Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec

Kornelija Ajlec is an Associate Professor specializing in modern and contemporary history at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, where she also actively participates in its Center for Public History.

Her research encompasses political, social, and economic history, with a primary focus on the relationships between refugees and international organizations during and after World War II, the post-war reconstruction of Yugoslavia—emphasizing the role of foreign humanitarian and strategic assistance—and the development of the Yugoslav economy in connection with European integration institutions.

In 2024, she assumed leadership of a project on motherhood and reproductive policies in the 19th and 20th centuries, concentrating on the role of mothers and attitudes towards sexuality in Yugoslav refugee camps in Egypt during World War II. As a member of the project on the Rapallo Border, she investigates the issues and consequences of the demarcation of Yugoslav and Italian territories after World War I, particularly focusing on the changes in political, economic, and social life in Slovenia, as reflected in documents from the Paris Peace Conference.

Her previous projects have addressed the delineation of occupation borders in Slovenia during World War II, when the region was divided among four occupying regimes, and the impact of these regimes on the local population. She has dedicated a significant portion of her research to the social and legislative history of state financial aid for families of active and fallen soldiers during World War I in the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy. Additionally, she has examined the role of the United Nations in the independence of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991, and, during the centenary of the University of Ljubljana, she explored the development and relationship of the Faculty of Arts with state institutions.

Since 2016, she has been employed as a lecturer at the Department of History and is a member of the Contemporary History Chair. Since 2021, she has served as the departmental coordinator for doctoral studies, and from 2023, she has been the Chair of the Department of History. She teaches courses in modern global history, the history of the idea of European integration, and social history at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Under her mentorship, 98 undergraduate theses, 34 master's theses, and 5 doctoral dissertations have been completed.

Since 2018, she has been the chief editor of the scientific journal Retrospektive and the vice president of the Association of Historical Societies of Slovenia (currently in her second term). She is a co-organizer of the scientific festival Retrofest: Days of Contemporary History (2023, 2024) and the Gathering of Slovenian Historians (2023, 2025). In 2016, she received a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship, during which she was a guest at the UN Archives, Rollins College, and the National Archives of the United States.

She is a co-author of four exhibitions on the history of women during World War I, nine exhibitions on the occupation borders in Slovenia, as well as an exhibition celebrating the centenary of doctoral degrees at the Faculty of Arts, and an exhibition on the fate of partisan monuments in the former Yugoslavia.

From January 2021 to May 2022, she was privately absent and did not engage in research or teaching activities.

ORCID (0000-0003-1834-7515)     Academia    SICRIS (Slovenian Current Research Information System)

Research Areas:

• Slovenian and Yugoslav history
• History of international organizations
• History of refugees
• History of humanitarian assistance
• History of strategic assistance
• History of reconstruction
• Political and economic history
• World War II
• History of borders and border regions
• History of women

Education:

• 2013: Completion of doctoral studies in history (mentor: Dr. Dušan Nečak) (Bologna)
• 2009: Completion of undergraduate studies in history (mentor: Dr. Dušan Nečak) (pre-Bologna)

Academic Appointments at the University of Ljubljana:

• 2020: Associate Professor for contemporary and modern history
• 2015: Assistant Professor for modern Slovenian and general history
• 2011: Assistant for modern Slovenian and general history

Projects (2013–2025):

• J6-4602: Motherhood and Reproductive Politics in 19th and 20th Centuries (Project Leader, previous leader: Dr. Ana Cergol Paradiž, 2024–30 September 2025, fundamental)
• J6-3124: The Rapallo Border: A Quarter-Century of Existance and a Century of Heritage and Memory (Member, Leader: Dr. Božo Repe, 2023–2024, fundamental)
• J6-8249: Refugees – A Never Ending Story (Member, Leader: Dr. Petra Svoljšak, 2018–2020, fundamental)
• J6-8248: Make this Land German – Italian – Hungarian – Croatian! The Role of the Occupation Border in the Denationalization Policy and the Lives of the Slovene Population (Member, Leader: Dr. Božo Repe, 2017–2020, fundamental)
• J6-6832: Slovene Diplomats and Foreign Policy Aspects of the Independence Process of the Republic of Slovenia, 1980–1992 (Member, Leader: Dr. Jože Pirjavec, 2014–2017, fundamental)
• J6-6834: Women and the First World War (Member, Leader: Dr. Marta Verginella, 2014–2017, fundamental)
• N6-0018: Multicultural Friendships and National Ties at the Crossroads of the Slovenian, Italian, and German Worlds (1848–1941) (Member, Leader: Dr. Marta Verginella, 2013–2016, fundamental)
• J6-4329: Italian Fascist Camps in the Memories of Slovenian Men and Women (Member, Leader: Dr. Oto Luthar, 2013–2014, fundamental)
   
• Formation of Yugoslavia and Yugoslavism in Slovenian and Serbian Narrative Sources (Project Leader, in collaboration with the University of Novi Sad, Leader: Dr. Biljana Šimunović Bešlin, 2018–2020, bilateral small)
• Humanitarianism in Serbian-Slovenian Relations in the 20th Century (Member, Leader: Dr. Darja Kerec, 2023–30 June 2025)
• Mountains and the Shaping of Identity in Slovenia and Montenegro (Member, Leader: Dr. Peter Mikša, in collaboration with the University of Montenegro, Leader: Dr. Ivan Laković, 2018–2020, bilateral small)
• Social, Political, and Economic Development of Slovenia and Macedonia after 1991 (Transformation, Details, and Differences) (Member, Leader: Dr. Bojan Balkovec, in collaboration with the University of Skopje, Leader: Dr. Borče Ilievski, 2017–2019, bilateral small)
• Slovenes and Serbs in Yugoslavia (Member, Leader: Dr. Bojan Balkovec, in collaboration with the University of Belgrade, Leader: Dr. Aleksandar Životić, 2016–2017, bilateral small)

Fellowships:

• Krokodil Association Fellowship as part of the project "Who Started it First? Historians Against Revisionism" for residential stay in Belgrade, 2018 (Recipient, Award: Fellowship awarded based on achievements)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship: Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Rollins College, UN Archives and Records Management Section, and U.S. National Archives, 2016 (Recipient, Award: Fellowship awarded based on application)
• ARIS Fellowship for Young Researchers, 2010–2013 (Recipient, Award: Fellowship awarded based on application)

Other Roles in the Field:

• 2023–present: Chair of the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2021–2023: Deputy Head of the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2021–present: Department Coordinator for the Doctoral Program in Humanities and Social Sciences – History Track
• 2018–present: Vice President of the Association of Historical Societies of Slovenia
• 2018–2021: Department Coordinator for Alumni of History Study Programs
• 2017–present: Member of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2015–2023: Vice President of the Professional Council of the Historical Archives of Ljubljana

Visiting Positions:

• 2019: American University of Beirut, Lebanon
• 2018: University of Novi Sad, Serbia
• 2018: Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, Austria
• 2017: University of Skopje, Macedonia
• 2017: University of Belgrade, Serbia
• 2016: Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, USA
• 2016: Institute for International Exchange (IIE) in Washington D.C., USA
• 2016: University of Belgrade, Serbia
• 2015: Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 2014: University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Membership in Professional Associations:

• 2014–present: Member of the International Consortium for the Study of Post Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation (University of Nottingham)
• 2014–2019: Member of the Joint History Project (Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in South East Europe)

Media:

• Interview by Alja Zora with Kornelija Ajlec: 80 years since the Allied landing in Normandy (2024: expert commentary)
• Interview by Matej Hrastar with Kornelija Ajlec: Slovenia cannot survive long-term without the EU (2024: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Alja Zora, Mateja Peter, Vasilka Sancin, and Kornelija Ajlec: UN: debate club or hope for humanity? (2023: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Andrej Benedejčič, Andrej Stopar, Dušan Mlacović, Jože Pirjevec, Bojan Balkovec, and Kornelija Ajlec: Ukraine (2022: expert commentary)
• Interview by Alja Zora with Aleksander Lorenčič, Božo Repe, and Kornelija Ajlec: "Heroes of struggle should be followed by heroes of labor!" (2021: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Božo Repe, Božidar Flajšman, Bojan Balkovec, Boris Vezjak, Roman Kuhar, Aleksander Lorenčič, and Kornelija Ajlec: Where are we 30 years later: Part 1 (2021: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Bojan Balkovec, Božo Repe, Irena Selišnik, and Kornelija Ajlec: Let’s go for victory!: Slovenians at elections from the beginnings of parliamentarism to today (2020: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Goran Dekleva, Kornelija Ajlec, Bojan Godeša, and Egon Pelikan: Roots of World War II: on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, we ask what actually caused the greatest calamity in history? (2020: expert commentary)
• Interview with Kornelija Ajlec and Tone Smole: History of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana (2020: expert commentary)
• Discussion by Dušan Bern, Kornelija Ajlec, Božo Repe, Damijan Guštin, and Bojan Godeša: 80 years since the start of World War II: geopolitical power relations and the development of events in the first days and weeks after the occupation of Poland (2019: expert commentary)

Doctoral Supervision:

• KRASNIĆ, Petra Kim. Ruska emigracija v Jugoslaviji med letoma 1918 in 1941  [Russian Emigration in Yugoslavia between 1918 and 1941]: Doctoral Dissertation. Ljubljana: [P. K. Krasnić], 2024. 372 pages, illustrations. [COBISS.SI-ID 209934595]. Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec.
• KONOVŠEK, Tjaša. Slovenska politična tranzicija med letoma 1989 in 2004  [Slovenian Political Transition between 1989 and 2004]: Doctoral Dissertation. Ljubljana: [T. Konovšek], 2022. XIV, 361 pages, illustrations. [COBISS.SI-ID 135886595]. Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec.
• VEHAR, Maja. Spolna vzgoja v Sloveniji od spremembe družbenopolitičnega sistema po drugi svetovni vojni do konca 60. let  [Sex Education in Slovenia from the Change of the Socio-Political System after World War II until the Late 1960s]: Doctoral Dissertation. Ljubljana: [M. Vehar], 2021. [16], 399 pages, illustrations. [COBISS.SI-ID 81118211]. Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec.
• KLOMP, Jasper. The Relations Between Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic from 1968 until 1990: Doctoral Thesis. Ljubljana: [J. Klomp], 2021. 375 pages, tables. [COBISS.SI-ID 54513667]. Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec.
• LUKANC, Maja. Jugoslovansko-poljski odnosi med letoma 1945 in 1956  [Yugoslav-Polish Relations between 1945 and 1956]: Doctoral Dissertation. Ljubljana: [M. Lukanc], 2020. [8], 398 pages, illustrations. University of Ljubljana Repository – RUL. [COBISS.SI-ID 31817475]. Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Kornelija Ajlec.