Centre for Anthropology of Education

The mission of the Center is interdisciplinary research and the development of educational practices that respect the cultural, social, and anthropological aspects of upbringing and education. The Center aims for a deeper understanding of the relationship between education and society, exploring how cultural contexts, language, tradition, and social norms shape learning and teaching experiences. Special emphasis is placed on inclusivity, equity, and the adaptation of educational methods to different cultural and social contexts.

Through scientific research, collaboration with the academic community, and fieldwork, the Center seeks to improve educational policies and practices, providing support to teachers, students, and researchers in their professional development. In this process, the Center relies on contemporary anthropological research methods, ethnographic approaches, and interdisciplinary cooperation to contribute to the advancement of education in Croatia and beyond.

The vision of the Center is to become a scientific and research hub in the field of the anthropology of education, recognized at both national and international levels. The Center aspires to be a bridge between scientific knowledge and educational practice, actively participating in shaping education policies that are research-based and culturally sensitive.

We strive to create an academic and social space that promotes dialogue among various educational stakeholders—from scientists and teachers to students, parents, and local communities. We will encourage innovative approaches to learning and teaching, organize research projects, expert meetings, and workshops, and develop partnerships with educational and scientific institutions to contribute to an education system that reflects the richness of social and cultural diversity.

Head of Centre

First and last name

Darija Kuharić, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

dkuharic@foozos.hr

Office number

61

Research interests

Philology, Ethnology and Anthropology, Information and Communication Sciences

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Darija Kuharić was born in Osijek, where she attended primary and secondary school and graduated from the Faculty of Education in Osijek (now the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences). In 1988, she earned the title of Professor of English Language and Literature and German Language and Literature. From 1989 to 1994, she worked at the Economic School in Osijek. She then joined the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek (now FAZOS), where she worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer in English and German until 2018.

In the 2015/2016 academic year, she enrolled in the Postgraduate Interdisciplinary University Program in Cultural Studies at the Doctoral School of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, focusing on Culture, Art, and Literature in a European Context. While working at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, she defended her doctoral dissertation, "The Semantics of the Private: A Family Handwritten Recipe Collection from the 19th/20th Century," in 2020 under the mentorship of academician Helena Sablić Tomić. In 2021, she was appointed a research associate in the interdisciplinary field (ethnology and anthropology, philology, and information and communication sciences).

Since 2023, she has been employed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, where she serves as the head of the Center for the Anthropology of Education. She has participated in creating and implementing projects, presented at numerous national and international conferences, and authored a range of scientific papers. She also authorizes the scientific monograph "Štih i Šmek: Semantika Privatnog" (2023).

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Darija Kuharić


Members of Centre

Name and surname

Irella Bogut, Ph.D.

Scientific vocation

 Full Professor with tenure

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

Name and Surname

Ivica Kelam, Ph.D.

Title

Associate professor

e-mail

ikelam@foozos.hr

Office number

23

Research

Interest

Bioethics, ethics, philosophy

 

Associate Professor Ivica Kelam, Head of the Department of Philosophy and History at the Faculty of Education, where he teaches the philosophy of education and bioethics. Since October 21, he is Head of Osijek Unit of UNESCO Chair in Bioethics (Haifa). In 2014 he successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled Genetically modified crops as a bioethical problem. Since 2016 he has been Head of the Center for Integrative Bioethics at J.J. Strossamyer University of Osijek.  He is the president of the Organization Committee of the Osijek Days of Bioethics, an international bioethical conference held in Osijek.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

 CroRIS - Ivica Kelam

First and last name

Marko Šošić, Ph.D. in Art

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

msosic@foozos.hr

msosicfoozos@gmail.com

Office number

35

Research interests

Art education, Children’s art and the community, Children’s art exhibitions

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Marko Šošić graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Široki Brijeg, University of Mostar, in 2001. In 2015, he obtained his PhD at the Postgraduate Painting Program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb with the thesis "Dream – Painting the Dream through Direct Observation."

 

Since 2001, he has been continuously involved in teaching, first as a teacher of specialized art subjects at the Technical School in Vinkovci, then as a teacher of Graphic Design and Drawing and Painting at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Osijek, where he also worked as a mentor on numerous student projects and as the head of the Art Education Commission, a long-term member of the State Art Competition Commission (LIK). In 2012, he was promoted to the title of mentor professor.

 

Since 2015, he has been employed at the Faculty of Education, where he teaches courses in Visual Arts, Visual Arts in Integrated Curriculum, Visual Art Techniques and Plastic Arts, Visual Communication and Design, Protection and Communication of Art Heritage in Kindergarten, and Children's Art and the Community. In 2023, he was promoted to the title of Associate Professor.

 

He is a mentor on numerous student workshops, exhibitions, and projects such as AEXPO (International Exhibition of Art Works by Faculty of Education Instructors) and AEXPO futura (International Exhibition of Art Works by Faculty of Education Students). He is the author of the university textbook “Visual arts and fine arts techniques”(2019). He has also worked as a graphic editor for numerous print and online publications for the Faculty of Education.

 

He has held twenty-four solo exhibitions and participated in more than forty group exhibitions both in Croatia and abroad. In his artistic work, he explores the oneiric spaces of dreams and the human body as symbols of specific psychological states. He expresses himself through the traditional medium of easel painting, blending contemporary pop culture motifs and experimental materials with traditional and established techniques.

 

Since 2017, he has led the Art Workshop at the Saint Ana Children's Home in Vinkovci.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)


Name and surname

Antonija Huljev, Ph.D.

Title

Assistant Professor

e-mail

ahuljev@foozos.hr

Office Nr.

38

Research interests

pedagogy, socio-political impacts of music, history of Croatian literature

 

Antonija Huljev was born in Osijek on November 22, 1987. She was a teaching assistant for philology an pedagogy at the Department of Cultural Studies of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek (2013 – 2018). Since 2018, she has been a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Education. The areas of her scientific and professional interest are pedagogical axiology and the history of Croatian literature, and in a broader sense, pedagogy and literature. In 2009 she graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek with a BA degree in Croatian language and literature and Pedagogy and in 2011 she became the Master of Education in Croatian Language and Literature and Master of Pedagogy at the same Faculty. In 2018, she completed the Post-graduate Interdisciplinary Doctoral Study Programme in Culture (Faculty of Arts and Literature in Culture) and earned a Ph. D. from the Doctoral School of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek (interdisciplinary field of science, i.e. interdisciplinary humanities and interdisciplinary social sciences).

She has edited several conference proceedings and books, published several scientific papers in Croatian and foreign journals, and participated in several conferences in Croatia and abroad. So far, she has published three books. She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Vospitanie - Journal of Educational Sciences, Theory and Practice" (Republic of Northern Macedonia) and the magazine "Pannoniana" (Faculty of Educational Sciences, Osijek, Croatia).

In the period from 2009 to 2010, she worked as a student in the library of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Osijek. From 2011 to 2012, she worked as a proofreader for the magazine "Military History" published by Večernji list.

She is a member of the School Board of the Center for Education "Ivan Štark" in Osijek. She is also a member of Matica Hrvatska and an honorary member and professional associate of the Croatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration Camps.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

 CroRIS - Antonija Huljev

First and last name

Ana Popović, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

apopovic@foozos.hr

Office number

59

Research interests

Science of Art, Educational Sciences

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ana Popović was born in Zagreb in 1984. She graduated from the III Gymnasium in Osijek, the Franjo Kuhač Music School in Osijek (specialization: Music Theorist), and the Vatroslav Lisinski Music School in Zagreb (specialization: Trombonist). She earned her degree in musicology at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.

Since completing her studies, she has primarily worked as a teacher of various music subjects in primary, secondary, and music schools, teaching music history, musical forms, solfeggio, harmony, choir, piano, musical art, and music culture. Since 2017, she has been employed at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, where she teaches various music courses in the integrated undergraduate and graduate university Teacher Education program. She also teaches in the regular and part-time University undergraduate and graduate programs in Early and Preschool Education.

In 2022, she earned her doctorate at the interdisciplinary postgraduate university program in Cultural Studies, specializing in Culture, Art, and Literature in the European Context, at the Doctoral School of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek. Her dissertation, titled The Musical Landscape of Osijek and the Region, was supervised by Prof. Dr. Laura Šakaja.

She regularly publishes scientific, professional, and popular works, as well as music critiques, and performs actively as a trombonist in various ensembles (orchestra, big band). She frequently participates in numerous scientific and professional conferences. She is a member of the Croatian Musicological Society and is also engaged in adult education.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Ana Popović