Ružica Šimić Banović is an Associate Professor of Economics, Head of the Department of Economics, and Chair of the Career Development Committee at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. She earned her PhD at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, obtained an Executive Certificate in Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School, and pursued postgraduate studies in Public Policy at King’s College London (KCL) as a Chevening Scholar. She participated in the U.S. State Department-sponsored Junior Faculty Development Program at George Washington University. Ružica has attended numerous educational programs, including Harvard Kennedy School’s ‘Leading Economic Growth’ and ‘Leading Smart Policy Design: A Multisectoral Approach to Economic Decisions’, the Summer School of Political Economy of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Young Managers Development Program in Germany (CDG/InWent), as well as study and teaching stays at University College London, UC Berkeley, the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and CENWOR in Sri Lanka.
Prior to joining the academia, she worked in the private sector and served as an adviser in the National Competitiveness Council – a partner institute of the World Economic Forum and the International Institute for Management Development. Her education and professional experience have inspired her research on institutional changes in the business environment, gender equality, and recent migration trends. She is the author or co-author of more than 50 scientific and professional papers.
Ružica has been co-leading two U.S. Embassy funded projects: “Women in the Lead” (Working Group on the Socioeconomic Position of Women in Croatia, implemented by the Academy for Political Development) and “Promoting Entrepreneurial Life Cycle Principles among Law Practitioners – Lessons Learned from the US Practice” (implemented by CEPOR). She is also a mentor and lecturer at the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (organized by EFRI and EFZG). Currently, she is involved in two EU-funded projects: PROMOTE (Promoting Migrant Opportunities, Training and Employment) and PRELAB (Precarious Labour in Asia: Exploring Challenges and Solutions to Labour Insecurity through Case-Study-Based Evidence from 8 Asian Countries). Additionally, she leads a multi-year research project “Institutional Support for Migrant Entrepreneurs and Digital Nomads in Croatia: Socioeconomic and Legal Aspects” (funded by a UNIZG grant). Ružica is one of the initiators of the first Mentorship in the Legal Profession project, which connects the alumni community with students of the Faculty of Law.
She is a member of several professional and alumni associations, including the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), Beta Gamma Sigma Honour Society, Chevening Alumni Croatia, the Academy for Political Development, and the Croatian/Western Balkans Evaluation Network. Ružica is a CERGE-EI Foundation Fellow, a Friend of UCL’s FRINGE Centre, and a member of SMEs and Entrepreneurship Policy Center’s (CEPOR) research team.
Assoc. Prof. Šimić Banović ’s bibliography can be accessed at https://www.bib.irb.hr/pregled/profil/30936
ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruzica_Simic_Banovic
