Research Associate Dr. Bojan Baca Winner of the Routledge Award
Research Associate at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the University of Montenegro, Dr. Bojan Baća, is this years laureate of the Routledge Area Studies Interdisciplinarity Award, awarded by Taylor & Francis (Routledge), the worlds largest publisher in the social sciences and humanities. An international jury composed of leading scientists and experts from area studies awarded his scientific research work for originality, innovation and exceptional contribution to the understanding and study of the complexity and diversity of post-socialist civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe.
The jurys decision states, among other things, that Bojan Baćas "impressive research project" successfully combines knowledge and insights from sociology, political science, anthropology, geography, as well as studies of social movements, in order to "reexamine the static view of the region, offering a deeper understanding of the political actions and democracy in the post-socialist arena". In particular, the innovative conceptual framework and refined analytical vocabulary that "advance existing research" and thereby facilitate the understanding of the empirical reality of civic activism and public life in post-communist countries are particularly noteworthy. Bacas scientific findings are considered relevant to numerous social sciences, the commissions announcement concludes.
The award-winning research project was started as part of a doctoral dissertation at York University, and was then supplemented and implemented in the form of scientific articles written during postdoctoral stays at the University of Graz, Charles University, New European College and the University of Rijeka, in the period from 2018 to 2020. Prize-winning papers have been published in Sociology, the journal of the British Sociological Association, published by Sage Publishing, and in International Political Sociology, the journal of the International Studies Association, published by Oxford University Press.
Currently, Baća is holder of the most prestigious scholarship for experienced researchers, Marija Sklodovska-Curie, within which he is engaged as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Sociology and Labor Science of the University of Gothenburg. From this school year, he was elected to the position of scientific associate at the newly founded Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Montenegro. He is a member of the international expert group Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and a representative of the academic community in the Radio and Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG). Two years ago, the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe awarded him the prestigious Danubius prize for scientific achievements.