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
Barbara Lovrinić Higgins Defends PhD Dissertation on Digital Cultural Heritage and Cultural Policies
The Department for Culture and Communication is pleased to announce that on 23 December 2025 our associate, Barbara Lovrinić Higgins, successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled Re-working Cultural Memory and Heritage in the Digital Age: Cultural Policies for...
Edited volume in the Studies in Critical Social Sciences series (Brill Academic Publishing)
Dr Paško Bilić and Dr Thomas Allmer (Paderborn University, Germany) are editors of Rethinking Media and Communication: A Critical Sociological Lens for Brill Academic Publishing in the Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. The book comprises 17 chapters in which...
The CresCine Project Introduces the Interactive FIDA Tool and Announces a New Edition of the State of European Film Report
The European project CresCine, dedicated to strengthening the international competitiveness and cultural diversity of the film industry in small European markets, has this month announced a series of key developments that further shape the future of the sector through...
New issue of IRMO Aktualno: “Data and Infrastructural Policies for the Digital Transformation of the Cultural Heritage Sector in the European Union”
In the latest issue of IRMO aktualno, Barbara Lovrinić Higgins, the CULTMED project associate, explores the impact of European Union policies on the digital transformation of libraries, archives, and museums (LAM institutions), emphasising their institutional...
Dr. sc. Ana Žuvela Appointed as Vice-President of the ENCATC Board of Directors
At the General Assembly of the European network ENCATC held on December 11, 2025, Dr. sc. Ana Žuvela, a Research Associate from the Department of Culture and Communication at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), was appointed as Vice...
Report Published within the DEVELOPER Project
Paško Bilić, Valentina Vučković, and Toni Prug, researchers on the Croatian Science Foundation project Digital Data, Infrastructures and Development (DEVELOPER) [HRZZ IP-2022-10-2780], have published a report entitled Digital Infrastructure of Socio-Economic...
New issue of IRMO Aktualno: “Audiences and Domestic Film – A Few Notes from Small European Film Markets”
In the new issue of IRMO Aktualno, Jaka Primorac, PhD, analyses the active role of audiences and the viewership of domestic films from small European markets, with a special focus on Croatia. In addition to analysing the production volume in the context of domestic...
Results of the HRZZ project DEVELOPER presented in Florence
Dr Valentina Vučković (Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb) and Dr Paško Bilić (IRMO) presented a paper titled Digital Infrastructure Spillovers: State Capacities and Inequalities in the EU, at the Understanding and Addressing Digital Inequalities conference...
Public discussion “Labor, Migration, and Digital Regimes through Workers’ Voices” held
As part of the Transnational Solidarities series, a public discussion titled “Labor, Migration, and Digital Regimes through Workers’ Voices” was held on November 14 at Club MaMa, focusing on labor, migration, and the transformation of work relations in the era of...
Lucija Gegić Stanić Participated in the Conference „Studentski protesti 2024/25: BloKADA, ako ne SADA?“
Lucija Gegić Stanić, an associate at the CULTMED project and the Department of Culture and Communication, participated in the conference “Studentski protesti 2024/25: BloKADA, ako ne SADA?” (Student Protests 2024/25: Blockade WHEN, if not NOW?), held on November 22...
French Network FNADAC Visited IRMO: Exchange of Experiences on Cultural Policies
As part of the CULTMED project, Dr Aleksandra Uzelac, Dr Ana Žuvela and Dr Dea Vidović hosted a meeting with representatives of the French network FNADAC (Fédération nationale des directrices et directeurs des affaires culturelles) at the IRMO Library on Wednesday, 19...
Roundtable “Small Markets, Big Stories” on the film industry in small EU countries held at the Zagreb Film Festival
The Department for Culture and Communication of the Institute for Development and International Relations organised a roundtable entitled "Small Markets, Big Stories - Film Industry in Small European Countries" on November 11, 2025, at the F22 stage of the Academy of...
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.
