Prof. Nataša Nater Drvenkar, PhD is employed at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, where she is the co-lecturer of the Macroeconomics course, the lecturer of the Croatian and European Economy course, as well as courses related to regional economics, industrial policy, and the international environment. She is a Special Advisor to the Minister, Ms Nataša Mikuš Žigman, and was an advisor to the Minister, Mr Šime Erlić, on issues regarding the regional development of the Republic of Croatia at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. For two academic years, she held the position of Vice Dean for External Relations, International Cooperation, and Projects. She was a member of the Working Group of the President of the Republic of Croatia for drafting guidelines for further fiscal decentralisation and regional development of the Republic of Croatia, the Working Group for Competitiveness, Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Crafts Development, and the Working Subgroup for Assisted and Mountainous Areas for drafting the National Development Strategy until 2030. Since 2023 (to date), she has been the editor of the MRRFEU brochure "Regional Development in Croatia" (link).
She has organised and launched a series of popular science conferences and participated as a panellist/moderator at conferences organised by other institutions. She successfully collaborates with the Croatian Chamber of Economy (providing expert support for publications Counties – Developmental Diversity and Economic Potential since 2018, among other areas). She is a member of the Croatian Economic Association (link), XEnergy Network for the Promotion of Women in Energy Transition (link), the Croatian Governance and Management Association (CCGM) (link), ERSA (link), and the Regional Studies Association (link).
She is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence during her undergraduate studies at the time: she belonged to the top 5% of students in her cohort at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek, was awarded the Rector's Award for the 2004/2005 academic year, received a commendation from the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports for successful students in 2004, won 1st place for the best graduation thesis as part of the International Economic Meeting "Italy and Croatia: Investing in Slavonia" in 2007, and received recognition from the Kopački Rit Public Institution for exceptionally successful cooperation in 2006. In the 2013/2014 academic year, she initiated and launched a voluntary student internship project across five Slavonian counties in cooperation with the HUP Regional Office in Osijek, for which the Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek received recognition (2014–2020) and served as inspiration for the Private Sector Youth Initiative project (EBRD and HUP). Furthermore, the project expanded to other university constituents. She broadened the initiative by establishing cooperation with five Slavonian regional coordinators to enable students to gain internships in the field of regional development and EU funds. Consequently, from 2014 to 2022, she developed the voluntary student internship project and served as the head of faculty teams in this area. In 2019, she received the Croatian Woman of Influence Award from the Croatian Women's Network based on a nomination. She is one of the founders and the first president of the Rotary Club Virovitica. Within Rotary District 1913, she held several positions (Assistant Governor for 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, and member of the RI Empowering Girls Ambassadors).
