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Ana Žulec Ivanković was born on July 26, 1995 in Zagreb. In Zagreb she graduates from XV. gymnasium (“MIOC”) and the High School for Classical Ballet, thereby obtaining the title of professional classical ballet dancer. After finishing high school education, in 2014 she enrolled in undergraduate psychology at the Catholic University of Croatia, and after that in 2017 she enrolled in graduate psychology at the Catholic University of Croatia. During her studies, she focuses on working with children, through conducting dance workshops for children at the Peščenica Cultural Center and through support in learning at the Augustin Harambašić Primary School, and also shows an interest in scientific work through a student job at the National Center for External Evaluation of Education. During her studies, she actively participates in the promotion of psychology by holding workshops as part of the Psychology Week, and also starts the zam.isli Instagram profile with her colleagues, which aims to promote and bring psychology as a science and profession closer to the wider public. In 2020, she earns her master’s degree in psychology by defending his thesis with the topic ” Some individual determinants of self-esteem of students of art academies”.

After completing her studies, in 2020 she starts working as a Ph.D. student on the research project ” Digital technology in the family: patterns of behaviour and effects on child development” (UIP-2019-04-7547), financed by the Croatian Science Foundation and the Catholic University of Croatia, whose leader is associate professor Marina Merkaš, and is elected to the associate position of assistant at the University Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of Croatia. In the same year, she enrolled in Doctoral Programme in Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Rijeka. While working on the project, she actively participates in the preparation and implementation of four planned studies within the project (qualitative research, longitudinal research, research using the experience sampling method and observation in natural conditions), and also actively prepares and conducts additional research within the project. During 2023, she is a collaborator on two one-year projects (Happiness is Not in Things: The Role of Media, Parents, and Peers in Shaping Materialism in Children and Family and Individual Plan for the Use of Digital Media – Interactive Advisory Website), and during 2024 she actively participates in the project Dance waves, which is carried out by the Peščenica Culture Center.

She has published 7 co-authored scientific papers and has actively participated in two domestic and five international conferences, the most prominent of which is the Society for Research in Adolescence conference, held in Chicago, United States of America, in April 2024. She is continuously improving her knowledge, especially in the field advanced statistical procedures and various statistical programs.

She is a member of the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA), the Society for Ambulatory Assessment (SAA), the Society for Research in Adolescence (SRA), European Association for Developmental Psychology (EADP), where she holds the position of national representative of the Republic of Croatia in the Early Research Union (ERU) and is a member of the Croatian Psychological Chamber.

In her free time, she is an amateur actor and plans to enroll in the Postgraduate Specialist Study of Creative Therapy at the Academy of Arts and Culture of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek.