Verica Pavic Zentner is a co-founder of Social Identity Research in Vienna, Austria. She has extensive research experience in university-coordinated research, market research, social policy-related research (NGO), independently on the various social research topics, and cooperates with several research institutes. Her main research interests are research methodologies, where she works in developing custom actionable methodological approaches in transdisciplinary contexts. She is a trained qualitative moderator and trainer. Her research experience started in her early twenties in fieldwork and organizational work and has developed in the direction of participative applied research models for nearly twenty years. After spending three years working on quantitative research projects at the Belgrade University along her Sociology studies, she received her first training in qualitative research methods in 2004, from where she developed into the direction of narrative and semiotic analysis, with a focus point on culturally influenced interpretation of verbatim and visual symbols, and the individuation and re-creation of said symbols in personal identity creation. She is a member of the International Sociological Association. Her current topics of study include gender, migration, and youth identity in ethnic, national, multinational, and transnational contexts. She studied sociology at the Philosophical Faculty in Belgrade, stopping the study short of graduation thesis to move permanently to Austria for personal reasons. She is currently enrolled in an MSc postgraduate study in Austria, and is working on completing her degree.
Mag.a Maria Velizarova Born in Cuba, grew up in Bulgaria and has been living for more than 15 years in Austria. Her topics are migration, integration, discrimination, equality, labour exploitation, trafficking of human beings and social innovation. She gained a bachelor’s degree in economics at the University for National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria and then fell in love with sociology which she graduated at the Vienna University. Her professional experience at LEFÖ IBF (Intervention Center for Trafficked Women) in Austria as well as her international experience as an expert at the MIEUX initiative, together with her enrolment in a PhD program at the Bulgarian Academy of Science gave her the opportunity to explore her topics first-hand and connect theory and praxis through her practical, research and analytical work. She is working in counseling for young people, and also in the research field – participatory action research with Social Identity Research.
MMag Manfred Zentner researches youth and youth culture since 1997. From 2001 to 2013, Manfred Zentner worked in the fields of research and knowledge transfer at the Institute for Youth Culture Research in Vienna. His main topics of research are youth cultures, migration and participation. He is a lecturer at the Danube University of Krems and at the Teachers Training University in Lower-Austria. He was rapporteur in the Council of Europe international review teams for the national youth policy in Hungary and for the national youth policy in Belgium, and a member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers.
Mirjana Nećak, MA, is a qualitative researcher in the field of social sciences and marketing with over 14 years of experience. The main focus of her research field is on Generation Y, as a labor force from the HR perspective, and the standpoint of social disparities and poverty. In the past two years, she has been dealing with social engagement topics and youth participation through digital activism. She defended her master’s thesis, “Digital activism in the EU: a case study of the online community’s response to EU copyright rules” at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade. She works at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade in the position of PR and Communications Officer. Fields of research: social politics, social engagement, digital activism, internet culture, alternative youth cultures, gender and education. She has organized multiple youth conventions, and was an invited guest speaker at conferences and conventions with topics of identities, youth and gender, personal transformations and societal roles and interventions. She is currently specializing in Internet communities, and communication – including the science communication with the social community.
Ines Kracun is a creative UI/ UX designer with eight years of facilitating and supporting human interactions with complex systems and software. She maintains user-centric designs while adhering to prescribed interface principals and related development goals. She is dedicated to creating inviting and unintimidating interfaces for everything from simple open-source applications to complex proprietary systems.
Nadja Otasevic is an esteemed legal expert specializing in contract management, media law, and international trade law. Her expertise is instrumental in maintaining legal compliance and resilience across a range of ventures. Nadja’s skills are particularly pivotal in strengthening legal frameworks, with a focus on the global creator space and initiatives like Social Identity Research. Her contributions ensure a robust and lawful foundation for various operational and creative pursuits, essential for the success and integrity of these endeavors.
Andrej Pavic grew up in Italy and Serbia. His specialization is in European languages. His native languages are Hungarian and Serbian, with Italian as a third of the “first languages”. After completing secondary education in Italian and Serbian, he proceeded to acquire his bachelor’s degree in Language and Literature from the Faculty of Philology, at Belgrade University. From there he proceeded with completing a year in Hungarian studies, Balassi Intézet, Budapest in 2013-2014. During his studies, he worked for more than three years as a Translator and an Anchor for the Italian programme in the International Radio of Serbia in Belgrade. After project work as a Hungarian language lector (lecturer and teacher) at the Philological Faculty in Belgrade and a Hungarian language teacher for the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians in Belgrade, he continues to work as a freelance teacher, teaching Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, and Serbian as a second language. He has a basic usage level of Romanian, and higher intermediate usage of English, both in spoken and written form. Hungarian citizen, currently residing in Serbia and Italy.