Dr Steven Hadley is an award-winning cultural policy scholar currently based at De Montfort University, Leicester. His research asks how discourses are constructed and articulated within the context of enabling democratic access to culture. He is the author of Audience Development and Cultural Policy (2021) as well as numerous academic publications and is Editor of several Routledge books including Cultural Leadership in Practice and Audience Data and Research. He is Co-Editor in Chief of Cultural Trends and sits on the Steering Committee of the Cultural Research Network and the Editorial Board of Arts and the Market. He has given invited talks at the National Portrait Gallery, London, the European Parliament in Brussels, the Ministries of Culture in both Paris and Santiago de Chile, and on numerous global media platforms. Steven has worked in over thirty countries internationally and is an Associate Consultant with Counterculture (UK), The Audience Agency (UK) and the Danish Centre for Art & Interculture (Denmark).
Dr Ana Žuvela is a researcher at the Department of Culture and Communications at the Institute for Development and International Relations. Ana graduated from Birmingham City University (Birmingham Conservatoire) as a concert pianist and furthered her education at the University College Dublin with MA studies in cultural policy and arts management. She gained her PhD at the University of Zadar with a dissertation on decentralisation and participatory governance practices in Croatia. Ana's professional trajectory is paved with engagements on numerous research projects and cooperations with the supra-national, national and local actors, from the European Parliament, UN, and UNESCO to Foundation Kultura nova, Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, as well as a line of local administrations in Croatia and abroad. Her research interests encompass socially and environmentally responsible cultural policies, new approaches to the democratisation of cultural policy, devolution of power in cultural policy and new models of cultural governance. She is a member of the ENCATC's Governing Board, ENCATC's The European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy Advisory Board, and the Zagreb Philarmonic Orchestra's Governing Board.
Dr Milena Stefanović is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where she teaches Strategic Management, Marketing, Creative Entrepreneurship, and Cultural Economics. With more than fifteen years of managerial experience in the private, international, and civil sectors, she has expertise in advocacy, public diplomacy, and capacity-building methodology. She earned her PhD at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, completed her Master’s degree in Public Management at the University of Bocconi (SDA Bocconi) in Milan, and obtained her undergraduate degree from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade.
She is fluent in English and Italian.
Doc. Dr. Nataša Krivokapić works at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić, within the Sociology Study Program, where she teaches courses in the methodology of sociological research, sociology of everyday life, and gender studies. She has pursued professional development and conducted research at several international universities, including those in Tromsø, Oslo, Berkeley, Moscow, and Leuven.

She has participated as a coordinator, project leader, and researcher in numerous international and national projects in the fields of education, democracy, migration, and homelessness. She is the national coordinator for Montenegro in the ERASMUS+ projects BEWBU and U2SID, and a member of the Management Committee of the COST Action EUPopLink. She is the editor of the academic journal Sociološka luča.

She also holds important roles in scientific and professional bodies, including the Mediterranean Association for the Sociology of Tourism, the Committee for Philosophy and Sociology of CANU, and various international research collaboration programs.

Virdžinija Đeković Miketić is a researcher in culture and media and an activist. She is an assistant and PhD student at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (Cultural and Media Management), and a research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (Perspect Lab). With over fifteen years of experience in the civil sector, she has led numerous cultural projects at national and international levels, focusing on urban cultural heritage and the mapping of local community histories. She has also been active in public advocacy initiatives related to cultural policy and deliberative practices.

She previously worked for more than a decade in media as a radio presenter and communications professional, and now works as a consultant for project development. Her research focuses on public media and cultural policies, particularly the role of the civil sector in strategic planning and decision-making. She is a member of the informal initiative “Community of Arts and Culture” and collaborates with the UNESCO civil sector committee within the framework of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Moderator:

Dr Nataša Kraljević is the Director of ISCA: Institute for Science, Culture and Arts, and a lecturer at the Faculty of Visual Arts at the “Mediterranean” University in Podgorica. She earned her PhD in Marketing in Culture with the dissertation titled “Comparative Analysis of Cultural Diplomacy and Communication in Montenegro and Italy” at the Faculty of Economics and Business. As a Chevening Scholar of the UK Government, she completed her Master’s studies in Festival and Arts Management and Cultural Management at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She also holds an LL.M degree in Intercultural Human Rights from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, USA, while her undergraduate studies were completed at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montenegro in Podgorica. Since 2022, she has served as a national expert on cultural policy within the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends network.

Within ISCA, she organizes the ARSUM University International Conference, which this year celebrates its fifth consecutive edition and is being held for the first time in the form of a symposium.