Zvjezdan Penezić, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Zadar (Croatia)

He studied psychology at the Faculty of Science and Arts in Zadar and obtained a master's degree in psychology and a doctorate in psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. In 2017, he was appointed as a full professor in the field of Social Sciences, Psychology and in 2022 as a permanent scientific advisor.

He has been involved in six scientific research projects approved and funded by the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Currently, he is a collaborator/researcher in two projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. He is also the leader of the Horizon 2020 project Research for Society, implemented at the University of Zadar.

He was the author and co-author of numerous scientific and professional articles published in relevant psychological journals and publications, and numerous studies were successfully presented at national and international scientific and professional conferences. He is a co-author of several scientific books and monographs. He is a co-author of a university textbook.

He teaches undergraduate and graduate psychology and is involved in the work of the PhD programme in psychology and the PhD programme in international relations. He has participated in the international joint study on the sociology of regional and local development. He has been a mentor in the preparation of 95 theses and dissertations. He was the supervisor of three defended dissertations (two in the Doctoral Programme of Psychology and one in the Doctoral Programme of Kinesiology) and commentor of two dissertations (at the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek and in the framework of the international joint study on the sociology of regional and local development). He is currently a mentor for several dissertations at various stages of development.

Since 2016 he has been the Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Zadar and since February 2020 he has been Vice Rector for Science and Information Infrastructure at the University of Zadar.

He has received several awards: the Bujas Gold Plaque for a particularly valuable thesis (1997), the Award of the Rector of the University of Zadar for outstanding results in scientific productivity and improvement of the quality of teaching (2018), the Social Recognition: "Marulić: Fiat Psychologia" for his special contribution to the development and work of the Croatian Psychological Society (2018), and the Ramiro Bujas Psychological Award for a particularly valuable psychological scientific work (2019).

He is a member of Croatian Psychological Society, European Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP), Association for Research in Personality and EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists Associations) Task Force on Cultural and Ethnic Diversity (2009-2011), EFPA Standing Committee of Psychology in Education (2011- 2013), EFPA Board of Educational Affairs (2013-2019).

A full list of his publications can be found here.