Dijana Mujkanović (she, her)

Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Formerly, I was a visiting researcher and fellow at the Center for Research on Social Memory at the University of Warsaw (Poland), the Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Reconciliation Lab at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), and the Post-Conflict Research Center in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

A mixed-methods scholar with deep regional expertise in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel, I bridge ethnography, survey research, and network analysis to study how people form and sustain relationships across ethnic lines in deeply divided societies. 

My dissertation, Beyond Contact Theory: Personal Cross-Ethnic Networks in Divided Societies, funded by the U.S. Institute of Peace and the American Councils Title VIII Program, introduces a typology of relationship orientations, showing how individual, social, and structural conditions jointly shape intergroup ties. 

Building on the dissertation, my future research  will focus on “connectors”—individuals in mixed marriages, partnerships, and their children—who play a critical role in sustaining cross-ethnic networks and fostering durable intergroup ties.

Alongside this work, my broader research agenda advances interdisciplinary debates on micro-level intergroup dynamics by examining how social memory, especially mnemonic polarization and memory institutionalization, shape intergroup relations. 

Across these projects, I draw on nearly a decade of practitioner experience to integrate scholarly rigor with practical insight, producing research that speaks to both academic debates and policy.