Contact: dubravka.havas@inantro.hr, +38515535124

Academic and Scientific Degrees

  • 2019 – Scientific Associate, Natural sciences, Biology, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science
  • 2012 – Scientific Associate, humanities – ethnology and anthropology
  • 2011 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science; PhD in biology, Thesis Title: Genetic structure of Kvarner Islanders: mitochondrial DNA analysis
  • 2003 – Undergraduate Education: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science (Zagreb, Croatia), B.Sc. in Molecular Biology. Thesis Title: Polymorphism of a three genetic loci in Croatian population

Work Experience

  • 2025. – present – Deputy to Head of Center for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2025 – present  – Head of Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2024. – 2025. – Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Genetics and Microbial Ecology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Croatia
  • 2020. – 2022. – Head of Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2016 – present – Institute for Anthropological Research (Zagreb, Croatia) Scientific Associate
  • 2012 – 2016 Institute for Anthropological Research (Zagreb, Croatia) Senior Research Fellow
  • 2005 – 2011 Institute for Anthropological Research (Zagreb, Croatia) Research Fellow

Work on projects:

  • 2026–2029 – Integration of Science and Tradition for Resilient and Sustainable Food Production in the Era of Climate Change (CLIMAGRIT), Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme 2021–2027, Principal Investigator at the institution.
  • 2026–2027 – INANTRO_Connect – Building Bridges for Excellence in Multiomics, DIGIT “Routes to Synergies”, project associate.
  • 2025–2029 – New Methods in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometriosis (endOMICS), Institute for Anthropological Research, project associate.
  • 2025–2028 – Next Generation AI Researchers for Air Quality Excellence (NextAIRE), Horizon Europe; Coordinator: Institute for Anthropological Research, project associate.
  • 2024–2028 – Applied Bioanthropology in the Study of Ancient and Contemporary Populations in the Republic of Croatia (BioAntroPoP), NextGenerationEU, Institute for Anthropological Research, project associate.
  • 2022 – 2026 project associate, “Evidence-driven improvement of indoor air quality – EDIAQI” (principal investigator: Franscesco Mureddu, The Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness ASBL, Bruxelles, Belgium), HORIZON Europe (HORIZON-HLTH-2021- ENVHLTH -02-02)
  • 2021 – 2022 “Reconstruction of genetic diversity and migratory patterns of late Avar population using ancient DNA analysis”, Joint Excellence in Science and Humanities (JESH), Austrian Academy of Science (PI of the project)
  • 2021 – 2022. “Tracing the Slavic origins of Croatians using ancient genomes”, Joint Excellence in Science and Humanities (JESH), Austrian Academy of Science
  • 2018 – 2019 “Centre for Applied Bioanthropology (BIOANT) “, European fund for Regional Development
  • 2017 “Integrated GWAS and EWAS of Cardiometabolic Traits in an Island Population” (NIH, USA)
  • 2015 – 2018 “Croatian islands’ birth cohort study (CRIBS), Croatian Science Foundation
  • 2013 – 2016. “Genetic and environmental factors of insulin resistance syndrome and its long-term complications in immigrant Mediterranean populations, MEDIGENE”, FP7 projekt
  • 2013 – 2014 “Study of adolescents’ lifestyle habits for obesity, type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention”, Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health
  • 2007 – 2008. “Genetics of Metabolic Syndrome in an Adriatic Island Population” – project of the National Institute of Health, USA in collaboration with Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, USA 2005 – 2011. “Population structure of Croatia – anthropogenetic approach” – Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia

Scientific and Professional Work

  • 2026 – In-house training in third-generation sequencing on the PromethION 2 Solo device, Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology, Centre for Applied Anthropology.
  • 2026 – Training in project management and dissemination competencies, Diadikasia, Athens, Greece, duration: 15 days.
  • 2025 – Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; training in library preparation and third-generation sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore platform.
  • 2022 – Ancient DNA Lab, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna Austria – scientific training in ancient DNA analysis
  • 2021 – Reaserch laboratory for forensic genomics, Department of biological investigation, Forensic science “Ivan Vučetić” Ministry of interior of the Republic of Croatia, scientific training in Next Generation Sequencing, NGS library preparation
  • 2020 – 2021 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Division of Molecular Microbiology, Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health Public Health, scientific training in the field of molecular biology and working on Genolution Nextractor NX-48S, Qiagen EZ1 Advanced XL,  Generotex Nb96 Full Automatic Rotary Nucleic Acid Extractor, Cobas z 480, LightCycler 480 II, ELITe InGenius, VitaPCR,  and working on diagnostic and eradication of COVID-19  epidemic (for 6 months)
  • 2020 in house training for working on llumina MiSeq sekvencer, Agilent 4200 TapeStation i Agilent AriaMx Real-Time PCR System 5, at the Laboratory for molecular anthropology, Centre for applied bioanthropology
  • 2019 Tartu, Estonia, scientific training in Next Generation Sequencing at the Estonian Biocentre, University of Tartu
  • 2018 Montpellier, Francuska, scientific training in Next Generation Sequencing data analysis at the Institute Universitaire de Recherche Clinique (IURC)
  • 2017 workshop “Balkan Forensic DNA Working Group Meeting”, scientific training in forensic and application of population genetics, International Burch University, Sarajevo, BIH
  • 2012. Tartu, Estonia, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu and Estonian Biocentre, scientific training (for one month)
  • 2008.  Tartu, Estonia,  Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu and Estonian Biocentre, scientific training (for three months)
  • 2007.  Zagreb,  workshop «Analysis of molecular diversity»
  • 2006. Budapest, Hungary, University of Budapest, workshop «The 2nd International Tandem Repeat Consortium workshop on the Bioinformatics, Genomics and Functionality of Microsatellites and VNTRs – Microsat 2006»,
  • 2005. Tartu, Estonia,  Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu and Estonian Biocentre, scientific training (for two months)
  • 2005. Zagreb, workshop «Introduction to bioinformatics»

Teaching Experience

  • “Population Genetics”, 2025 –  Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development, University of Rijeka.
  • “Criminalistic technique” – undergraduate programe,Criminalistics (2016 –2017 Police academy, Ministry of interior RH, Zagreb)
  • “Biological Anthropology” – undergraduate programme of Biology (2007, 2010-2014) , Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb
  • “Introduction to Anthropology” – undergraduate programme of Anthropology (2007, 2010-2014) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
  • “Molecular archaeogenetics”  undergraduate programme of Anthropology (2010.-2014), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

Organizational Skills and Competences

Leadership of the Laboratory:

  • 2025–present – Deputy Head of the Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research.
  • 2025–present – Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology, Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research.
  • 2024–2025 – Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Genetics and Microbial Ecology, Centre for Applied Bioanthropology, Institute for Anthropological Research.
  • 2020 – 2022. Head of the Laboratory for Molecular Anthropology at the Centre for Applied Bioanthropology

Organisation of field research:

  • 2023–2024 – Participation in the organization and implementation of field research within the project Evidence-driven Indoor Air Quality Improvement (EDIAQI).
  • 2016 – 2018 Organisation of field research in the project “Croatian islands’ birth cohort study (CRIBS)”.
  • 2017 Organisation of field research in the project “Integrated GWAS and EWAS of Cardiometabolic Traits in an Island Population” and leading of biological laboratory
  • 2014 Organisation of field research in the project “Study of adolescents’ lifestyle habits for obesity, type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention”.
  • 2007 – 2008. Organisation of field research in the project “Genetics of Metabolic Syndrome in an Adriatic Island Population” and leading of biological laboratory

Organisation of international scientific meetings (School of Biological Anthropology and Anthropology and Health)

  • 2026 – 14th ISABS and Mayo Clinic Lectures Conference: Advances in Application of Artificial Intelligence in Precision Medicine,  Member of the Organizing Committee of the international scientific congress, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • 2024 – 13th ISABS Conference on Applied Genetics and Mayo Clinic Lectures in Translational Medicine, Member of the Organizing Committee of the international scientific congress, Split, Croatia.
  • 2022 12th ISABS Conference on Forensic and Anthropologic Genetics and Mayo Clinic Lectures in Individualized Medicine“,organisation board member of the internatioanal scentific conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia
  • 2018 Birth cohorts and intervention strategies for healthy pregnancy – insights from the CRIBS study and other birth cohorts, Hvar, Croatia (secretary)
  • 2016 International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences’s (IUAES) Inter-Congress: World anthropologies and privatization of knowledge: engaging anthropology in public, Dubrovnik, Croatia;
  • 2016 20th Congress of the European Anthropological Association: European Anthropology in a Changing World: From Culture to Global Biology, Zagreb, Croatia.
  • 2007. Molecular Anthropology, Zagreb – Hvar, Croatia
  • 2006 Anthropological Perspectives on Woman and the Obesity Pandemic: Causes, Costs and Controls, Zagreb – Hvar, Croatia
  • 2006 Biological, Cultural and Environmental Linkages: Current Research and Future Trends, Zagreb – Hvar, Croatia
  • 2005 Emerging Era of High Throughput in Population Genetics, Zagreb – Hvar, Croatia

Research Grants:

  • 2021 program Joint Excellence in Science and Humanities (JESH), Austrian Academy of Sciences, for scientific research at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria
  • 2013 European Society for Human Genetics Fellowship for participation at European Human Genetics Conference (Paris, France)
  • 2005, 2008, 2012 ECOGENE stipend for researchers from European commission during the scientific training in Estonian Biocentre

Memberships in Professional Organizations and Associations:

  • Croatian Society of Human Genetics (HDHG)
  • European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG)
  • International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES)
  • International Society for the Study of Human Growth and Clinical Auxology (ISGA)
  • European Anthropological Association (EAA)

Research Interests: Population genetics, molecular anthropology, microbiome, biomedical research, birth cohorts, forensic science, ancient DNA

List of Publications – link