Bojana Ćulum Ilić

University of Rijeka (Croatia)

Biographical Abstracts

Bojana Ćulum Ilić works as associate professor at the University of Rijeka (UNIRi), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Education. Her research interests lie at the intersection of engaged university, engaged teaching and learning pedagogy, and youth civic education, while her teaching follows community-engaged pedagogy. She is Director of the University of Rijeka Foundation for the period 2021-2026. At UNIRi, she initiated policies related to service-learning and was engaged in creating the University Charter on Formal Recognition of Students’ Competences Gained Through Community-Based Engagement. She was a member of the National Committee for Volunteering Development, a member of the National Working Group for Youth Work, and still serves as a member of the National Council for Youth Work (governmental advisory board).

She is a member of the European Association of Service Learning in Higher Education, Central and Eastern European Network for Service-learning, and has been engaged in several EU funded projects focused on university community engagement and service-learning development in the EU. She is one of the experts that contributed to the development of TEFCE Toolbox - the first and only (European) institutional self-reflection framework for community engagement in higher education. She collaborates frequently with civil society organisations, public institutions, and local authorities on numerous projects in the local community. She authored and co-authored books, book chapters and articles targeting various themes in relation to university third/civic mission. She initiated the membership of the University of Rijeka in the Talloires Network in 2008 and has been appointed as a university representative ever since. She is a Fulbright alumna (Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 2015/2016).

Areas of Expertise

• Engaged universities
• University civic mission
• Engaged teaching and learning pedagogy
• Community-engaged research
• Youth civic education