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Gospić Regional Center

History

The regional center in Gospić was opened on September 26, 2007, by decision of the Institute’s Managing Board, with prior consent from the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports of the Republic of Croatia.

The Center was ceremonially opened during the scientific conference “Identity of Lika: Roots and Development,” which was held in Gospić from September 26 to 29, 2007. By the decision of the Institute’s Managing Board on September 21, 2007, Željko Holjevac, PhD, an external collaborator of the Institute, was appointed as the head of the Regional Center.

Numerous scientific conferences followed, addressing specific historical and social characteristics of the Lika region. Concurrently with the conferences and the first projects, the doctoral defenses of sociologist Anita Bušljeta Tonković and historian Ivan Brlić took place. Scientific activities continued to intensify during the term of the new Center head, Anita Bušljeta Tonković, PhD (2019 – 2023), both locally and nationally, and gradually on the European research scene.

Topics of local character within the scientific activities of the Gospić Center soon successfully transcended local boundaries, and their results were successfully disseminated across Europe through project activities. A key activity of the Regional Center was the CSF project RURALIKA, under which the Center welcomed young assistants, sociologist Ema Bašić and historian Adrian Knežević, who successfully defended their doctoral theses within the designated timeframe.

This research team continues to operate successfully under the new head, Ivan Brlić, PhD and the Gospić Regional Center has established itself as one of the key research institutions for studying numerous interdisciplinary topics related to mountainous rural regions.

Projects

Monograph of the City of Gospić, National project, Ivan Brlić, Anita Bušljeta Tonković – associates
Social (Re)construction in Rural Territory, Internal project, Anita Bušljeta Tonković – associate
Minorities in Croatia and Croats in Surrounding Countries: Historical Identities, Internal project, Ivan Brlić – associate
iPRESENT – Installation Project for Research about Social Entrepreneurship, Croatian Science Foundation project, Anita Bušljeta Tonković – associate
30 Years of HGSS Station Gospić: Monograph, National project, Anita Bušljeta Tonković – leader, Ivan Brlić – associate
Providing Research Services and Developing a Sociological-Development Study as part of the HES Kosinj – HE Senj 2, National project, Anita Bušljeta Tonković and Ivan Brlić – associates
Velebit Uprising 1932 – Resistance of the Croatian People Against a Dictatorship, National project, Ivan Brlić – leadar
Study on the Justification of the Request for Changing the Status of the Municipality to that of a City – Marija Bistrica. Anita Bušljeta Tonković – leader
History of the Football Club Gospić ’91 – on the occasion of one hundred years of professional football in Gospić, national project, Ivan Brlić – leader
RURALIKA – Establishing Criteria for Evaluating Modernisation and (Post)Transition Processes in Rural Areas of Croatia through a Case Study of the Rural Area of Lika (Croatian Science Foundation project) Anita Bušljeta Tonković – leader, Ivan Brlić, Ema Bašić, and Adrian Knežević – associates
Forgotten Places of Suffering of the Undesirable: Genocide Against the Roma in the Independent State of Croatia: Research, Memorialisation, Education, Internal project, Ivan Brlić – associate
Sociological Aspects of Climate Change in Croatia, Internal project Anita Bušljeta Tonković – associate
Camp Slana on the Island of Pag, National project, Adrian Knežević – associate
Rural Transformation: Development and Strengthening the Capacities of Croatian Rural Socio-Ecological Systems for Transformative Adaptation and Resilience, Anita Bušljeta Tonković – associate
BAD – Cross-Border Development in the Area between the Una River and the Adriatic: From the Habsburg Military Frontier to the Schengen Edge of the EU Internal project Ivan Brlić – leader, Anita Bušljeta Tonković, Ema Bašić, and Adrian Knežević – associates
Habsburg Bureaucracy and Local Communities: The Counties of Banska Croatia, Croatian Science Foundation project, Ivan Brlić – associate

Publications

Proceedings of the Conference Identity of Lika: Roots and Development, vol. I-II, ed. Željko Holjevac, Zagreb – Gospić, 2009
Proceedings of the Conference Gacka in the Middle Ages, ed. Hrvoje Gračanin and Željko Holjevac, Zagreb – Otočac, 2012
Monograph Gospić. City, People, Identity, ed. Željko Holjevac, Zagreb – Gospić, 2013
Bušljeta Tonković, A., Sustainable Development of Central Lika. Contributions to the Analysis of Human and Social Capital, Pilar Institute and State Archive in Gospić, Zagreb – Gospić, 2015
Brlić, I., Lika and Senj Civic Societies 1835 – 1945, Pilar Institute, Zagreb, 2017
Proceedings of the Conference Who (P)Supports Sustainable Development?, Anita Bušljeta Tonković, Željko Holjevac, Ivan Brlić and Nikola Šimunić, Zagreb, 2017
Bušljeta Tonković, A. Puđak, Jelena, Youth Organisations and for Youth in Rural Croatia, Case Study of Lika-Senj and Zadar Counties, Zagreb, 2021
Bušljeta Tonković, A., & Gašparović, S. (2020), Croatia. In F. Simões, G. Neagu, M. Soler-Porta, T. Ferreira, V. Lendzhova, & A. Minns (Eds.), National Reports 2009–2019: Rural NEET across Europe (14 countries reports). COST Action CA18213
Anita Bušljeta Tonković (ed.), The Day Has Replaced the Night, the Storm Cleared Our View. On the 30th Anniversary of HGSS Station Gospić
Brlić, Ivan, Football in Gospić. NK Gospić ’91 – Century of Gospić Blues, Pilar Institute, Zagreb – Gospić, 2022

Conferences

Identity of Lika: Roots and Development, Gospić, 26-29 September 2007
Lika in World War II and Aftermath, Gospić, 11-12 September 2008
Šime Starčević: A Contemporary Look at His Life and Work, Gospić, 22-23 May 2009
Gacka and Otočac in the Middle Ages, Otočac, 5-6 March 2010
International Scientific Symposium on the 300th Anniversary of the Capuchin Friars in Lika and Krbava [1713 – 2013] Karlobag, 12 October 2013
Krbava and Udbina: Heritage, Research, Perspectives, Udbina
Annales Pilar 2016: Who (P)Supports Sustainable Development?, Gospić, 27 May 2016
Podgorje: Starting Points and Perspectives for Development in the Area between Velebit and the Adriatic Senj, 13-15 October 2016
Kosinj – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Gornji Kosinj, 15 September 2011
Left-behind Rural Regions – Stronger, but How?, Gospić, 25 – 29 September 2026