Ružica Šimić Banović holds a PhD degree from the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana and has recently been awarded an Executive Certificate in Economic Development from Harvard Kennedy School. As a Chevening scholar she received her MA in Public Policy from King’s College London, University of London. She completed a fellowship in the Department of Economics at The George Washington University as a part of the Junior Faculty Development Program funded by the U.S. Department of State. She has also participated in numerous courses, workshops and conferences in USA, UK, several EU countries and Russia. These include the Harvard Kennedy School executive programs ‘Leading Smart Policy Design: A Multisectoral Approach to Economic Decisions’, ‘Leading Economic Growth’ and ‘Public Narrative: Leadership, Storytelling, and Action’, the LSE Summer School course ‘Political Economy of Public Policy’, Trainee programme for young SEE managers organised by CDG/InWent in Germany, as well as Higher School of Economics in Moscow, University College London and UC Berkeley study and teaching visits.

Prior to joining the academic community, Assoc. Prof. Šimić Banović was an adviser with the Croatian National Competitiveness Council and worked in the private sector as well. Both her educational and professional background inspired her to focus her research on institutional changes in the (post)transition economies of Eastern Europe. She has authored or coauthored more than 50 scientific papers. Her current research interests include institutional interaction in the postsocialist business environment (with an emphasis on the reform implementation and ‘economy of favours’), immigrant entrepreneurship and recent migration trends in Eastern Europe.

Assoc. Prof. Šimić Banović is currently co-leading two US Embassy funded projects in Croatia: ‘Women in the Lead’ (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 a member of several expert and alumni associations: Beta Gamma Sigma Honour Society, European Economic Association (EEA) – WinE Ambassador, European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), Chevening Alumni Croatia, Academy for Political Development and Croatian/Western Balkans Evaluation Network. She is a CERGE EI Foundation Fellow, a Friend of the UCL’s FRINGE Centre and a research team member of CEPOR – SME think tank.

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 

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruzicasimic/