Zrinjka Peruško is full professor of media studies at the Department of Journalism, and founder and Chair of the Centre for Media and Communication Research (CIM www.cim.fpzg.unizg.hr) of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. She teaches Introduction to media systems and Media and popular culture (elective, in English) at the undergraduate level, and Mass communication theory at graduate level. In 2012 she directed, with colleagues from the University of Ljubljana, University of Belgrade, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, a post-graduate course on Comparative Media Systems: Media development in South East Europe, at the Inter University Centre, Dubrovnik (http://www.iuc.hr/course-details.php?id=721).
Her academic interests focus on the analysis of media policy and system changes, with particular focus on issues of media policy in transition, media concentration, diversity and pluralism especially in Croatia and Central and Eastern Europe. Interest in media genres and popular culture and its audiences is more recent and is an extension of the structural exploration of media systems.
In 2008 and 2009 Peruško headed the first European implementation of UNESCO Indicators of media development project, in Croatia. In 2011-12 she led the regional project on comparative implementation of UNESCO media development indicators in the southeast European region.
Peruško leads the project “Media culture in cotemporary Croatia: pluralism of media and media policy” (2007-2012), funded by the Ministry of science, education and sport, and a joint research program «Media and the construction of social reality: identities and integrations». She was lead researcher and member in different international and domestic research projects. Peruško is member in the COST action “Transforming audiences, transforming societies” (2010-2015), and was member in the COST A30 action “East of West: Setting a New Central and Eastern European Media Research Agenda” (2005-2009).
Peruško was member of the Group of Specialists on Media Diversity of the Council of Europe (2005-2008) which she chaired in 2006 and 2007, Croatian representative to the UNESCO International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC) (2000-2003, 2005-2008, 2012-2015), Croatian National Commission for UNESCO (2004-2010), and was member of the Council of Europe Advisory Panel on Media Diversity (AP-MD) (2000-2004). She also took part in media democratization advocacy and was involved in media policy change in Croatia in the 1990s and 2000, respectively. She was member in the Radio and Television Council (2000-2003), expert member in the Committee on Information, informatics and the media of the Croatian Parliament (2004-2007).
Peruško holds a PhD (1998) and B.A. (1985) in sociology and M.A. (1990) in communication studies from the University of Zagreb. She was Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Department for Communication and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA (2001-2002), and research fellow at the Center for European Social Research, Department of Sociology, University College Cork, National University of Ireland (1994).