SVEUCILISTE U RIJECI, FILOZOFSKI FAKULTET U RIJECI

Their core work

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Rijeka is a Croatian academic institution conducting research across developmental psychology, cultural history, and social sciences. They study how humans think — from infant cognition and theory of mind to collective memory and post-imperial identity in Central and Southeast Europe. They also contribute to applied research on mental health in industrial settings and gender equality in academia. Their work bridges fundamental questions about human cognition with practical challenges in workplace wellbeing and institutional reform.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2016–2019) centered on institutional topics — gender equality in academia (SPEAR), serious games for behaviour change (e-Confidence), and foundational cognitive science (INTOM). From 2020 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward cultural history and humanities research, anchored by the major ERC grant REVENANT on post-imperial memory, alongside applied work on worker mental health and open science training. The trajectory shows a faculty moving from supporting roles in social innovation projects toward leading ambitious humanities research with significant independent funding.

They are consolidating around cultural history and humanities research with growing independent funding capacity, making them a strong partner for projects on European identity, memory politics, and post-imperial studies.

How they like to work

They operate across all roles — coordinator, participant, and third party — in roughly equal measure, suggesting flexibility rather than a fixed position in consortia. With 40 unique partners across 18 countries, they maintain a broad European network despite being a mid-sized faculty. Their willingness to join as third party in some projects and lead others (including a prestigious ERC grant) signals a team that scales its involvement to match its expertise fit rather than insisting on a particular role.

They have collaborated with 40 distinct partners across 18 countries, indicating a well-connected European network that spans well beyond the Western Balkans. For a humanities faculty, this geographic breadth is notable and reflects their relevance to pan-European research themes.

What sets them apart

They are one of the few Croatian humanities faculties with an ERC Consolidator Grant, which signals internationally recognized research quality. Their unusual combination of cognitive science (infant theory of mind) and cultural history (post-imperial memory) means they can contribute psychological and historical perspectives that most STEM-focused consortia lack. For projects needing a humanities or social science partner in Southeast Europe with proven EU project management experience, they are a rare and credible choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• REVENANT
  ERC Consolidator Grant worth EUR 1.94M — their largest project by far, coordinated in-house, studying post-imperial nostalgia across three empires (Habsburg, Ottoman, Romanov).
• INTOM
  MSCA Individual Fellowship they coordinated on infant theory of mind — demonstrates research leadership in developmental psychology.
• MindBot
  Unusual cross-disciplinary contribution: a humanities faculty providing mental health expertise for a project on human-cobot interaction in Industry 4.0.