Jelena Puđak, Ph.D., Social ecology

Jelena Puđak’s work has focused on research about sustainability, climate change, and other topics within environmental sociology.

At the start of her doctoral studies, Jelena worked at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar under the mentorship of Vladimir Lay. The topic of her PhD thesis was ‘Climate Policy Efficacy in Croatia and the Roles of Key Stakeholders in Their Successful Implementation.’ Some of the projects she has been working on over the past few years are: Social-Ecological Challenges of Rural Development: Objective and Subjective Indicators of Resilience in Croatian Rural Social-Ecological Systems, School Strike 4 Climate Croatia: Environmental Attitudes and Activism of High School Students in Zagreb, and Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior of Female and Male Students in Croatia. Jelena often cooperates with fellow sociologists from the Institute of Social Research in Zagreb and the University of Zagreb, most recently on topics such as youth climate activism, social and ecological resilience of rural areas and social resilience to the COVID crisis. Insights gained from these collaborations are valuable knowledge to their field and enable them to better understand various phenomena. She is the author of the book ‘Who Cares About Climate? Towards the Sociology of Climate Change’, through which she educates and promotes the field of sociology, particularly the sociology of climate change, which is still overlooked in Croatia.

Her primary workspace is a shared office within the Institute. Regular collaborations with fellow institutes and their members or representatives enable her to easily connect with other research assistants or scientific novices, often through coordinated meetings and workshops organized by their affiliated partners, such as the Institute for Political Ecology (IPE) or the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (IDIZ), which facilitate these programs. When conducting qualitative research, fieldwork is also involved. This includes interviewing stakeholders in various parts of the country to ensure the accuracy of the collected information, thereby forming meaningful relationships based on observation and analysis of the gathered data.

In environmental sociology, the research process begins by identifying a particular topic of interest. These topics usually address a pressing issue within society or an area that has not been thoroughly studied yet. An established team of researchers proceeds with choosing an appropriate method for the chosen issue, whether it involves quantitative (e.g., a survey) or qualitative (e.g. focus groups) methods. Based on this, various instruments are developed and applied to a selected sample within a target population (e.g., youth groups, rural populations, intentional expert populations). The duration of the research depends on multiple factors including the complexity of the research topic, selected methodology and sample size, lasting from one year and above. Research results are made available to policymakers and the general public, and can help inform new legislation and assist in forming new policy instruments. It is worth noting that the research participants themselves, especially in qualitative research, are often the ones most interested in the results.

Jelena’s paper, ‘How environmentalists deal with (yet another) crisis’, delves into how the pandemic affected environmental movement actors in Croatian environmental protection associations, focusing on organizational resilience. It highlights the importance of adaptability, internal cohesion, and networking for resilience. Collaborating with Nataša Bokan, Jelena also published ‘Who wants what and why? ‘Farmers’ and ‘engineers’ as green entrepreneurs’, examining green economy workers’ motivations within the frameworks of ‘green growth’ and ‘degrowth.’ This paper offers a comparative analysis of actors like agricultural workers and small solar energy companies, focusing on their professional backgrounds and green entrepreneurship types. It aims to deepen understanding of green entrepreneurship and its potential to challenge conventional economic models through more radical, transformative approaches.