The first meeting between the two leaders confirms the decades-long partnership and paves the way for strategic projects researching the Croatian diaspora
On Monday, September 8, 2025, a meeting of the directors of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, Zdeslav Milas, Mr. Sc., and Director of the Institute for Migration Research, Marina Perić Kaselj, Ph.D., was held, which was also the first working meeting of the leaders of the two institutions after Director Milas assumed his post at the helm of the CHF.
The two leaders confirmed the excellent cooperation between the two institutions up to the present, with an emphasis on planning joint projects for the future. The efforts of the two institutions are guided by the current Cooperation Agreement, with the intention of expanding it in the future into an Agreement that would further emphasize strategic cooperation given their mutual activities over the course of several decades.
During the meeting, CHF Director Zdeslav Milas, M.Sc., particularly emphasized the importance that Matica will provide to future efforts to establish projects related to the scientific research of the activities of Croats outside the Republic of Croatia, i.e. the Croatian diaspora, Croatian minorities and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Matica’s contribution to these activities.
The Institute for Migration Research is the successor of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, which was founded in 1965 under the auspices of the Croatian Heritage Foundation of the time, and was a continuation of the History Department of the Croatian Heritage Foundation. One of the key initiators of the establishment of the Research Institute was Franjo Tuđman, who was, at that time, a member of the Management and Executive Board of the Heritage Foundation and the President of the Heritage Foundation’s Commission on the History of Emigration. Although separating from the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the Institute has remained active within the CHF’s premises until the present.
For 60 years, the Institute and Matica have worked closely on numerous joint projects, which will continue with even greater intensity beginning already this fall with the organization of the 30th Croatian Minorities Forum, as well as in 2026, during which the Croatian Heritage Foundation will mark its 75th anniversary with a series of events and projects. The two directors discussed joint future cooperation, primarily focusing on projects and events where scientific topics will be at the forefront.
Text: CHF/ Ivan Tepeš, Ph.D. Photo: CHF/Marijana Žeželj
