Anja Gvozdanović and Luka Mađer participated in the 17th ESA conference in Warsaw

Anja Gvozdanović and Luka Mađer participated in the 17th conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) “Strengthening Democracies: Social Action, Solidarity, and Sustainable Futures“, held from 25 until 28 August 2026 in Warsaw. They presented the paper “What Does It Take to Succeed? Youth Perceptions of Success Factors in Croatia (1999–2025)“, in which they analysed how youth perceptions of what is important to succeed in the Croatian society have changed during the period of more than 25 years.

The results point to a gradual shift from perceived dominance of meritocracy principles of social advancement towards the increasing importance of non-formal rules and mechanisms. The analysis of the data obtained in 2025 also revealed that these perceptions were related to social and institutional trust, political efficacy and assessment of citizens' equality before the law. The presentation instigated a strong interest among the audience, and a fruitful discussion.

It is also our great honour to announce that Anja Gvozdanović was elected to the position of deputy-coordinator of the ESA RN30 Youth and Generation research network for the period from 2026 to 2028.

RN30 connects researchers of youth and generations from entire Europe, and encourages development of international collaboration, mutual research initiatives, publications and scientific research events. Anja's election also represents an acknowledgement of her long-standing work in the domain of sociology of youth, while at the same time opens new opportunities for the Institute's international collboration and dissemination of youth research results to the European scientific community.