Vlatko Smiljanić

undergraduate

• 19th and 20th Century Croatian Historiography (293756) - Lecturer in charge
• Croatian Cultural and Political History of the 18th and 19th Centuries (37448) - Lecturer in charge
• Croatian Cultural and Political History of the 20th Century (37456) - Lecturer in charge
• Croatian Heraldry and Semiotics of Coats of Arms (295407) - Lecturer in charge
• Croatian National Rulers (248673) - Lecturer in charge
• Croatian Social and Cultural History from the19 th Century to the present day (188007) - Lecturer in charge
• History and Culture of the Croatian Countryside (291495) - Lecturer in charge
• Institutions of the Croatian people, society and the state (188079) - Lecturer in charge
• Vlachs in European and Croatian culture (284989) - Lecturer in charge

graduate

• Archivistics for historians (202954) - Lecturer in charge
• Historical Cartography of Croatian countries (270161) - Lecturer in charge
• History of Christianity in Croatia (270166) - Lecturer in charge
• Local History (285824) - Lecturer in charge

doctoral

• Croatian Traditional Culture (268695) - Lecturer in charge
• Historiography, Ideology, and Collective Memory (260848) - Lecturer in charge
• Research Seminar III: Topics in Contemporary History (264238) - Lecturer in charge

Assistant Professor Vlatko Smiljanić, PhD, is a university teacher and scholar (Researcher ID No. 405162) at the Department of Croatology and the Department of History, and Vice-Dean for Business Affairs at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal Kroatologija (A1A).

He was born in 1995 in Virovitica, where he attended primary school and grammar school. He completed his degree in History at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, in 2020. During his studies, he served as a student demonstrator, received the Virovitica-Podravina County Excellence Scholarship, and was awarded several student honours, including the Rector’s Award (2020), the Dean’s Award (2020), the Head of Department’s Award (2018), and several Head of Department’s commendations. He also received the Award for a Published Scientific Paper of High International Visibility (2024) and the Dean’s Commendation for Meritorious Teachers for Scientific and Teaching Work (2024). He is the author of two books and co-author of one book, as well as the editor of several edited volumes and conference proceedings in the fields of Croatology and history. He also regularly contributes scholarly and professional papers on historical and Croatological topics. He earned his doctoral degree in 2023 by defending his doctoral dissertation, The Life and Works of Mirko Danijel Bogdanić from 1760 to 1802, under the supervision of Academician Stjepan Ćosić, with the highest distinction (summa cum laude).

His research interests focus on the political, social, cultural, and intellectual history of Croatia from the early modern period to the present, with particular emphasis on Slavonia, Podravina, and the Virovitica region. In his research, he pays special attention to local and regional history, microhistorical approaches, biographical and ego-historical studies, and the history of elites, marginal groups, cultural mediators, and intellectuals. His research is characterised by connecting individual biographies, local historical phenomena, and specific archival cases with broader social, cultural, ideological-political, ecclesiastical, and scientific contexts. A particular area of his scholarly work concerns the history of education, the history of higher education, and the history of science in Croatia. In his more recent research, he has focused considerable attention on the relationship between faith, science, and politics in the context of the Catholic Enlightenment, especially through the study of the life and work of Mirko Danijel Bogdanić. In addition to fundamental historiographical research, he develops the theoretical and methodological framework of regional history and Croatology as interdisciplinary research fields, with particular interest in issues of cultural memory and identity.

Assistant Professor Vlatko Smiljanić, PhD, has more than one hundred recorded publications and other scholarly and professional contributions. He is the author of three scholarly monographs and one professional monograph, and the editor of several books, including an edited scholarly monograph, conference proceedings, books of abstracts, and an edited edition of collected works. He has participated extensively in the domestic and international scholarly community through numerous presentations at international and national scholarly and professional-scientific conferences. His more recent conference contributions address topics ranging from the Catholic Enlightenment, history, Croatology, cultural memory, and regional identity. This scholarly oeuvre demonstrates a distinct orientation toward connecting historiographical, Croatological, cultural-historical, and intellectual-historical themes, while also interpreting local and regional phenomena as relevant parts of broader Croatian and Central European historical processes.

A list of all his published scholarly and professional publications, papers, and conference presentations is available here.

From 2020 to 2024, he worked as a professional associate in history at the Scientific Institute, after which he was appointed to the scientific-teaching position of Assistant Professor at the Department of Croatology and the Department of History of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb.

From 9 July 2024 to 30 September 2025, he served as Assistant to the Rector and Acting Dean for Business Affairs, as well as Acting Vice-Dean for Business Affairs. As of 1 October 2025, he was elected Vice-Dean for Business Affairs for a three-academic-year term, from 2025/2026 to 2027/2028.

As of 1 June 2025, he has been appointed Director of the King Sejong Institute Zagreb, a centre for Korean language and culture.

• Identification number of the scientist 405162
• Croatian Research Information System (CroRIS)
• Google Scholar
• ORCID 0000-0001-9835-0591
• Scopus Author ID 57202045211
• Web of Science Researcher ID HLX-6047-2023

• 2024 Dean's Award to Meritorious Teachers for Scientific and Teaching Work
• 2024 Faculty Award for scientific work of high international visibility published in 2023
• 2020 Dean's Award - the best student in the final year of graduate studies
• 2019 Rector's Award for individual scientific work
• 2019 Dean's Acknowledgment for the academic year 2017/2018
• 2018 Dean's Award - the best student in the final year of undergraduate studies
• 2018 Dean's Acknowledgment for the academic year 2016/2017
• 2017 Dean's Acknowledgment for the academic year 2015/2016

Professional interests

•      Croatian early-modern and modern history
•      Croatology
•      history and culture of science and education
•      history and culture of Virovitica (place-based/local history)

Memberships

•      Croatian academic community
•      Croatian National Committee for Historical Sciences
•      Croatian Pan-European Union
•      Matrix Croatica
•      Native society of Virovitica in Zagreb
•      Society for Croatian history
•      The Society of University Professors and other Scientists in Zagreb

• 2026. Scientific conference "Croatian literature of Christian inspiration - The Bible in Croatian heritage: literary, cultural, emigrant and psychosocial perspectives", Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Glas Koncila and the "Stjepan Kranjčić" Association, Križevci, October 24, 2026 (chairman of the Organizing Committee)

• 2026. International Scientific Conference "Fascism: Theory and History of an Idea", Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, May 8, 2026 (Chairman of the Organizing Committee)

• 2025 - 2028 Institutional research project "Climate change and security challenges" (leader: Assoc. Prof.  Andreja Sršen), member of the research team

• 2025 - 2028 Institutional research project "Perception and ways of presenting history in modern and contemporary culture" (leader: Prof. Mladen Tomorad), member of the research team

• 2025 International scientific and professional conference "Croatian Language and Culture Abroad: A Look into the Past, Present, and Future", Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Macquarie University, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, University of Pécs, Universität Regensburg, Croatian Catholic University, University of São Paulo, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatian Heritage Foundation, York University, 3-4 November 2025 (member of the Organizing Committee) - in progress
• 2024 International Scientific Conference "Intellectual History and Croatian Historiography: State and Perspectives II", Faculty of Croatian Studies, Zagreb, December 13, 2024 (member of the Organizing Committee)
• 2024 Scientific and expert's Conference "Virovitica 1234 - 2024: Church, culture, society, heritage - selected topics", Virovitica Franciscan Monastery, Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Institute of Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar", Croatian Catholic University, Croatian Institute for History - Branch for the History of Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem, 21-22 November 2024 (Chairman of the Organizing Committee)
• 2024 International Scientific Conference "The Importance of European Memory for the European Future: Communist Crimes III", Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Lietuvos istorijos institutas, 20-21 June 2024 (member of the Organizing Committee)
• 2023 Institutional project "Digitalization of documentation-archival materials of the Croatian studies" (coordinator)
• 2023 Institutional scientific project "Humanist in an inhumane age - life and works of Don Filip Lukas 1871 - 1958", Department of History and Research Institute (member of the project)
• 2023 Scientific manifestation and scientific conference with international participation "Ante Starčević: figure - deed - historiography", Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatian State Archives, Center for Comparative History and Intercultural Studies, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Miroslav Krleža Lexicography Institute, Matrix Croatica, Research Institute of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, May 25 and 26, 2023 (member of the Preparatory Committee)
• 2022 International Scientific Conference "Intellectual History and Croatian Historiography: Status and Perspectives", Faculty of Croatian Studies, Zagreb, December 15, 2022 (member of the Organizing Committee)
• 2020. Scientific Conference "The importance of European memory for the European future: communist war crimes", Faculty of Croatian Studies, Zagreb, June 19, 2020 (member of the Organizing Committee)
• 2018 - 2020. Scientific project "Historical development of applied psychology in Croatia - Work of the Counseling Center/Institute for choosing a profession from 1931 to 1948." (young researcher)
• 2018 Scientific Conference "1918-2018: Historical Controversies and Croatia Today", Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, October 29, 2018 (Member of the Organizing Committee)