Dr. Marijanca Ajša Vižintin is employed at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Slovenian Migration Institute. She obtained her PhD in Education Sciences from the Faculty of Education at University of Ljubljana, in 2013. Using an interdisciplinary approach, she deals with the challenges of integration, with a special emphasis on the inclusion of migrant children and the development of intercultural competence among teachers and educators, cooperation with parents and local organisations. She also researches the emigration of Slovenians and their cultural organizations.
She serves as co-editor of the scientific journal Dve domovini/Two Homelands https://ojs.zrcsazu.si/twohomelands (2024–2027, 2013–2014). She coordinated the five-year European Social Fund Project Le z drugimi smo/Only (with) others are we (2016–2021), which engaged 10,208 educational workers across five 16-hour seminars https://lezdrugimismo.si/, and led the analysis titled The Inclusion and Support for Immigrant Children in Preschools and Schools in Slovenia “Vključevanje in delo z otroki priseljenci v vrtcih in šolah v Sloveniji”, a project of the Analytical Center for the Ministry of Education (2024–2025).
As an assistant professor at the University of Nova Gorica, she lectures in the international master's program European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations (EMMIR), module Intercultural Education) at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and at Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU, Slovenia, program Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures, Migration Studies Module, course Inclusion of Migrant Children.
Marijanca Ajša Vižintin's research encompasses areas such as plurilingualism, hyphenated identity, belonging, culture, integration, inclusion, drawing on sociolinguistics and intercultural pedagogy. She promotes the preservation of mother tongues among both immigrants and emigrants.
Among her key achievements contributions are two monographs: The Role of Teachers in the Successful Integration and Intercultural Education of Migrant Children (2022) and Medkulturna vzgoja in izobraževanje: vključevanje otrok priseljencev [Intercultural Education] (2017). She also co-authored the chapter “Organiziranost in življenjske zgodbe slovenskih izseljencev in izseljenk” [Organization and Life Stories of Slovenian Emigrants] in the monograph Slovenske selitve v socializmu [Slovenian Migration under Socialism] (2024).
She is involved in a number of domestic and international projects on migration-related issues, and actively participates in Slovenian and international conferences. She regularly publishes research and professional articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals. In her supervisory role, she mentors master’s students in the completion of their theses. Her work extends beyond academia through active collaboration with research institutions, universities, professional organisations, and governmental ministries, both in Slovenia and internationally. She frequently contributes to scholarly and public discourse by participating in conferences, roundtables, lectures, and workshops, where she addresses key issues in migration and intercultural education, tests theoretical frameworks in practice, shares examples of good practice, and advocates for a more inclusive and intercultural society.
Employments
ZRC SAZU (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Art Slovenian Migration Institute), Slovenian Migration Institute (2015–, 2011–2014); University of Nova Gorica, School of Humanities (2018–); Medkulturni inštitut / Intercultural Institute (2015); University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, and University of Nova Gorica, School of Humanities (2009–2011); Primary School DBB Hrpelje Kozina (2003–2009)
Visiting Appointments and Fellowships
- University of Verona, Centre for Intercultural Studies, Italy (Januar-April 2026)
- Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China (April 2024);
- Ohio State University, Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Columbus, USA (March 2023)
- Relais Culture Europe Association, Paris, France (October 2021)
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša (avtor, urednik), MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam, GOSTIČ, Maja, GOMBAČ, Jure, LUKŠIČ-HACIN, Marina, 2026. Vključevanje in delo z otroki priseljenci v vrtcih in šolah v Sloveniji: analiza stanja: končno raziskovalno poročilo. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za vzgojo in izobraževanje, 1 spletni vir. Kakovost v vzgoji in izobraževanju. https://zakakovost.si/files/2026/02/Analiza_priseljenci.pdf
KERN, Boris, VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2025. Učenje slovenskega jezika in ohranjanje slovenske kulture v Bosni in Hercegovini [Learning the Slovenian Language and Preserving Slovenian Culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina]. Dve domovini / Two Homelands 62, 269–293, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.3986/2025.2.14.
KOŽAR ROSULNIK, Klara, LUKŠIČ-HACIN, Marina, VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2024. Mednarodno kroženje in izmenjava najvišje izobraženih ali beg možganov [Brain Circulation and Brain Exchange or Brain Drain?]. Dve domovini / Two Homelands 60, 161-180, DOI: 10.3986/2024.2.09.
MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam, VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2024. Organiziranost in življenjske zgodbe slovenskih izseljencev in izseljenk. V: LUKŠIČ-HACIN, Marina (ur.). Slovenske selitve v socializmu. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2024, 145–254. Migracije, 32, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/9789610509103
KOŽAR ROSULNIK, Klara, VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2024. Intercultural education and mother tongues of immigrant children: the case of Slovenia. European journal of inclusive 3/1, 185–199, https://tidsskrift.dk/ejie/article/view/146801, DOI: 10.7146/ejie.v3i1.146801.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2022. The role of teachers in the successful integration and intercultural education of migrant children. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, KERN, Boris, 2022. Začetni tečaj slovenščine in medkulturni dialog pri vključevanju otrok priseljencev [Integration of immigrant children in Slovenia: Intensive Slovenian language courses for beginners and possibilities for intercultural dialogue] . Dve domovini / Two Homelands 56, 131–148, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/dd.2022.2.10.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša, 2021. Začetki dopolnilnega pouka slovenskega jezika in kulture v Nemčiji v 20. stoletju [The beginnings of mother tongue lessons of Slovenian language and culture in Germany in the twentieth century]. Dve domovini / Two Homelands 54, 189–204, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/dd.2021.2.14.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. 2019. Bosnian language lessons as the mother tongue of immigrants and their descendants in Slovenia [Dopolnilni pouk bosanskega jezika in kulture za bošnjaške priseljence in njihove potomce v Sloveniji]. V: ŠUŠKO, Dževada (ur.). Both Muslim and European: diasporic and migrant identities of Bosniaks (Muslim minorities, vol. 30). Leiden; Boston: Brill, 124–147, https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/54445.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. 2018. Developing intercultural education [Razvoj medkulturne vzgoje in izobraževanja]. Dve domovini / Two Homelands 47, 89–106, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/dd.2018.1.06.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. 2017. Medkulturna vzgoja in izobraževanje: vključevanje otrok priseljencev [Intercultural education: Inclusion of migrant children], Migracije 27. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC SAZU, 2017.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. 2016. (Im)migrant and ethnic minority literature in education curricula in Slovenia [Priseljenska in manjšinska književnost v slovenskih učnih načrtih]. CLCWeb: comparative literature and culture 18/1, http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol18/iss1/7/, doi: 10.7771/1481-4374.2763.
VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. 2015. Prepoznavanje kulturne mešanosti in sestavljene identitete znotraj državnih meja [The recognition of cultural mixedness and hyphenated identity inside state borders]. Annales, Series historia et sociologia 25/1, 211–222.
- Inclusion and Work with Immigrant Children in Preschools and Schools in Slovenia: An Analysis of the Current Situation (research project • October 24, 2024 - August 31, 2025)
- Effective mobility for scientific excellence in the European Research Area: The case of Slovenia (research project • October 1, 2022 - September 30, 2024)
- Made in YU: How nonhumans activated Yugoslavia (research project • January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022)
- Population Medicine and Sustainable Development: European Opportunities in collaborating with China to improving global health (international research project • January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2026)
- Only (with) others are we (applied project • May 13, 2016 - September 30, 2021)
- National and Cultural Identity of Slovenian Emigration in the Context of Migration Studies (research programme • January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2027)
- Trans-making – Art / culture / economy to democratize society. Research in placemaking for alternative narratives (international research project • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2020)
- Social, economic and cultural history of Slovenian emigration (1945–1991) (fundamental research project • May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2020)
- OUT SIDE IN – Inclusive Adult Education for Refugees (international project • September 1, 2015 - August 1, 2018)
- PREDIS – Prevention of Early Dropout of VET Through Inclusive Strategies of Migrants and Roma (international project • September 1, 2015 - September 30, 2018)
- EDUKA – Educating for Diversity (international project • October 1, 2011 - September 30, 2014)
- ZRC SAZU Silver Award for a top-level PhD in humanities, 2014
- Chair of the Commission of the Slovenian Research Initiative (SRI), a joint body of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), the Society for Slovene Studies (SSS), and the Center for Slavic and East European Studies at Ohio State University, USA (2025–)
- Deputy Chair of the ZRC SAZU Awards and Recognitions Commission (2024–)
- Co-editor of the scientific journal Dve domovini / Two Homelands (https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands) (2024–2027; 2013–2014)
- Member of the International Editorial Board of the scientific journal Migracijske i etničke teme [Migration and Ethnic Themes], Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia (2025–)
- Chair (2021–2025) and member (2015–2020) of the Sodobnost International commission for the Sončnica na rami Award [Sunflower on the Shoulder], KUD Sodobnost International, international prize for exceptional achievements in promoting the joy of reading and developing reading literacy among children and youth.