

This page focuses on the current project of IRMO’s Department for Culture and Communication CULTMED – Interdisciplinary Research on Cultural and Media Policies and Practices: Developmental and Democratic Potentials (December 31, 2023 – December 31, 2027), funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026, NextGeneration EU program.
CULTMED focuses on research related to the development of culture and cultural policy, media and media policy in Croatia and defines the local, regional, national, European and global environment of Croatian culture and media. The project aims to establish the necessary structural conditions for ongoing research in the fields of culture and media by setting up two centres of excellence: the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, Development and Cooperation (CULTURELINK) and the Centre for Media Sociology and Digital Society (CEMEDIG). These centres will also engage external collaborators who will be actively involved in the centres’ activities.
By building such a framework, the project seeks to improve the sustainability, visibility, and systematic long-term approach to cultural and media research. The two centers will provide the communication infrastructure needed for the implementation of the planned activities during the project duration and ensure long-term monitoring of research in these areas beyond the four-year project cycle
This page also contains information on other current and completed projects carried out within the Department for Culture and Communication, an archive of conferences organized by the Department and the Culturelink Network, as well as selected scholarly monographs published by the Department’s researchers.
News – Culture and Media
Guest lecture at the Department of International Development, King’s College London
Dr Paško Bilić (IRMO) and Dr Toni Prug (University of Rijeka) held a lecture on the political economy of digital monopolies, relying on a monograph from 2021 co-authored with Dr Mislav Žitko (FFZG) under the title Political Economy of Digital Monopolies (Bristol...
Culturelink Guest Lecture Series – Dr. Lilian Richieri Hanania: Twenty Years of the UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity: From Negotiation to Implementation
As part of the CULTMED project, CULTURELINK – The Centre for Research in Cultural Policy, Development and Cooperation is inviting you to the sixth lecture within the Culturelink Guest Lecture Series, which will be held on Monday, October 13, 2025, at 4 p.m. in the...
Prof. Katharine Sarikakis held the lecture “The Future Reel: Young Europeans Shaping the Film Industry”
As part of the Culturelink Guest Lecture Series, on the 24th of September 2025, at the Library of the Institute for Development and International Relations, Prof. Katharine Sarikakis, lecturer and researcher in communication science at the University of Vienna,...
Four New Reports on the European Film Industry Published within the CresCine Project
As part of the Horizon Europe project CresCine, which focuses on strengthening the international competitiveness and cultural diversity of the film industry in small European markets, four new reports on the European film industry were published during the summer....
IRMO Researchers at the ENCATC 2025 International Congress
IRMO researchers from the Department of Culture and Communication and CULTMED project collaborators, Dr. Aleksandra Uzelac, Dr. Ana Žuvela, and Dr. Dea Vidović, participated in the 33rd congress of the European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (ENCATC). The...
A PUBLIC COMPETITION for the associate position of assistant
Pursuant to Articles 48, 51 and 52 of its Statute, Class: 007-02/23-01/01, Reg. No.: 251-768-08-23-4 of 16 September 2023, the Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb, announces A PUBLIC COMPETITION for the associate position of assistant in the...
Summer School Political Economies of the Media – Theories and Methods Held in Šibenik
Organised by the Centre for Sociology of Media and Digital Society – CEMEDIG, as a part of the CULTMED project, the second edition of the summer school Political Economies of the Media – Theories and Methods took place at the educational campus of St. John’s Fortress...
Announcement – Culturelink Guest Lecture Series: Lecture by Katharine Sarikakis – “The Future Reel: Young Europeans Shaping the Film Industry”
As part of the CULTMED project, CULTURELINK – The Centre for Research in Cultural Policy, Development and Cooperation is inviting you to the fifth lecture within the Culturelink Guest Lecture Series, which will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at 4 p.m. in...
Start of the Summer School Political Economies of the Media – Theories and Methods in Šibenik
Organised by the Centre for Sociology of Media and Digital Society (CEMEDIG), as a part of the CULTMED project, the summer school Political Economies of the Media – Theories and Methods will take place in Šibenik from 9 to 12 September 2025. The program brings...
Dr. Jaka Primorac published a co-authored article in the Convergence (Q1) journal
Dr. Jaka Primorac, CULTMED project associate from the Department of Culture and Communication, IRMO, co-authored a journal article with the following colleagues: Rita Grácio, Manuel José Damásio, André Rui Graça, Marta Materska-Samek, and Malgorzata Kotlinska from the...
Paraic Mc Quaid held a lecture “Basic Income for Artists: Assessment of the Irish Pilot”
As part of the Culturelink Guest Lecture Series, on 2 September 2025, at the Library of the Institute for Development and International Relations, Prof. Paraic Mc Quaid, a researcher in cultural policy and arts management at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology...
IRMO scientists participated in the conference of the Media and Communication Research Network of the European Sociological Association (ESA RN18)
IRMO scientists Jaka Primorac and Paško Bilić, CULTMED project associates, participated in the international scientific conference of the Media and Communication Research Network of the European Sociological Association (ESA RN18), held from August 28 to 30, 2025. The...
CEMEDIG CENTER
CEMEDIG – Centre for Sociology of Media and Digital Society
The CEMEDIG Center promotes and directs the research of the Department of Culture and Communications in the field of media sociology, a special branch of sociology characterized by interdisciplinary openness to related disciplines in the field of social sciences and humanities. This particularly applies to economically oriented topics, such as the political economy of the media, and legal and political topics, such as media regulation. In the context of digitization, the term digital sociology is often used as a term close to media sociology, and the focus is on specific development topics such as data infrastructures, platforms, digital data, digital media literacy, and data justice.
CULTURELINK CENTER
CULTURELINK – Centre for Research in Cultural Policy, Development and Cooperation
CULTURELINK Centre was established in 2024 as a result of IRMO’s long-term engagement in coordinating the Culturelink Network. The Centre aims to build on and further develop IRMO’s affluent research repository and decades-long commitment to coordinating the global cultural network (culturelink.org) for research and collaboration in the field of cultural development, which gathered more than 2000 institutional and individual members from all continents since its establishment in 1989. Culturelink Centre’s work and activities will provide an organizational and infrastructural framework for the Department of Culture and Communication national and international research partnerships and collaborations c contributing to the wider outreach and better visibility of the Department’s research results.