The Faculty of Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb is led by a team dedicated to academic excellence, interdisciplinary research, and the promotion of Croatian culture and identity in the international academic community.
The Dean and Vice-Deans jointly oversee the Faculty’s teaching, research, international cooperation, business operations, and the development of lifelong learning and career programmes.

Assoc. Prof. Dario Vučenović, Ph.D. – Dean of the Faculty of Croatian Studies

Assoc. Prof. Dario Vučenović, Ph.D., was born on 26 October 1968 in Zadar, Croatia. He enrolled in the study of psychology in 1988 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zadar, University of Split, where he graduated in 1992 and earned the title of Professor of Psychology. He began his professional career at the Ministry of Defence, where he served as a psychologist and assistant commander for psychological activities. He later worked as a lecturer and psychological counsellor at secondary schools in the Zadar area.

Since 1998, he has been dedicated to working with the veteran population and their families, first as a senior advisor for psychosocial assistance at the Ministry of Croatian Veterans, and later as the Head of the Centre for Psychosocial Assistance to Victims of the Homeland War in Zadar County.

He earned his Master’s degree in 2009 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, with a thesis on emotional intelligence, and in 2012, he defended his doctoral dissertation on emotional intelligence and emotional content processing at the same faculty.

From 2009, he served as the Director of the Family Centre of Zadar County, and from 2014, as the Head of the Branch Office of the Family Centre at the Centre for Social Welfare Zadar. He developed his academic career at the University of Zadar, where he had been teaching since 2014 at the Chair of Clinical and Health Psychology. In 2018, he was elected to the title of Research Associate and Honorary Assistant Professor of Psychology.

He is a recipient of the “Marulić: Fiat Psychologia” Award of the Croatian Psychological Association for his contribution to the development of applied psychology, and has also served as President of the Zadar Psychological Society. He is the author and co-author of eight scientific papers, professional articles, and a university textbook, editor of a scientific monograph, and has participated in more than 80 scientific and professional conferences in Croatia and abroad. His research and professional work have been primarily focused on emotional intelligence, mental health, and psychosocial support for war veterans and victims of the Homeland War.

Assoc. Prof. Vučenović has been employed at the Faculty of Croatian Studies since 2018, working at the Department of Psychology and the Department of Communication Studies. Throughout his tenure, he has held numerous academic and administrative roles, including Commissioner for Teaching and Students, Vice-Dean for Teaching and Students, Member and Deputy Member of the Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Area of the University of Zagreb, Chair of the Committee for the Implementation of Abstract Thinking Tests, Chair of the Committee for Quality Assurance, Chair of the Committee for the Reaccreditation Process, Faculty Representative in the UNIC – European University of Post-Industrial Cities project, Faculty Representative for e-Learning at Srce (University Computing Centre), Member or Chair of Committees for Academic Promotions, and mentor to numerous master’s theses. Before assuming the position of Dean, he served as the Head of the Department of Psychology (since 2023).

Assist. Prof. Vanja Kopilaš, Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for Teaching and Students

Assist. Prof. Vanja Kopilaš, Ph.D., was born on 30 May 1990 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He completed both elementary school and general secondary education (gymnasium) in Dubrovnik, Croatia. After graduating from high school in 2009, he was awarded an athletic (water-polo) and academic scholarship in the United States. As captain of his collegiate water-polo team from 2010 to 2013, he was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the league in 2010 and 2011 and was selected for the First Team All-Conference for four consecutive years (2010–2013).

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2014, where he also received the Dean’s Award for academic excellence. During his studies he completed a one-year clinical internship at the Cleveland Clinic, gaining valuable practical experience in the field of clinical psychology.

After completing his graduate studies, he spent two years working as a Research Coordinator at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was involved in multiple clinical and experimental research projects on affective disorders.

Upon returning to Croatia in 2019, he began his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. He earned his Doctorate in Neuroscience at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in 2022. During his doctoral studies he collaborated with the Scientific Centre of Excellence for Basic, Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, contributing to interdisciplinary research in cognitive and clinical neuroscience.

Since 2023 he has been employed as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, where he teaches several courses in the field of neuroscience. Within the Faculty’s governance, he initially served as Assistant to the Rector with Vice-Dean authority for teaching and student affairs, later assuming the position of Acting Vice-Dean for Teaching and Students.

His scientific and professional interests are focused on clinical psychology and neuroscience, particularly on affective and cognitive processes in mental health. He actively contributes as an author and peer reviewer in numerous scientific papers published in international journals. He has received the Faculty of Croatian Studies Award for Research of High International Visibility for both 2020 and 2021.

Assist. Prof. Kopilaš is an active member of the Croatian Psychological Chamber and the Croatian Society for Neuroscience. He is a member of the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology and participates in the interdisciplinary research group Navigating Knowledge Landscapes. He also serves as the Croatian representative in the International Consortium on Paranoia Research (ICPR) based in Bern, Switzerland.

Assoc. Prof. Marko Jerković, Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for Research

Assoc. Prof. Marko Jerković, Ph.D., earned his doctorate at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, in 2011, where he has been employed since 2008. He is currently a member of both the Department of Croatian Latinity and the Department of History at the Faculty of Croatian Studies. He teaches courses on medieval history and Latin culture within the study programmes of History, Croatian Latinity, and Croatology.

His scholarly interests focus on institutional history, comparative monastic history, historical anthropology, and the history of disciplinary systems. He has published one monographic book, eight edited volumes, and around forty scientific papers. Additionally, he has delivered presentations at approximately thirty scientific conferences and twenty-two scholarly colloquia and workshops.

Beyond research and teaching, Assoc. Prof. Jerković is extensively engaged in academic organization and project coordination. He has participated in organizing thirteen scientific conferences, seven international workshops, three conference sections, and one winter school.

He collaborates closely with the Institute for Comparative History of Religious Orders at the Technical University of Dresden, with which he co-organizes scientific meetings and joint research projects. Furthermore, he serves as a member of the Committee for Church History of the Pécs Branch of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and is an associate of the Centre for the History of Religious Orders at the Croatian Institute of History.

Assoc. Prof. Jerković has participated in fourteen national and international scientific projects. He is currently a co-leader of the German-Croatian project Religious Orders and Societies Entangled, jointly conducted by the Faculty of Croatian Studies and the Institute for Comparative History of Religious Orders in Dresden, aiming to strengthen cooperation between Croatian and German medieval studies. He also leads the research project Disciplinary Authority in Religious Communities in Dresden.

At the Faculty of Croatian Studies, he heads the internal research project Silent Toilers: Monastic Contributions to Croatian and European Culture and serves as editor of the book series “Silent Toilers”.

Previously, he participated in Erasmus+ and CEEPUS mobility programmes and contributed to the COST Action New Communities of Interpretation. He is also a member of the “Tkalčić – Society for the History of the Archdiocese of Zagreb” and of the international association “Episcopus – Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages.”

Assist. Prof. Antonia Ordulj, Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for International Cooperation

Assist. Prof. Antonia Ordulj, Ph.D., was born in 1984 in Rijeka, Croatia. She completed her studies in Croatian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, and obtained her doctorate at the Postgraduate Doctoral Study in Glottodidactics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her primary field of scientific research is the process of acquiring Croatian as a first, second, or foreign language.

From 1 March 2013 to 31 January 2021, she was employed at Croaticum – Centre for Croatian as a Second and Foreign Language, where she taught Croatian to international students and participants in semester programmes, short schools, and the course Croatian Language and Culture for Erasmus Students at the University of Zagreb.

Since 1 February 2021, she has been employed at the Centre for Teaching Croatian as a First and Second Language, Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, as an Assistant Professor in the field of applied linguistics and language teaching methodology.

Since February 2018, she has been a member of the Croatian national team within the COST Action CA16105 “European Network for Combining Language Learning with Crowdsourcing Techniques” (enetCollect). From November 2018 to February 2020, she worked as a researcher on the project “Coherence of Written Text in a Second Language: Croatian, German, English, French, and Hungarian in Comparison” (Research Project IP-2016-06-5736, Croatian Science Foundation and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek; https://kohpitekst.ffos.hr).

Between 2020 and 2023, she collaborated on the European University of Post-Industrial Cities (UNIC) project, where she designed and developed an online language-learning module for Croatian intended as a preparatory activity for student, teaching, and administrative staff mobility (https://unic.eu/en/online-language-modules). Since December 2023, she has been a researcher on the project “Multiword Expressions in Croatian – Lexicological, Computational-Linguistic, and Glottodidactic Approaches” (Research Project IP-2022-10-7697, Croatian Science Foundation and Institute of Croatian Language, Zagreb; https://mwe-cro.jezik.hr).

Assist. Prof. Ordulj has presented papers at numerous scientific and professional conferences in Croatia and abroad. She is the author of two scientific monographs, the first digital university textbook for learning Croatian as a second language at level A2, and several scientific articles (https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/33269).

She has completed professional development programmes at the Leadership Academy, Studyportals Academy – Introduction to International Marketing and Recruitment, the Summer School “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Exploring the Mental Lexicon” in Dubrovnik, and the Laboratory for Psycholinguistic Research, University of Zagreb.

Assist. Prof. Ordulj is an active member of the Croatian Philological Society, the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society, and the Slavic Linguistic Society.

Assoc. Prof. Rona Bušljeta Kardum, Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for Career Development and Lifelong Learning

Assoc. Prof. Rona Bušljeta Kardum, Ph.D., is a university professor at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. She was born in 1980 in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, where she completed general secondary education (gymnasium). She enrolled in the study of History at the Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb in 1998 and graduated in 2003. From 2003 to 2007, she worked as a history teacher at the Third Gymnasium in Zagreb, after which she joined the Faculty of Croatian Studies in 2007.

She earned her doctoral degree in 2012 by defending her dissertation titled Reception of Didactic and Methodological Innovations in Croatian Gymnasium History Textbooks (2003–2008).

Her scientific and teaching work focuses on the interdisciplinary field of educational sciences, particularly pedagogical disciplines and didactic-methodological aspects of textbooks. She has completed multiple research and training stays at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig and at the University of Freiburg (Germany). As a co-author, she has contributed to the development of history textbooks and workbooks for primary and secondary schools approved by the Ministry of Science and Education, as well as to teaching materials for several publishing houses.

Assoc. Prof. Bušljeta Kardum was a member of the national expert working group for curriculum development and, since 2017 (with brief interruptions), has served as a member of the examination board for history teacher qualification exams across nine Croatian counties. She is actively engaged in national educational projects, particularly those related to Croatian education abroad.

She is currently a member of the Croatian Science Foundation research project Early Disciplinary Literacy in Croatian: Features of Textbook Discourse (RAPID) (IP-2024-05). She has also participated in the design and implementation of two lifelong learning programmes and contributed to an international project for the creation of occupational and qualification standards for the profession “Teacher in Higher Education.”

For her academic contributions, she has received multiple institutional awards for research of high international visibility and, in 2025, received the Dean’s Award for International Visibility.

Assoc. Prof. Bušljeta Kardum has published more than thirty scientific papers in Croatian and international journals, is a co-author of a university manual and two scientific monographs, and regularly presents her work at international and domestic conferences.

Since 2023, she has held the position of Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb.

Assist. Prof. Vlatko Smiljanić, Ph.D. – Vice-Dean for Business Affairs

Assist. Prof. Vlatko Smiljanić, Ph.D., is a university lecturer and researcher at the Department of Croatology and the Department of History of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. He was born in 1995 in Virovitica, Croatia, where he completed both elementary and secondary education (gymnasium). He graduated in History from the Faculty of Croatian Studies in 2020, distinguishing himself as a student demonstrator and a scholarship recipient for excellence awarded by Virovitica-Podravina County. During his studies, he received several student recognitions, including the Rector’s Award and the Dean’s Award in 2020, as well as the Head of Department’s Award in 2018 for the best undergraduate and graduate student of history.

He continued his academic trajectory at the postgraduate level and obtained his Doctorate in 2023 by defending his dissertation titled The Life and Works of Mirko Danijel Bogdanić (1760–1802), supervised by Academician Stjepan Ćosić, which was awarded the highest distinction summa cum laude.

Assist. Prof. Smiljanić is the author of two and co-author of one scientific monograph, editor of several conference proceedings, and the author of numerous scientific and professional papers in the fields of Croatology and History. His research work focuses on identity, cultural memory, and the history of Croatian intellectual heritage.

From 2020 to 2024, he worked as a Research Associate in History at the Scientific Institute of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, after which he was elected to the academic title of Assistant Professor at both the Department of Croatology and the Department of History.

Within the academic life of the Faculty, he made a significant contribution as Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Kroatologija, which, through his leadership, was indexed in relevant international databases and classified among journals of the A1/A2 scientific category.

In university and faculty administration, Assist. Prof. Smiljanić has undertaken a series of responsible roles. From July 2024 to September 2025, he served as Assistant to the Rector and concurrently as Acting Dean and Acting Vice-Dean for Business Affairs. As of 1 October 2025, he has been appointed Vice-Dean for Business Affairs of the Faculty of Croatian Studies for a three-academic-year term.

Additionally, since June 2025, he has been the Director of the King Sejong Institute in Zagreb, an institution dedicated to promoting Korean language and culture and strengthening the Faculty’s international cooperation.

His professional activity consistently integrates teaching, research, and administrative dimensions, reflecting a commitment to the development of the institution and the advancement of Croatian scholarship and culture.