ABOUT THE INCUBATOR

The Scientific and Research Incubator (ZINK) is the first BiH incubator that operates as part of the NIRSA Centre, as a form of scientific and research work of young researches at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo. The incubator is registered as a scientific and research organisation in the European Commission’s 7^th Framework Programme. The Incubator publishes the SOPHOS journal, indexed at three international scientific bases (in the US and in Europe).

Programme

I PROGRAMME PLATFORM OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND RESEARCH INCUBATOR

In the developed countries of the EU, at institutes and universities, students, assistants and young researchers are an equal subject not only in education but also in scientific and research activities. The European Community (in the 6^th and 7^th Framework Programme) set out three new instruments for scientific research: networks of excellence, integrated projects, and scientific and research incubators.   

Humanistic principles of psychology as a science and the needs of our society lie at the core of the mission of the CENTRE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND COUNSELLING (CPIES). Activities of CPIES are geared towards applying developments in psychology as a catalyst for social development, quality of life improvement, development and improvement of human potential and stimulating the development of individual wellbeing.

CPIES has been intended to act as a centre for scientific research, educational and counselling activities proposed, conceived and realised by teaching staff at the Department of Psychology or in cooperation with other institutions and organisations.

Three basic groups of activities can be planned and implemented as part of CPIES:

1. Scientific research activities (Implementation of fundamental and applicative scientific research projects at the proposal and in coordination with the Department, independently or in cooperation with individuals or institutions).
2. Educational activities (e.g. commercial educational activities intended for training psychologists and other experts in specific areas such as: application of psychological tests and techniques, psychological education for existing and future teachers, successful learning and teaching, training for teachers on how to work with children with special needs, improving communication competencies, assertiveness training, etc; education activities aimed at improving the competencies of students in fundamental and applied areas of psychology).
3. Counselling activities (e.g. counselling work with different target populations, primarily students, teaching and scientific staff, organisations and companies; counselling work with students with learning problems and difficulties, as well as others experiencing different work adjustment problems or problems in everyday life; counselling for companies and managers in the candidate selection process and human resource development, etc.).

Publishing represents another important activity of the Centre, primarily the publishing of the results of research conducted within the Centre, but also of scientific research papers by scientists, researchers and practitioners presented as part of the SARAJEVO PSYCHOLOGY DAYS organised by the Department of Psychology every two years. Where necessary, the Centre can also organise activities on preparing monographs, handbooks, books, etc.

The Center for Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Languages ​​was founded in 2014 as one of the organizational units of the Center for Scientific Research and Expert Activities of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (NIRSA).

The activities of the Center are related to research, teaching and services.

1. The goals of scientific research within the Center are:

• strengthening the research capacities of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo in the field of language science,
• asserting and promoting new scientific knowledge and approaches to language description,
• planning and execution of linguistic research projects,
• finding quality ways and methods for teaching Bosnian as a mother tongue and Bosnian as a second or foreign language,
• producing quality language resources (textbooks, dictionaries, corpora, advisors, instructions, journals, proceedings, atlases, guides, translations and other publications),
• organizing public events (conferences, round tables, promotions, discussions, consultations, etc.) dedicated to linguistic issues.

2. The Center organizes and conducts various forms of teaching (which are not normally performed within the teaching activities of the Department of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian language):

• teaching and testing knowledge of Bosnian as a second or foreign language,
• training for lecturers, teachers, translators or others who are interested, through workshops, seminars, courses, counseling, etc.

In addition to organizing its own teaching, the goal of the Center is to advocate and propose quality curricula of other educational institutions and to act on other processes related to language teaching or language policy in general, in accordance with the vision and mission of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo.

3. The Center can provide various types of language-related services, such as proofreading or language counseling.

In achieving its goals, the Center strives to achieve scientific excellence, visibility and networking with other related organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.

About the Centre

Activities of the Centre for Permanent Development and Lifelong Learning are aimed at facilitating and implementing different forms of training and professional development through lifelong learning. The “right of the citizen” to education in a society that is learning, as well as the right of the citizen to be allowed to “influence education as a public good” lie at the core of the Centre’s activities. The Centre therefore respects both approaches, one using formal and predefined forms of lifelong learning as a starting point and the other using the needs of potential candidates as a starting point and allowing them through its flexible approaches and programmes to satisfy their needs for lifelong learning. The Centre organises activities on the education of experts from different fields and the development of necessary competencies for the successful and quality pedagogical-psychological and didactic-methodological work in teaching. The Centre focusses on working with pedagogues, teachers from primary and secondary schools, university assistants and teachers, staff of SOS villages, non-governmental organisations, etc.

Projects

A number of projects, in most cases led by members of the Department of Pedagogy, in cooperation with colleagues from other departments, have been implemented within the Centre so far. These projects include:

UNICEF – Intercultural education on didactics and teaching methods in higher education, MDG Culture for Development. The project has been completed. 10 assistants from non-teaching faculties have been trained and issued certificates following the completion of pedagogical training.

PON – Pedagogical Education of Teachers. 109 secondary school teachers from all fields, including engineers, physicians, economists, psychologists and others attended education over two academic years (2011/2012 academic year and 2012/2013 academic year) and 106 of them completed the training. During this period the project was funded by the Open Society Foundations Soros and candidates’ contributions. The PON project is implemented every year and now it is solely funded from payments by programme participants.

GLOBED – Master on Education Policies for Global Development. A number of universities worked on the development of this programme, including the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Oslo, the University of Malta and the University of Sarajevo, which aims to become an international reference programme for future master’s degree holders in globalisation, education and development. The project is funded by the EU as part of Erasmus Mundus Programme.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES – School Libraries as a Means to Develop a Democratic Society through Strengthening Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning is a project implemented together by members of two departments: the Department of Pedagogy and the Department of Comparative Literature and Librarianship. The project is financed by the American Office of Public Affairs.

The training of teaching staff at the University in Sarajevo for the delivery of the Bologna process with a view to improving the quality of the education process (curricula, syllabi…) is a project developed and implemented primarily by members of the Department of Pedagogy. Work on this Project created opportunities for the exchange of experiences, it improved the understanding of basic terms concerning the teaching process, it provided information on ways to improve the development and application of syllabi and it encouraged teachers to make a step forward and improve their personal teaching process, consequently raising the level of quality of education at the tertiary level. This Project aimed at strengthening individuals in the area of teacher competencies and ensuring the quality of the teaching process for which every teacher/assistant has the primary responsibility. The FBiH Ministry of Education and Science financed the project together with the Faculty.

The Centre for Foreign Languages organises courses of foreign languages taught at the Faculty of Philosophy, certified foreign language skills assessments and specialised language courses.

Specialised courses also include conference interpretation training. State-of-the-art interpretation equipment (Brahler) and booths meeting international standards are used in the training delivered by seasoned professional interpreters who have also been designated as trainers of the Directorate-General for Interpretation (SCIC). Training is provided for English, German and French.

Certified English language skills assessment is intended for all those who wish to obtain an internationally recognised certificate and it is organised in cooperation with the British Council. The APTIS system, used by universities in Europe and internationally, serves as a platform for testing knowledge. The prices are affordable as testing is intended for students of the University of Sarajevo applying for exchange programmes, but it is also available to the general population. The British Council and the Faculty of Philosophy issue the certificate together which is internationally recognised and can be used for professional and academic purposes (job applications, scholarship applications, academic exchange, etc.).

Starting with the 2018/2019 academic year, the Centre will also begin to provide courses in languages not studied so far (Roma, Ladino, Hebrew), as well as specialised language courses (English for academic purposes, English for lawyers, etc.).

The Institute for Literature and Cultural Studies is an organisational subunit of the Centre for Scientific Research and Expert Activities of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University in Sarajevo (NIRSA) and is currently the only scientific and research institution of its kind, after the termination of the former Institute for Literature in Sarajevo (founded 1966 – ended activities in 1992).

The main activities of the Institute are literary-theoretical, literary-historical, comparative and poetic research, that is, studying and interpretation of literary and cultural phenomena in the broadest sense, both in the field of literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina / literatures of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the field of foreign literature / literature in foreign languages – Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian, Latin, German, Persian, Russian (and other Slavic languages), Spanish, Turkish…, and a special attention is placed on creating preconditions for the preparation of the history of literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The institute also publishes scientific and critical works by domestic and foreign writers and literary translations, and it develops description of archival collections.  

Scientific and research activities of the institute are implemented through scientific and research projects realised either independently, or in cooperation with other relevant institutions in the country or abroad. The Institute is a literary-scientific base of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, and members of the academic staff in the relevant fields and areas participate in the projects in the corresponding fields and areas of research, with the option of engaging external associates as well. With full respect of the autonomy in the scientific and research endeavour, the Institute is open for different scientific and research subjects and approaches, as well as for the individual, and team research, including multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research, and especially for domestic and international scientific and research cooperation. The scientific and research activities of the Institute also include organisation of scientific events – roundtables, conferences, congresses, symposiums, etc., be it individual or related to certain scientific and research projects of the Institute, which is also home to several lines of publishing activities – the Godišnjak journal (an annual serial of the Institute), as well as Zbornici, Radovi and Posebna izdanja (monographs of the Institute).

Professional activities are also organised at the Institute, especially those aimed at lifelong learning and professional development of teachers and professors of literature, as well as other target groups, especially through seminars, workshops, and other educational programmes and development programmes.  

The Institute for Literature and Cultural Studies places special importance on developing young scientific staff, bringing together and guiding young researchers and scientists, as well as cooperation with other organisational subunits of the NIRSA Centre, departments and chairs of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, as well as cooperation with other similar scientific, cultural, and educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad.

The Institute for Archaeology was established at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo in 2013 and is one of the subunits of the Centre for Scientific Research and Expert Activities of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo (NIRSA Centre).

The Institute covers all activities that can be linked to archaeology as a science, but also to the preservation and protection of archaeological heritage.

Consequently, the Institute organises and implements, either independently or in cooperation with other institutions and associations, different forms of archaeological heritage research, primarily geophysical non-invasive research, as well as the assessment of archaeological potential in the area being researched. In addition to these activities, the Institute also organises protective and systematic research of archaeological sites.

The Institute is also active in organising and implementing scientific work and developing scientific research methods in the field of archaeology. Through its activities, the Institute contributes to the development and promotion of diverse cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the surrounding countries. Students from the Chair of Archaeology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo and other universities in the region, as well as young professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region working in the field of cultural heritage, participate in the implementation of activities of the Institute for Archaeology. This helps develop scientific and professional staff and young researchers. The Institute cooperates with scientific and expert institutions in the country and abroad through projects at the national and international level. It is also important to note that the Institute for Archaeology possesses publishing capacities and capacities for organising scientific events.

All the listed activities take place at archaeological sites spanning different chronological periods of human history, i.e. sites from Prehistory, Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the New Age.

The Institute for Archaeology applies all contemporary methods and an interdisciplinary approach to archaeological science during all research activities at archaeological sites and in other scientific work. In carrying out non-invasive research, the Institute for Archaeology uses modern geophysical equipment to determine the present state of the archaeological site without damaging it. Aerial photography images are also used for this purpose.

As a scientific research institution, the Institute for Archaeology is able to perform evaluations, provide expert opinion, prepare scientific and research programmes, studies and reports in the field of archaeology.

Since its establishment in 2013, the Institute for Archaeology has participated in the implementation of the international project Tempus BIHERIT (530755-TEMPUS-1- 2012-1-BA-TEMPUS-JPCR) and in numerous archaeological research activities as part of it.