Dr. Tihomir Žiljak holds a bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. At the Public Open University Zagreb, he founded and headed the Department for Development, Lifelong Learning and EU Programmes. He is the author and expert associate in several projects within the CARDS programme, IPA programme, European Social Fund and Erasmus programme, which dealt with inclusive policy for people with disabilities, the elderly and the long-term unemployed. He is the national ambassador of the Erasmus+ programme. His research interests include education policies, social policies, cultural policies, public policies in the EU and Croatia. Over the past decade, he has taught or is teaching at graduate, specialist and doctoral studies at the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Political Science, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation) and at the University of Mostar (Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Science and Education). He teaches Public Policies at the postgraduate doctoral study Prevention Science and Disability Study at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation in Zagreb (since 2012). With his presentations in the aforementioned fields, he has participated in dozens of conferences at home and abroad. He has published and edited several books on topics in these fields and has written chapters in books published by Croatian and foreign publishers. He has published dozens of articles in Croatian and foreign journals on adult education, the inclusion of people with disabilities and the elderly, and local cultural policies. Since 2011, he has been a member of the Academic Network of European Experts on Persons with Disabilities (based in the Netherlands). He regularly participates in the research work of this network. He is one of the founders and a board member of the Network for Adult Learning, Social Participation and Intergenerational Dialogue (DANET), based in Ulm (Germany). He has served as president on several occasions and is currently vice president of the Croatian Andragogy Society. He has been active in the Advisory Council of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities since its establishment.
