About Us, Our Work, and Our Team
The University Gender Resource Centre (UNIGeRC) has been established at the Human Rights Centre of the University of Sarajevo as a body to coordinate activities in the fields of gender equality and combating gender-based violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination in higher education institutions, with the goal of improving work quality and ensuring the integrity of higher education.
The main goal of UNIGeRC is to make faculties a safe place for teaching staff, students, and everyone else who is a member of this community by incorporating gender equality into the higher education system on a large scale. UNIGeRC was also established with the goal of providing teaching staff, students, and administrative staff with up-to-date knowledge about various fields where awareness of the concept of gender is required to increase their knowledge and responsible action in their environment. We believe that the interdisciplinarity of knowledge about gender equality that UNIGeRC will provide through educational programs, develop through research work, and transmit through a rich library can help to prevent gender-based violence and discrimination in higher education institutions, and thus reduce it in society as a whole.
UNIGeRC was established as part of the project “University and Gender Mainstreaming” (UNIGEM), which represents universities’ strategic commitment to ensuring gender equality and a safe environment for teaching and administrative staff, as well as students at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, through the introduction of a gender perspective. The project is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and it is implemented by the TPO Foundation through regional cooperation with 18 universities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro:
- University of Sarajevo
- University of Banja Luka
- Džemal Bijedić University of Mostar
- University of Mostar
- University of Novi Sad
- University of Rijeka
- University of Donja Gorica
- Herzegovina University
- University of Zenica
- Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
- International Burch University
- University of Tuzla
- International University of Travnik
- University of East Sarajevo
- University of Bihać
- University of Montenegro
- Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb
- University of Belgrade
Team
Our associates team includes university professors, as well as experts from various fields and scientific disciplines from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, and is led by:
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Associate Professor Zilka Spahić Šiljak, PhD
Professor of Gender Studies. In 2007, she obtained her PhD from the University of Novi Sad. Her areas of interest include gender, religion, human rights, politics, and peacebuilding, with many years of experience working in the governmental and non-governmental sectors and academia. She worked as a lecturer and researcher at Harvard University and Stanford University in the United States from 2011 to 2019, and previously led the Religious Studies program at the University of Sarajevo for six years. She is the director of the Sarajevo TPO Foundation, which focuses on education, intercultural dialogue, and peacebuilding, as well as empowering young people and women to take on leadership roles. She is a visiting professor at the University of Roehampton in London and a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zenica. She has published several books and academic papers, including: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zilka-Spahic-Siljak -
Associate Professor Jasna Kovačević, PhD
Professor at the Department of Management and Organisation, Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo. In her research and teaching work, she focuses on leadership and management in education, leadership and strategy, and organisational ethics, with special emphasis on leadership development, inclusive organisational culture, and organisational diversity. Furthermore, her interest is focused on socio-cognitive theory and its application in the fields of leadership, gender identities, and organisational ethics. She is a co-author of the Bosnian Labyrinth: Culture, Gender and Leadership. Jasna’s research findings have been published in some of the world’s most prominent scientific journals in the fields of education and educational management and leadership, including the Review of Educational Research, Journal of Educational Change, Journal of Educational Administration, and Educational Management Administration and Leadership. She gained international experience while visiting renowned European universities such as Humboldt University in Berlin, the University of Leipzig, and Mendel University in Brno. Jasna is an activist and advocate for the rights of children and adults with autism spectrum. -
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Gaj Trifković, PhD
Employed at the Human Rights Centre, University of Sarajevo.
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