Team Members

Researchers:
Katarina Aladrović Slovaček, PhD
Marija Andraka, PhD
Tihomir Engler, PhD
Nada Kujundžić, MA
Sanja Lovrić Kralj, PhD
Berislav Majhut, PhD
Ivana Milković, PhD
Iris Šmidt Pelajić, MA
Snježana Veselica-Majhut, PhD

Doctoral student:
Corinna Jerkin, MEd.

Katarina Aladrović Slovaček, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Department for Croatian Language and Literature, Theatre and Media Culture at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She studied Croatian Language and Literature, and Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, holds an MA from the Faculty of Teacher Education (her research was on the process of the early learning of Croatian), and a PhD from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (all faculties of the University of Zagreb). She has participated in several Croatian and international research projects in the field of applied linguistics. Her research interests include the development of language competence, the acquisition and learning of the Croatian language, linguistic aspects of literary translations, and the analysis of word form tokens in different languages, both in oral and written discourse. She has published over forty papers in Croatian and international publications. She has participated in around fifty international conferences in Croatia and abroad. She has travelled abroad on multiple occasions (England, Belgium, Germany, Italy) for the purposes of professional development.
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Marija Andraka, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in English Language and Literature, and German Language at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and holds a PhD in educational studies from the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb (dissertation title: Culture and Intercultural Aspects in Croatian Primary Coursebooks of English). She has participated in several Croatian and international research projects in the field of applied linguistics. Her research interests include translating culture and cultural meanings, cultural and intercultural aspects in literary translations and adaptations into other media, the role of intermediary languages in relay translations, coursebook research, teaching EFL to young learners with special focus on the role of cultural awareness and intercultural competence in FL learning. Her work has been published in several academic journals and books.
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Tihomir Engler, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences “Josip Juraj Strossmayer”, University of Osijek. He graduated in Philosophy and German Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. He received both his MA and PhD (in the field of philology) from the same faculty. In his doctoral dissertation, he examines narrative structure in the works of Thomas Mann. He has participated in Croatian and international conferences in the field of philology and literary theory, and published more than forty articles in these fields. His main research interests include German and Croatian children’s and youth literature, the methodology of new media and literature, as well as 20th-century German prose. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature, and Deputy Editor of Libri & Liberi. In collaboration with Dr. Thomas Möbius, he edited the collection Textnahes Verstehen (2006).
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Corinna Jerkin holds an MA in Croatian Language and Literature Education, and Philosophy. She completed her undergraduate studies in Croatian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (University of Rijeka) in 2008, and her graduate studies (at the same Faculty) two years later. She graduated summa cum laude. She is a PhD student at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (University of Zagreb), enrolled in the doctoral programme in Croatian studies. Her research interests include Croatian children’s literature, narrative theory (narratology), women’s genres and the methodology of teaching the Croatian language. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature, and of the Association’s Supervisory Board. She is a Junior Editor of Libri & Liberi: Journal of Research in Children’s Literature and Culture.
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Nada Kujundžić is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (programme in literature) and the Faculty of Humanities, University of Turku (programme in folkloristics). In her dissertation, she examines narrative space in Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen. She holds a degree in English and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her research interests include fairy tales, oral prose genres, children’s literature, narratology and popular culture. She has participated in the following projects: “Ivana’s House of Fairy Tales – Visitor’s Centre” and “Oral Tradition and Childhood – Programme for Popularizing Science”. She is a Junior Editor of Libri & Liberi, Board Member of the Young Scholars Working Group (under the auspices of the International Society of Ethnology and Folklore, SIEF), and the 2015/16 Croatian research fellow at the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies (University of Alberta).
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Sanja Lovrić Kralj, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb. She obtained her PhD in 2014 by defending her doctoral thesis entitled Paradigms of the 1930s in Croatian Children’s Literature. Her main research interests include children’s literature, and the history of Croatian children’s literature and popular culture. At the Faculty of Teacher Education, she teaches courses in children’s literature and media culture. She has participated in numerous international conferences in Croatia and abroad. Since 2010, she has been the Secretary of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature. With Berislav Majhut and Smiljana Narančić Kovač, she edited the book ‘Hlapich the Apprentice’: From the Strange to the Wondrous (2015).
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Berislav Majhut, PhD, is a full professorw at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb. He graduated in Comparative Literature and Philosophy from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. In 1988, he obtained an MA degree with a thesis in narratology entitled The Problem of Shaping Narrative Space in the Stories of Vladan Desnica, and a PhD with the thesis The Early Croatian Children’s Novel from the Perspective of the Implied Reader. He was the head of the research project Croatian Bibliography of Children’s Books before 1945 (2007–2014). He is president of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature. With Štefka Batinić, he co-wrote the book From Slikovnjak to Vragoba: Croatian Picturebooks before 1945 (2001). Independently, he has published two books: The Adventurer, the Orphan and the Children’s Band: The Croatian Children’s Novel before 1945 (2005), and On a Mission for the Emperor (2015). As part of the series of critical editions of the works of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (edited by Vinko Brešić), he prepared the critical edition of The Brave Adventures of Lapitch (2010), the first ever critical edition of a Croatian children’s book.
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Ivana Milković, PhD, is a postdoctoral research assistant at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in Primary Education and English (the topic of her MA thesis was W.M. Thackeray’s The Rose and the Ring), and holds a PhD in educational studies from the same University. The title of her doctoral thesis is Translations of Anglophone Literature as a Cultural Component of Croatian Readers for Lower Primary School. She has participated in several Croatian and international research projects in the fields of philology and applied linguistics. Her research interests include children’s literature, literature as part of mother tongue and foreign language education, teaching English to young learners, translating children’s literature and culture, and translation strategies. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature and the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society. She is also a Junior Editor and Journal Administrator of Libri & Liberi: Journal of Research on Children’s Literature and Culture.
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Smiljana Narančić Kovač, PhD, is an associate professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in Comparative Literature and English at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and holds an MA in Literature and a PhD in English Language and Literature from the same Faculty, upon defending her thesis on picturebook theory. She has participated in several Croatian and international research projects in the fields of literature and applied linguistics. Her research interests include comparative children’s literature, narrative theory (narratology), contact and transfer studies, and teaching English to young learners. She is Vice-President of the Croatian Association of Researchers in Children’s Literature and Editor-in-Chief of Libri & Liberi: Journal of Research on Children’s Literature and Culture. She has published two books in Croatian: The Triple Structure of Gundulić’s “Tears of the Prodigal Son” (1994) and One Story – Two Narrators: The Picturebook as Narrative (2015).
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Iris Šmidt Pelajić is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in German and Spanish Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. She is currently a PhD student at the same faculty, enrolled in the doctoral programme in Literature, Performing Arts, Film and Culture. Her main research interests include the history and theory of German children’s and young adult literature, comparative children’s literature, the use of children’s and young adult literature written in foreign languages in primary education (especially in teaching German), stimulating students’ creativity and developing their intercultural competences. She has participated in numerous conferences in Croatia and abroad.
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Snježana Veselica-Majhut, PhD, is an assistant professor at the English Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in English Language and Literature and Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and holds an MA in Cultural Studies (from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK) and a PhD in Translation Studies (from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain). Her research interests include discourse analysis, translation studies and interrelations of language and culture. She has published the university handbook Syntax Workbook for Students of English.
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