Tihana Galinac Grbac, Ph.D.
 Full Professor

Faculty of Engineering
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Zagrebačka 30, 52100 Pula, Croatia
e-mail: tihana dot galinac at unipu dot hr

Research Interests

The main focus of her research is on how we can engineer complex software systems to best fit its purpose and needs.

Short Curriculum Vitae

Tihana Galinac Grbac is the professor of computing at the University of Pula.

Previously, she was working for eight years at Ericsson Nikola Tesla (ETK) in Zagreb, and was actively involved in Ericsson Core Network development. With their scholarship, she received the MSc and PhD degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2005 and 2009, respectively. The eight years of experience in R&D projects developing large scale, concurrent, distributed and complex software system that is evolutionary developed as product line, by globally distributed teams have strongly influenced and motivated her research and have served as a platform for experimentation, where she has continuously implemented her research results and is gaining motivation for further research. Her research interests are in the field of Software and Systems Engineering with emphasis on System Concepts and Process Improvements that lead to Reliable and Safe Software Systems Operation.

In 2007 she was offered a position by the rector of the University of Rijeka, Croatia, to support the establishment of the new study program of Computing and contribute to the new research profile in the field of Computing and Computer Science. She participated in the development and realization of the new Study Program of Computer Science, served as the head of this program, head of the Department of Computer Engineering and the industry practice coordinator, established a number of courses for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students including specialist education programs. Finally, she participated in establishment of new Computer Science module within the existing University doctoral study in Technical Sciences. She established the Software Engineering and Information Processing Laboratory (SEIP Lab). She has been actively involved also in numerous strategical projects developing the Primorsko-Goranska County and the City of Rijeka in the ICT field. Therefore, she participated and supported application of numerous projects applying ICT technologies like eCounty, eGovernment, iUrban, CEKOM for Smart City SMART RI.

In 2018 she was again offered a full professor position by the rector, this time of the University of Pula, to establish the new study program of Computing and the research computing profile in the field of Technical sciences. She accepted the new challenge and the new undergraduate study program of Computing started in academic year 2019/2020 and graduate in 2022/2023.

In her scientific research, she is actively performing experimentation within industry context, applying research results and getting motivations for her further research. She initiated Ericsson Nikola Tesla and University of Rijeka cooperation and established collaboration project 'Laboratory and educational support in ICT technologies'. She is actively involved as the leader, management committee member and researcher in a number of research projects funded by European Union, Croatian Science Foundation, Croatian government or industry partners. She established new conference in the field of Software and System Engineering within MIPRO platform with 40 years of tradition in ICT field. The results of her work are continuously published in prestigious international scientific journals and conferences with more than 80 publications in total. She got awarded by the IEEE Croatia Section for her achievements in knowledge application and knowledge transfer from industry to engineering education in the field of Computing. She was elected as one of the top 50 most influential women in ICT in Croatia. She received a special award for her contribution in achieving MIPRO mission. She is a member of the IEEE and ACM. She is married to Neven and have two sons, Mak and Vid, and daughter Lana.

Research Projects

Projects in Computing Education

Projects in Government and Industry


Invited Talks


Selected Publications

Full list of published articles is available in the Croatian Research Information System (CRORIS).