Katarina Širanović
project associateMA in Primary Education, currently enrolled in the doctoral study program Lifelong Education and Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Education in Zagreb. Her research interests focus on digital mathematics textbooks.