Senior Research Associate, Associate Professor
+386 1 4706283
+386 31 820 198
dan.podjed@zrc-sazu.si
Anthropologist Dan Podjed, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Associate Professor at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts. From the founding of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network in 2010 to 2018, he was its Convenor and continues to serve as one of the network's Executive Advisors. In 2013 he was the founder and from 2013 to 2018 and again in 2023 the organiser of the international event Why the World Needs Anthropologists, which has become the most important meeting place for applied anthropologists in Europe and beyond. From 2022 to 2023, he was a member of a national team of experts on Covid-19 established by the National Institute of Public Health.
Since 2022, he has been directing a national research programme Ethnological, Anthropological, and Folklore Studies Research on Everyday Life. He has led several national and international research projects (as national coordinator) and participated in numerous EU projects (Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, Creative Europe, etc.). Currently, he is Principal Investigator of the project Isolated People and Communities in Slovenia and Croatia (2022-2025).
In 2019, he published the widely acclaimed book Seen, in which he explains why we are increasingly observed and exposed with the help of smartphones and other devices. In 2020, his book Indoor Anthropology was published, in which he presents to the public how he came to know society and himself during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book Why the World Needs Anthropologists (Routledge, 2021), he brought together the leading experts in the field to highlight the value of anthropology in today's world. In 2022, he published an edited volume entitled Invisible Life of Waste, based on a comparative study of waste management habits in households.
He was awarded twice (2013, 2021) for his scientific work under the Excellence in Science programme of the Slovenian Research Agency. In 2023, he received the Spade of the Year award presented by the Večer newspaper.
Research areas
applied anthropology, digital anthropology, business and organisational anthropology, human-technology interactions, sustainable lifestyle, altruism, volunteering
PODJED, Dan. 2022. Nevidno življenje odpadkov. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC.
PODJED, Dan, Meta GORUP, Pavel BORECKY & Carla GUERRÓN MONTERO (eds). 2021. Why the World Needs Anthropologists. Oxon & New York: Routledge.
PODJED, Dan & Katarina POLAJNAR HORVAT. 'The Invisible Life of Food Waste: The Case of Ljubljana Households.' Traditiones 49 (1): 109-124.
PODJED, Dan. 2020. Antropologija med štirimi stenami: Spoznavanje družbe in sebe med pandemijo. [Indoor Antropology: Getting to Know Society and Oneself During the Pandemic.] Ljubljana: ZRC Publishing House.
ZAVRATNIK, Veronika, Dan PODJED, Jure TRILAR, Nina HLEBEC, Andrej KOS & Emilija STOJMENOVA DUH. 'Sustainable and Community-centred Development of Smart Cities and Villages.' Sustainability 12 (10): 1-17.
PRETNAR, Ajda & Dan PODJED. 2020. 'Data Mining Workspace Sensors: A New Approach to Anthropology.' Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino 59 (1): 179-197,
PODJED, Dan. 2019. Videni: Zakaj se vse več opazujemo in razkazujemo. [Seen: Why We Like Watching Others and Being Watched in Return.] Ljubljana: ZRC Publishing House.
PODJED, Dan & Simona BEZJAK (eds). 2017. Research on the Road: Methodology and Practice of Studying Traffic, Driving Habits, and Sustainable Mobility. Ljubljana: ZRC Publishing House.
PODJED, Dan, Meta GORUP & Alenka BEZJAK MLAKAR. 2016. ‘Applied Anthropology in Europe: Historical Obstacles, Current Situation, Future Challenges.’ Anthropology in Action 23 (2): 53-63.
PODJED, Dan & Saša BABIČ. 2015. ‘Crossroads of Anger: Tensions and Conflicts in Traffic.’ Ethnologia Europaea 45 (2): 17-33.
Young entrepreneurs in times of uncertainty and accelerated optimism: an ethnological study of entrepreneurship and ethics of young people in modern-day Slovenia (fundamental research project • July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2022)
The Invisible Life of Waste: Development of an Ethnography-based Solution for Waste Management in Households (applied project • November 1, 2018 - October 31, 2021)
DriveGreen: Development of an Ecodriving Application for a Transition to a Low-carbon Society (interdisciplinary project • July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2017)
Create to Connect > Create to Impact (international project • September 1, 2018 - August 31, 2022)
SCHOLA: Mentoring for Educators to Evaluate Volunteering (international project • September 11, 2016 - August 31, 2018)