Antonija Petričušić is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She is a visiting professor and a member of the International Academic Council of the European Regional Master’s Programme in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe. Since February 2025, she serves as a member from among the ranks of human rights protection associations in the Parliamentary Committee on Human and National Minority Rights.
In the academic year 22/23 she received the Fulbright Scholar grant for advanced research and for university lecturing at the University of Minnesota Law School. From 2018 to 2022 she served as an expert in the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities with respect to Croatia and as a member of the Croatian Ombudswoman’s Human Rights Council.
She received her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law at the University of Graz, Austria. She received her M.A. in Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary and her M.A. in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Sarajevo and the University of Bologna. She graduated in Law and Journalism from the University of Zagreb.
For her significant contribution to gender equality and social justice in Croatia she was awarded the Fierce Women Award in 2020. For her teaching excellence, she was given the Best E-Course Award of Faculty of Law in Zagreb in the academic year 20/21. As one of four initiators of the advocacy initative “Every Child’s Right to a School Meal” (which resulted in the introduction of free school meals for elementary school children in Croatia) she was awarded the 2022 Krunoslav Sukić Recognition for the Promotion of Peacemaking, Nonviolence and Human Rights; the Special Recognition of the Croatian Association of Social Workers; the 2023 Croatian Women of Influence Award in the category Innovation and Leadership; and the Award of the City of Zagreb.
Her main scientific interests include rights of national minorities, ethno-religious nationalism, diversity management, women’s rights, and women’s empowerment.
