Professor Olja Družić Ljubotina was born in Zagreb, where she graduated from the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. She obtained her master’s degree from the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and in 2009 completed her PhD at the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, with a dissertation entitled Attribution of the Causes of Poverty and Certain Psychosocial Characteristics of Recipients of Permanent Social Assistance. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science in the field of Social Sciences, the scientific field of Social Activities, and the scientific branch of Social Work Theory. She has been a full professor since 2023.
Her research and professional interests include poverty, homelessness, social justice, group work, supervision, advocacy for the rights of vulnerable groups, mental health, children’s rights, and work in post-conflict communities. She has led a number of research projects in the field of poverty that have contributed to knowledge in this field within the Republic of Croatia. She previously served as Head of the Department of Social Work Theory and Methods and as Head of the doctoral programme in Social Work and Social Policy. She is the co-author of several scholarly monographs on social justice, homelessness, and child poverty. Prof. Družić Ljubotina has published numerous scholarly and professional papers and has supervised a significant number of undergraduate, master’s, specialist postgraduate, and doctoral theses. She is the course holder of two undergraduate courses: Social Group Work and Poverty and Social Work. She is also one of the course holders of Social Problems and Risks on the doctoral programme in Social Work and Social Policy and is the course holder of Poverty and Children on the specialist postgraduate programme in Children’s Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb.
Prof. Družić Ljubotina leads training programmes for professionals working with children and young people in post-conflict communities and has actively participated in several international projects in Ukraine, Colombia, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a member of an expert team, she has participated in working groups responsible for drafting various laws and policy documents in the fields of social policy and social work. She is one of the members of the Every Child’s Right to a School Meal initiative, whose advocacy efforts led the Government of the Republic of Croatia to decide that, from January 2023 onwards, funding from the state budget would be provided for one school meal per day for all primary school children.
She is a member of the Croatian Chamber of Social Workers, the Croatian Association of Social Workers, the Society for Psychological Assistance, the Zagreb Volunteer Centre, the Rehabilitation Centre for Stress and Trauma, the Miko Tripalo Centre for Democracy, and the Nismo same Association.
