PristupačnostVanesa Varga
About employee
Vanesa Varga, dr. sc.
Biography
She was born on February 27, 1986 in Pakrac. She completed primary and secondary school (gymnasium) in Zagreb. She obtained the title assistant professor in the scientific field of information and communication sciences on April 18, 2023 at the Croatian Catholic University. She held her inaugural lecture entitled "Habits and motives for using smartphones in adolescents" at the Croatian Catholic University on March 14, 2023. She obtained the scientific title of research associate in the scientific field of information and communication sciences on December 13, 2021 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She was obtained the title of associate assistant on March 29, 2018 at the Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb (today the Faculty of Croatian Studies) in the scientific field of information and communication sciences.
In 2020, she defended her doctoral dissertation entitled "The Role of Social Media in the Promotion of Animal Rights and Welfare" and obtained the academic title of Doctor of Science in the scientific field of social sciences, scientific field of information and communication science.
In 2021, she was employed as a postdoctoral researcher (today a senior assistant) at the Croatian Catholic University on the project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (UIP-2019-04-7545) and the Croatian Catholic University (project leader is Assoc. Prof. Marina Merkaš) entitled "Digital Technology in the Family: Patterns of Behaviour and Effects on Child Development". In 2013, she was employed as a trainee curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. There, she collaborated in the revision of the Collection of Drawings, Prints, Posters and Works on Paper and the Revision of the Kožarić Studio. She collaborated on the digitization of the Ivan Picelj Archive and in the realization of retrospective exhibitions of Vojin Bakić and Julije Knifer. She passed the professional exam for the museum documentarian officer on June 16, 2015. Her professional work published by the Museum Documentation Center is entitled “Digitalization of the Photo Library of the Benko Horvat Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb” (2015).
She earned her Master of Education in Croatology degree in 2012 at the Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb (today the Faculty of Croatian Studies). Her thesis is entitled “Marulić’s Attitude towards Ancient Spiritual Culture on the Example of the Davidiadas”. In the same year, she earned her Master of Communication Studies degree. Her thesis is entitled “Family on the Internet: Communication, Identity, Image and Commercialization”. She earned her Master of Museology and Heritage Management degree in 2013 at the FFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. Her thesis is entitled “Virtual Ancient Egyptian Collections: Croato-Aegyptica and Opportunities for International Cooperation”.
She began teaching as an external associate at the Croatian Studies (today the Faculty of Croatian Studies) in the academic year 2013/2014 on the course Social Media. In the academic years 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 she taught the course Founders of Communication Studies and Their Works. In the academic year 2019/2020 she taught the course Historical Overview of Mass Communication Research. From the academic year 2022/2023 at the Faculty of Croatian Studies she teaches the courses Sociological Aspects of Mass Communication, Legal Aspects of Mass Communication, Concepts and Theories of Media Effects Research. At the Croatian Catholic University she introduced and taught the courses Visual Communication and Internet Activism during the academic years 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 at the Department of Communication Studies. At the Department of Psychology, she introduced the course Communication and Presentation Skills, which she began teaching in the winter semester of the academic year 2023/2024. She has also been teaching at the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Zagreb since the academic year 2020/2021, in the courses: Communication, Business Communication, Graphic Design Communication, Visual Communications and Media Communication.
During 2023, she was the leader of the one-year scientific project of the Croatian Catholic University "Happiness is not in things: the role of the media, parents and peers in shaping materialism in children" (HKS-2023). Also, during 2023, she was the leader of the professional project "Family and individual media use plan: interactive advisory website" funded by the Agency for Electronic Media.
She attended two summer schools in research methodology in Europe, namely GESIS Summer School: Survey, Sampling and Weighting (August 17-21, 2020) in Cologne, Germany and Summer School Utrecht: Survey Research - Design, Implementation and Data Processing (August 15-19, 2022), Utrecht, Netherlands.
She gave an invited lecture in 2022 in the USA entitled "Child Centered Parenting in the Digital Age" organized by the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.
So far, she has presented independently or as a co-author at numerous conferences with international review (UK, Greece, USA, etc.) and at several conferences with domestic review.
She won the award for the best work of a young author (Best Young Researcher Paper, 2023) of the journal Applied Psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad for the work The children's motivation for digital technology use: parents and children's perspective (authors: Varga, Vanesa and Kotrla Topić, Marina) .
She published a professional monograph Primošten: Our Lady of Loreto, which was published by the Municipality of Primošten in 2017.
She has two training certificates from the Algebra Open University, one as an Internet Marketing Specialist from 2017 and one as a Web Designer from 2018.
She uses the IBM SPSS software program. She has used the M++ and S++ databases. She has used Google Ads and Google Analytics Solutions software. She has managed social media and websites for companies and scientific projects. In her scientific work, she has applied methods of interviews, focus groups, surveys, diary studies and observations. Research interests include media effects and the Internet.
Published papers recorded in the Croatian Scientific Bibliography Database
Ometanje tehnologijom u interakcijama roditelj-dijete: pristupi, izazovi i ograničenja mjerenja konstrukta
Komunikacija o kupovnim željama između djece i njihovih roditelja u Hrvatskoj
Prikaz rezultata projekta „Digitalna tehnologija u obitelji: obrasci ponašanja i učinci na razvoj djece“
Korištenje mobitela u interakcijama s djetetom i roditeljska medijacija: mišljenje i ponašanje roditelja djece u ranoj adolescenciji
The Perspective of Children in Croatia on Materialism and Values That are More Important Than Material Goods
Posjedovanje pod utjecajem vršnjaka: Istraživanje trendova o materijalnim dobrima među adolescentima u Hrvatskoj
"They are boring and jump in at any moment" - the perspective of children in Croatia about advertisements
The Association between Smartphone Use and Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Adolescents
Povezanost korištenja pametnog telefona s tjelesnim zdravljem, dobrobiti i školskim uspjehom djece osnovnoškolske dobi
Predstavljanje projekta „Obiteljski i individualni plan korištenja digitalnih medija – interaktivna savjetodavna mrežna stranica“
Predstavljanje projekta „Obiteljski i individualni plan korištenja digitalnih medija – interaktivna savjetodavna mrežna stranica“
"The more branded clothes you wear, the more friends you will have" - children in Croatia about materialism
#challengeaccepted – povezanost motiva za korištenje i aktivnosti na pametnim telefonima sa sudjelovanjem u vrialnim izazovima kod adolescenata
Povezanost ometanja interakcija roditelj-dijete zbog korištenja pametnog telefona i problematičnih ponašanja kod djece
Roditeljsko korištenje mobitela i dobrobit djece
"Digital technology in the family: patterns of behaviour and effects on child development" - a presentation of the results of qualitative research with children and parents
Review of research on the relationship between digital technology use and child development
Povezanost roditeljskog ometanja mobitelom i sukoba oko dječjeg korištenja mobitela s dobrobiti djece
Anthropomorphized Cats on Facebook
Korištenje digitalnih uređaja među djecom – Što nam pokazuju podatci iz dječjih dnevnika medija?
The attitudes of Facebook users of animal welfare associations about the role of Facebook in the promotion of animal rights and welfare
Parental mediation of children's digital devices use: "...I always have to get away from it."
Uloga društvenih medija u promociji prava i zaštite životinja
Communication of Croatian football clubs on social media
The results of the online research "Students' opinions on the use of digital technology"
Ometanje digitalnom tehnologijom u roditelja i dobrobit djece i roditelja tijekom pandemije bolesti COVID-19
The results of research „Challenges of digital technologies use in the family” during the Covid-19 pandemic
Semiotics of travel on Instagram
Community management - a tool in public relations
Peer violence on social networks
Komunikacija na društvenoj mreži Facebook s aspekta menadžera za društvene mreže
Customer trust in advertising cosmetics on YouTube
Student's attitudes towards the Instagram blogger profession
Advertising and gender stereotypes: the importance of media literacy
Electoral Campaigns in 2015 and 2016: Analysis of Headlines Features and News Toning in Daily- Informative Web Portals
Primošten: Lady of Loreto
Expressing emotion in business internet communication
Virtual cemeteries as guardians of memories of the deceased
Virtual Ancient Egyptian collections: Croato- Aegyptica Electronica and possibilities of development
List of select publications
Varga, Vanesa; Plenković, Mateja; Merkaš, Marina // Communication about Purchase Desires between Children and Their Parents in Croatia // Social sciences, 13 (2024), 97; 1-16
Varga, Vanesa; Žulec, Ana; Bodrožić Selak, Matea; Merkaš, Marina // The relationship of children's smartphone use with well-being and school achievement // Radovi Zavoda za znanstveni rad Varaždin, (2022), 33; 207-243. doi: 10.21857/yvjrdcv11y
Varga, Vanesa; Kotrla Topić, Marina // Children’s motivation for digital technology use: parents and children’s perspective // Primenjena psihologija, 15 (2022), 3; 305-326. doi: 10.19090/pp.v15i3.2378
List of select projects
Project leader Happiness is not in material things: the role of the media, parents and peers in shaping materialism in children (HKS-2023)
Project associate Digital technology in the family: patterns of behaviour and effects on child development (UIP-2019-04-7547)