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Saša Poljak Istenič, PhD
Senior Research Associate

+386(0)1/4706279

sasa.poljak@zrc-sazu.si


Identifiers:
ORCID SICRIS Scopus

Saša Poljak Istenič is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology, ZRC SAZU. She received her PhD in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Ljubljana in 2012 and undertook further academic training at the University of Klagenfurt and the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig. She holds the title of Associate Professor at the University of Maribor and also teaches at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU and the University of Klagenfurt. Her research focuses mainly on urban futures and climate change. She leads study circles, creative workshops, and activities for children. She is the founder and co-editor of the professional ethnological blog Vsakdanjik: Etnološki zapisi.


Saša Poljak Istenič’s research interests are located at the intersections of everyday life, cultural heritage, urban futures, and climate change. She has successfully obtained research funding from the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS), CHANSE HERA, Horizon Europe, and other transnational programmes. Her recent projects focus on climate neutrality policies in Ljubljana, perceptions of crisis along the Slovenian-Italian border, and handicrafts as a means of developing tourism in remote rural areas.

Mrvič, Rok, in Saša Poljak Istenič. 2025. Podoba prašiča v slovenskem pregovornem izročilu na razkrižju vrednosti in vrednot. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva 65 (2): 80–93. Povezava

Horolets, Anna, Alexandra Schwell, in Saša Poljak Istenič. 2023. The Art of Green Maintenance: Future-Making in Urban Gardening. Etnološka tribina: godišnjak Hrvatskog etnološkog društva 53 (46): 186–210. DOI: 10.15378/1848-9540.2023.46.07. Povezava

Poljak Istenič, Saša, in Katja Hrobat Virloget. 2023. Temporalities of the Mythical Park: Reassessing the Past for the Future. V: Blaž Bajič in Ana Svetel, ur. Sensory Environmental Relationships: Between Memories of the Past and Imaginings of the Future. Washington in Malaga: Vernon Press, 93–108.

Poljak Istenič, Saša, Mateja Šmid Hribar, in Jani Kozina. 2023. Nexus of Urban Gardening and Social Sustainability in European Postsocialist Cities. V: Peter Droege, ur. Urban and Regional Agriculture: Building Resilient Food Systems. London [idr.]: Elsevier, Academic Press, 179–205. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-820286-9.00013-3.

Poljak Istenič, Saša. 2023. “Here and There One Seed Sprouts, and Then It Seems We Have Done Something”: Nurturing Creativity in Elementary Schools. Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore 89: 143–160. DOI: 10.7592/FEJF2023.89.poljak_istenic. Povezava

Gulin Zrnić, Valentina, in Saša Poljak Istenič. 2022. Etnologija i kulturna antropologija budućnosti: koncepti za istraživanje nečega što še ne postoji. Narodna umjetnost: hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku 59 (1): 137–162. DOI: 10.15176/vol59no109. Povezava

Bajuk Senčar, Tatiana, in Saša Poljak Istenič. 2022. “Ni čebel – ni prihodnosti”: Čebela kot simbol zelene Ljubljane. Traditiones: zbornik Inštituta za slovensko narodopisje 51 (3): 45–74. DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2022510303. Povezava

Poljak Istenič, Saša. 2022. Urbane prihodnosti: od vizij slovenskih mest do utišanih mestnih prebivalcev. Traditiones: zbornik Inštituta za slovensko narodopisje 51 (3): 7–15. DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2022510301. Povezava

Teaching
  • Gastronomy and Enogastronomy, Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor, 2019–2022, 2024–
  • Proseminars, University of Klagenfurt, 2017–2020, 2023–2024, 2026
  • Heritage and Tourism, Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor, 2019–2024
  • Chair of the Ethnology Committee at the National Meeting of Young Researchers of Slovenia, 2016–
  • Creative workshops on urban futures, 2022–
  • Vice-Dean for Research, Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU, 2024–2025
  • Guest lectures at the University of Ljubljana, University of Maribor, and University of Primorska, 2012–
  • Study circle Tržič Culinary Heritage, Tržič Adult Education Centre, 2016–2019
  • Lectures on heritage and creative workshops for children from preschool age onwards and young people up to the age of 27, including Ljubljana schools and kindergartens and the Mladi zmaji Ljubljana public institute, 2010–
Professional memberships
  • Vsakdanjik: Etnološki zapisi — professional ethnological blog; founder and co-editor, 2020–
  • Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva — editor-in-chief, 2019–2025; member of the editorial board, 2025–
  • Ethnologica – Dissertationes book series — member of the editorial board, 2021–
  • Guest co-editor of thematic sections in Studia Ethnologica Croatica, Traditiones, and Acta Geographica Slovenica, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023
  • Executive Board of SIEF — Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore – Member 2025–
  • Commission for Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia – Member 2022–
  • Expert Council of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum — Member 2016–, Vice-President 2016–2020, 2024–
  • Executive Board of the Slovene Ethnological Society — Member 2015–, Vice-President 2017–2019
  • Member of the Slovene Ethnological Society, EASA — European Association of Social Anthropologists, SIEF — Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore, and ISFNR — International Society for Folk Narrative Research
Other
  • Research fellowship of the University of Klagenfurt for research on Vienna’s adaptation to climate change, 2020
  • Bojan Erhatič Fellowship for preliminary research on social creativity in Vienna and Leipzig, 2015