Centre for Talent Research and Education

First and last name

Željko Rački, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

zracki@foozos.hr

Office number

51

Research interests

educational psychology, creativity, giftedness and gifted education, psychological strengths

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Željko Rački, PhD, Assistant Professor, ECHA Specialist in Gifted Education, is a licensed psychologist (Croatian Psychological Chamber) with twenty years of experience spanning primary education, the Clinical Hospital Centre Osijek, and higher education and research. He served two terms as head of the Department of Social Sciences (2018–2020 and 2020–2022) and coordinated the Osijek Centre of Excellence project for the education of gifted primary school students in the City of Osijek (2017–2020). He is currently the head of the Faculty’s Centre for Talent Research and Education. He is a member of the Croatian Psychological Chamber, the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, the Croatian Mountaineering Society "Bršljan-Jankovac," and the European Council for High Ability (ECHA).

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Željko Rački

Name and surname

Damir Matanović, Ph.D.

Title / Position

Full professor with tenure

Vice-Rector for Organization and Human Resources

E-mail

dmatanovic@foozos.hr

Office number

27

Research interests

National history

Damir Matanović was born on 25 July 1970 in Vinkovci. He attended primary school in Bošnjaci, and finished mathematical and IT grammar school in Županja. In 1996 he completed two-subject studies in comparative literature and history at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb with graduation thesis Everyday life in Slavonia in the 18th century.

In 2000 he completed postgraduate studies of history at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb with master's thesis Companies of Brod regiment. He defended his doctoral thesis at the same Faculty in 2003, mentored by Dr Filip Potrebica, full professor, titled Military community Brod at Sava. Social and economic structure of a military border city 1753-1848).

Damir Matanović has been working for nineteen years in the system of science and higher education at the Croatian Institute of History, Faculty of Education of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek. He taught history courses as an external associate at the Faculty of Pedagogy of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Centre for Croatian Studies in Zagreb, Department of Cultural Studies of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek and Etvos Jozsef Foiskoli in Baja, Hungary.

He also worked for the publishing houses Fraktura and Hena-com Zagreb as an external associate. From 1997 to 2008 he worked at the Croatian Institute of History as a postdoctoral researcher and research associate. He acquired the title of teaching assistant in 2000 at the Croatian Institute of History. At the same institution he was elected senior assistant, and in 2004 by decision of Scientific field committee for humanities – scientific field history he was elected scientific associate.

By decision of Scientific field committee for humanities – scientific field history- he was elected senior research associate, and by decision of the Faculty council of the Faculty of education in Osijek he was elected the scientific teaching grade associate professor and the corresponding position for humanities, scientific field history, scientific discipline national history.

He has been employed at the Faculty of teacher education, the legal predecessor of the Faculty of Education of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, since 15 April 2008.

Since the 2013/2014 academic year, he served as the Acting Dean, from the 2014/2015 academic year until the 2021/2022 academic year he held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, and since the 2022/2023 academic year, he has been serving as the Vice-Rector for Organization and Human Resources.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

Name and surname

Irella Bogut, Ph.D.

Scientific vocation

e-mail

ibogut@foozos.hr

Office number

29

Research interests

limnology, meiofauna, nematofauna, ecological education, ecology and sustainable development

She graduated from the Faculty of Education in 1996 in Biology and Chemistry and obtained a professional title of Biology and Chemistry Teacher. She graduated in 2000 and received her PhD in 2005 in the field of ecology, biology, natural sciences at the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Zagreb University. From 1998 to 2008, she worked in the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Education (later the Biology Department ofthe Josip JurajStrossmayerUniversity of Osijek) as a PG student, assistant and senior assistant on the project "Protection of the KopačkiRitReservoir" and was teaching from the natural sciences group: Practices and Seminars from Invertebrates, Marine Biology, Protozoa, Theories of Organic Evolution, Tertiary Teaching II, Embryology and Organic System Evolution). From 2008 until today she is employed at the Faculty of Education. From 2008 to 2010 she was the Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. From May to October 2010 she was acting vice-dean for education, and from October 2010 to October 2018 the vice-dean for science. Since October 2018 she chairsthe Subdepartment of Natural Sciences of the Department of Natural Sciences of FOOZOS. She teaches in Natural Science I, Natural Science II, Ecology, Field Teaching, Ecological Education in the Pedagogy, Ecology for Sustainable Development, Knowledge of Plants and Animals. She is also an author and a co-author of textbooks, workbooks, methodical manuals, books, book chapters, over 50 scientific papers and numerous professional papers from the field of biology and pedagogy. She is a collaborator on numerous international and domestic projects ("Peacemaking the education and &employment: answers to new challenges and opportunities", the European Night of Researchers (TPTF_ERN) package/theme: Strossmayer days, LUMEN "etc.).

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS - Irella Bogut

First and last name

Emina Berbić Kolar, Ph.D.

Profession

Full Professor

Dean

Email

eberbic@foozos.hr

Office number

Dean Office and office no. 29

Research interests

Croatian Language, Dialectology, Communications, Sociolinguistics, Media Literacy

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Emina Berbić Kolar was born in Slavonski Brod in 1976.

In 2000 she completed the study of Croatian language and literature at the Faculty of Education, University of Osijek. In the 2000-2001 academic year, at the same Faculty, she enrolled in postgraduate studies of the Croatian Language and Literature in the Context of Central European Languages and Literature, focusing on Linguistics. In January 2007, she enrolled in a PhD Research program and received her PhD in 2009 with the topic “Speeches of Slavonian Dialects in the Brod Region”.

She has studied at home and abroad (Japan, Turkey, Great Britain, Finland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Hungary, Spain, France, and Australia).

In October 2010, she became the first Croatian language teacher in the study program entitled Balkan languages at the Trakya University.

She was the head of the University doctoral study ”Educational Sciences and Perspectives of Education” from October 2020 to October 2022.

In 2022, she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Education.

She teaches several courses: Croatian dialects, Native idiom, Written and oral communication, Croatian language and communication, Public speech, Linguistic cultural heritage, Language and communication skills. At the doctoral study, she teaches Humanistic Heritage Themes in Education and Language and Identity in Education.

She has written more than a hundred professional and research papers and co-authored six books: The Memory Culture of Slavonski Kobaš in the historical-linguistic context, Siče Words, Lexicon of Slavonian folk medicine, Dyslexia and Dysgraphia: definitions, approaches and Guidelines, From Idea to Change: A Guide to Starting a Community Service Learning Program, Jump to the Media Literacy.

She is a member of the editorial board of many international and domestic journals: Evkonyv, Oral History, Social Sciences and Humanities, Danubis Noster, Educational Role of Language, Insan Bilimleri Dergisi, Life and School, and Pannoniana.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Emina Berbic Kolar

First and last name

Jelena Kovačević

Profession

Associate Professor, Ph.D. in Art

Email

jkovacevic@foozos.hr

jelenakovacevic4982@gmail.com

Office number

59

Research interests

methodology of art education, art, art therapy

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Jelena Kovačević was born in Osijek in 1982, where she completed her primary and secondary education. In 2005, she graduated in graphic arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. In 2009, she earned a master's degree in graphic arts from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. In 2020, she obtained a PhD in painting from the postgraduate doctoral program at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 2021 she specialized in art therapy through the Postgraduate Specialist Study of Creative Therapies at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine. She is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions and is the author of the popular science monograph "Art and Well-being: Artistic Creativity in the Service of Mental Health" (2023).

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Jelena Kovačević

First and last name

Vesna Svalina, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

vsvalina@foozos.hr vesna.svalina@gmail.com

Office number

52

Research interests

Music education in primary and secondary schools, musical giftedness, creativity in music education, music therapy and inclusive education, application of technology in music education, development of personal and social skills through music, listening to music as a teaching area

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Vesna Svalina, PhD (1968) is an associate professor in the field of music education and head of the Subdepartment of Musical Arts at the Faculty of Education (FOOZOS), at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. She graduated from the Faculty of Education (now FFOS) in Osijek in 1991, earned her Master's degree in Music Pedagogy from the Music Academy in Zagreb in 2009, and completed her doctorate in Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, in 2013.

Dr. Svalina has published her scientific work in journals and conference proceedings, both nationally and internationally. She is the author of two books in the field of music pedagogy, has published over forty scientific papers, and has participated in numerous national and international scientific conferences (Cambridge – UK; Paris – France; Rostock – Germany; Cetinje – Montenegro; Ljubljana, Ruše – Slovenia; Beograd, Kragujevac – Serbia; Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula, Split, Zadar, Zagreb – Croatia). She has led research projects and collaborated on a bilateral project focusing on musical and artistic giftedness.

She has actively contributed to the organization of international conferences, including the 6th International Symposium of Music Pedagogues (Osijek, 2019, Faculty of Education) and the First International Conference Creative Approaches to Learning and Teaching - CALT (Osijek, 2023, Faculty of Education). Additionally, she is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. From 2015 to 2018, she served as the executive editor of the journal Life and School, and since 2021, she has been a member of the editorial boards of the journals SN Social Sciences, International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Journal for the Interdisciplinary Art and Education.

In addition to her scientific work, she has achieved notable success in artistic activities with choirs, performing in Croatia and abroad (Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Switzerland). She has received numerous national and international awards, including special recognition for the best performance of a mandatory composition and her exceptional conduct.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Vesna Svalina  

Personal website: www.vesna-svalina.net  

Google Scholar Vesna Svalina

First and last name

Ana Katalenić, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

akatalenic@foozos.hr

Office number

63

Research interests

Mathematics education, teacher competencies

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ana Katalenić graduated as a mathematics and computer science teacher in 2009 from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She obtained her PhD in 2017 at the same institution with a dissertation entitled Asymptote and asymptotic behavior – didactic transposition in general secondary education in Croatia under the supervision of Dr. Sc. Aleksandra Čižmešija and Dr. Sc. Željka Milin Šipuš. Since July 2009, she has been an employee at the Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, where she teaches courses in computer science, mathematics, and mathematics education. She was elected an assistant professor in 2022. She worked as a co-leader of extracurricular activities for fourth-grade elementary school students with a special interest in mathematics and an associate on the scientific project Education of Students with a Special Interest in Mathematics (2008-2013) under the leadership of Dr. Sc. Margita Pavleković. She is a member of the Croatian Mathematical Society, Osijek Mathematical Society, and the Seminar for Mathematics Education, as well as the editorial board of the professional journal Mathematics and Schools and the organizational and scientific committee of the International Scientific Colloquium Mathematics and Children. As a co-author with teacher training students, she participated in the Congress of Mathematics Teachers and in activities of science popularisation. She has presented independently and as a co-author at several professional and scientific conferences. She is the co-author of several scientific and professional papers in mathematics education and one of the editors of the scientific monographs Effective teaching and learning of mathematics through bridging theory and practice (2024) and Advances in research on teaching mathematics (2022). She lives in Đakovo with her husband and three children.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Ana Katalenić