SVEUCILISTE JURJA DOBRILE U PULI

Their core work

Juraj Dobrila University of Pula is a public university in Istria, Croatia, engaged in two distinct areas of H2020 work: organizing science outreach events that connect the general public with European researchers and scientific discoveries, and conducting political science research on how the EU manages diversity and integration across its member states. On the outreach side, they helped deliver a European Researchers' Night with a distinct Croatian angle, invoking national science icons to build local science identity. On the research side, they contributed to a substantive RIA project examining modes of multilevel governance, EU policy-making processes, and how institutional diversity is accommodated within the European framework. As a regional university in a border region with an Italian-speaking minority, they bring a grounded, place-specific perspective to European integration questions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest H2020 project (2018-2019), the university was oriented toward science-society dialogue — public events, science popularization, and building a Croatian science identity for general audiences. By their second project (2019-2021), the focus shifted entirely to academic political science: EU governance structures, policy-making processes, and legal frameworks for managing diversity. These are two largely separate competencies, suggesting different faculties are engaged in EU projects rather than a single coherent research group.

The university is moving toward policy-relevant social science research on EU governance, which positions them as a contributor to projects studying European integration, institutional reform, or democratic governance — particularly from a Central/Eastern European perspective.

How they like to work

UNIPU has participated in all projects as a consortium member, never as coordinator, which is typical for a smaller regional university building its first international research footprint. Despite only two projects, they have engaged with 42 unique partners across 21 countries — a very broad network relative to their project count, suggesting they joined well-connected large consortia rather than tight specialist teams. This makes them an accessible entry point for consortium builders who need a Croatian academic voice or a regional Adriatic perspective.

42 unique consortium partners spanning 21 countries from just two projects, indicating participation in large multi-partner consortia with wide European geographic distribution. No evidence of repeated partner relationships given the small project count.

What sets them apart

Juraj Dobrila University of Pula is one of Croatia's younger public universities, located in Istria — a historically Italian-speaking border region with a distinct European identity, which gives it an authentic grounded perspective on EU integration and minority rights that larger national universities may lack. For consortium builders, they represent a less-common Croatian academic partner with both social science and public engagement capabilities, useful for projects requiring Central/Eastern European representation or Adriatic regional expertise. Their small size means they are unlikely to lead, but they bring focused academic contributions without the institutional overhead of a major research university.

Highlights from their portfolio

• InDivEU
  A substantive RIA project on EU integration and multilevel governance — the university's most research-intensive H2020 engagement and the clearest signal of their political science faculty's capabilities.
• TPTF_ERN
  European Researchers' Night participation with a distinctly Croatian cultural framing (Tesla, Rudjer Boskovic), showing science communication capacity tied to national science identity.