since 04/ 2021
Senior Researcher and Project Manager, self-employed
Acquisition, design and implementation of research projects for public and private clients in the fields of digitization, political opinion research, as well as project evaluation and consulting.
Preparation of reports based on large-scale quantitative and/ or qualitative data
Communication of reports, studies or evaluation results on panel discussions or directly to clients
Design and delivery of courses in digital ethics and media at the University of Luxembourg
01/ 2018 – 03/ 2018
Senior Project Manager, policy matters, Berlin
Conception, design, coordination and management of international comparative opinion research projects in the field of European politics
Consulting for political foundations and parties
Short-term employment due to unforeseen termination of business operations by the partners
04/ 2016 – 12/ 2017
Researcher, Berlin Social Science Center (WZB Berlin)
Researcher at “Demokratiemonitor”, a collaborative research project between the WZB and the Bertelsmann Foundation, to assess the role of the media in the quality of democracy
05/ 2014 – 06/ 2015
Researcher, University of Oxford, Nuffield College
Research project on diaspora politicians career paths
Collected data and provided research support for the Croatian case in a research project on Eastern European diaspora politicians
07/ 2012 – 11/ 2012
Tutor, University of Oxford, St. Anne’s College
Led individual one-on-one tutorials in the Oxbridge style in Comparative Politics and Politics in Europe (Politics 206)
2011
Tutor, Cusanus foundation, Bonn
Led block seminars on “external democracy promotion”
2007 – 2013
Consultant, European Parliament and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
Presented studies to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels
Performed risk analysis on Croatia and South-Eastern Europe
Advised MPs, government officials, visiting delegations in background briefings
2007 – 2012
Policy Adviser, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin
Research Unit EU-Integration
Impacted policy decisions in background briefings with members of the German and European Parliament and the German Foreign Office
Publicly communicated current policy scenarios in policy briefs, panel discussions and media interviews
Wrote grant application for The Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission
Initiated a policy dialogue between the SWP and European Policy Centre (EPC)
2006
Researcher, University of Zagreb, University of Konstanz (lead)
Research project: “The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention”
Led research team on financing of presidential elections
Coordinated a research team on the reform of electoral financing in Croatia
Produced project reports and conference contributions
10/ 2005 – 12/ 2005
Researcher, Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Zagreb
Research project: “Croatian Accession to the EU”
Designed and carried out a comparative research project on the structure of the Croatian EU accession-negotiation team and the process of negotiation talks
Authored a double-blind peer-reviewed book chapter
02/ 2005 – 09/ 2005
Intern, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Zagreb
Coordinated EU pre-accession programmes (Project cycle management of PHARE, ISPA & SAPARD)
Contributed to transposing of the Acquis Communautaire into Croatian law
Education
2010 – 2015
Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil), in Politics with distinction (“no corrections”), University of Oxford, Department of Politics and International Relations
1998 – 2004
German Diploma in Political Science, Free University Berlin
Relevant Skills
Data collection: webscraping with outwit and python, extensive experience with setting up online surveys, building quantitative questionnaires and programming with Limesurvey, years of experience with expert and elite interviews
Data analysis: automated sentiment analysis with python (nltk package), software-assisted qualitative content analysis with MaxQDA and Atlas.TI, descriptive statistics with Stata and R
Data visualization: plotly (python), Adobe Creative Suite (In-Design, Illustrator, Photoshop), Piktochart, Canva
Languages
German: native speaker
English: Level C2
Bosnian/ Croatian/ Serbian: Level C1
French: Level B1
Awards
Writing up award, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
Full doctoral scholarship, Cusanus-Foundation, BonnResearch fellowship, German
Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)
Voluntary Work
Taught German for a beginners’ class of refugees, ITAP Friedrichshain, Berlin
Befriended and supported children and teenagers in children hospice Helen & Douglas House, Oxford
Co-organized and coordinated of the Croatian student project “Beetle Tour Europe”
Co-organized and coordinated the European short-film-festival Moviemiento, financed by EU-Youth, European Commission