The Croatian Institute of History, including the Branch for the History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja in Slavonski Brod, is the largest public scientific institute in the scientific field of humanities by the number of scientists and junior researchers, and the central public institute in the Republic of Croatia, whose basic activity (mission) is the scientific study of the history of the Croatian people in the territory of the Republic of Croatia and beyond, and the study of the history of the peoples of Southeast and Central Europe. Since its founding in 1961 under the name Institute for the History of the Workers’ Movement, it has systematically expanded its areas of research, which is evident from the change of name in 1990 to the Institute for Contemporary History and in 1996 to the Croatian Institute of History.

The Institute was founded to implement scientific research programs as a public service in scientific activity, whose task is to implement scientific programs of strategic interest for the Republic of Croatia and establish scientific infrastructure for the system of science and higher education.

The Institute primarily achieves its mission by:

• by carrying out ongoing scientific and research activities

• by performing scientific and research activities on contracted projects

• by performing scientific research activities in collaborative scientific programs.

In addition to scientific and research activities, the Institute’s work also includes providing research and advisory services; preparing professional reports and expert opinions, cooperating with other related institutions and universities in the field of historical science and teaching; publishing activities; organizing congresses, scientific conferences, round tables and other forms of public presentations of its scientific work to the public; organizing library, documentation and information services, which are necessary for the Institute’s scientific and research work.

We see the Croatian Institute of History as a top-notch autonomous scientific and research institution that will continue to be confirmed as a leading national historiographic institution during this strategic period, but will also profile itself as a recognizable European and regional center for research into the history of Central and Southeast Europe, especially in the topics profiled through the Strategic Plan of the Croatian Institute of History . The fundamental values ​​that will guide the Institute on its path towards achieving its vision will be high quality scientific work, intellectual freedom, relevance, ethics in the approach to scientific work, rationality and transparency of work, as well as an attempt to make the most of EU funds based on the achievement of some of the goals outlined through three supporting pillars. EU framework program for research and innovation – Horizon Europe (I. Excellent science, II. Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness, III. Innovative Europe). Furthermore, part of the institute’s research potential must certainly be directed towards innovations in historical research, since the focus of the program Horizon Europe are innovation and open science, and innovation is one of the priorities National development strategies (NRS 2030) and of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO). In this sense, one should certainly keep in mind the possibility of creating a framework and process for so-called smart specializations, as suggested by the National Strategy for Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia and National Education System Development Plan for the period 2021-2027 (NPRSO) .