Valentina Kozjak was born in 1995 in Zabok. She attended primary and secondary school in Krapina, and in 2013, having completed her secondary education, enrols in the Social Work Study Centre at the Faculty of Law, the University of Zagreb. She completed the undergraduate study of social work Magna Cum Laude and won the Best Graduate Student award for the academic year 2016/17. A year later, she got her master’s degree in social work. During her studies, she worked as a student assistant at the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Law. She also did volunteer work and showed interest in scientific research. She is the recipient of two awards for her success in her studies. In 2018, she received the Rector’s Award for team scientific and artistic work.
After completing her studies and passing the state professional exam, she is employed as a social worker – first as an educator in the Bedekovčina Educational Home (now: Centre for providing services in the community Zagorje), where she worked with children without adequate parental care. Since 2021, she has worked at the Centres for Social Welfare in Krapina and Zabok (now: Regional Offices of the Croatian Institute for Social Work).
In 2020, she enrols in the postgraduate specialist study in Psychosocial approach in social work, which she completes in 2023, after which she immediately enrols in the university doctoral study Social work and social policy.
Since 2024 she has held the position of assistant at the Department of Theory and Methods of Social Work. At the same time, she implements measures of professional help and support in the exercise of parental care, as well as measures of supervision over the realization of personal relationships between parents and children. She is attending the Systemic family psychotherapy course. She is a member of the Committee for Young Teachers, Researchers and Scientists of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Law, the Croatian Chamber of Social Workers and the Croatian Association of Social Workers.
She regularly participates in expert meetings and trainings in various fields of social welfare and publishes scientific and professional works.
