Dr Janja Komljenovic

Senior Lecturer in Education Futures

Biography

Background

I am a Senior Lecturer in Digital Futures at the Centre for Research in Digital Education. My research focuses on the political economy of higher education digitalisation; the digitalisation, datafication, and platformisation of universities; and new forms of economic and social value in digital higher education. My approach intersects economic sociology, science and technology studies, and higher education research. I have published internationally on higher education policy, higher education markets, and educational technology. I act as a consultant on various international higher education policy projects, is an evaluator of national quality assurance agencies, and a member of international organisations’ committees.

Qualifications

PhD, 2016, University of Bristol

Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Responsibilities & affiliations

Present: 

Past:

Postgraduate teaching

On the MSc in Digital Education, I lead the Critical Data and Education course.

Learn more about the Critical Data and Education course

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Research summary

  • Digitalisation, platformisation and datafication of universities
  • Political economy of education digitalisation
  • Policy and governance of technology and digital data in higher education
  • Assetisation and the social, economic, legal and cultural dimensions of digitalisation
  • Digital markets and digital economy in education, EdTech industry, EdTech actors
  • Privatisation and commercialisation of higher education

Publications are available at Research Explorer

Current project grants

Co-Investigator: The Digital Data Value Paradox, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada. Principal Investigator: Kean Birch

Past project grants

Principal Investigator: Universities and Unicorns: building digital assets in the higher education industry. Economic and Social Research Council.

Senior Research Associate: Centre for Global Higher Education, ESRC and HEFCE large research centre.

Research Fellow: European Commission FP7 People program: Marie Curie Initial Training Network UNIKE (Universities in Knowledge Economies).

Co-Researcher: Differentiation, Equity, Productivity: the social and economic consequences of expanded and differentiated higher education systems – internationalisation aspects, accepted by European Science Foundation and funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Principal Investigator: Employability of graduates of the University of Ljubljana. Funder: University of Ljubljana.

Principal Investigator: Bologna Process Reform at the University of Ljubljana. Funder: University of Ljubljana.

Co-Researcher: Thematic review of Tempus structural measures. Funder: The Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission.

Invited speaker

  • 2024, Swiss Commission for UNESCO with UN agencies: Geneva Human Rights Dialogues. Panelist on digitalization of education (18-19.6.2024).
  • 2024, ETUI (European Trade Union Institute) - ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee fo Education) expert conference on AI at work: Impacts on the higher education and research sector. Brussels, Belgium. (28-29.2.2024).
  • 2024, CGHE, Panel presentation and discussion: Future research on higher education. CGHE Annual Conference 2025 – The Future of Higher Education, London, UK. (15.2.2024)
  • 2024 (invitation only), a contribution for the United Nations Expert Meeting on ‘Corporate influence and academic freedom’. (7.02.2024).
  • 2023, NORRAG AI and Digital Inequalities Summit: Panel 2 on ethics and AI. (27.9.2023).
  • 2023, Boston College, USA: Panel presentation and discussion: Existential threats to higher education around the world (10.6.2023).
  • 2023, University of Bristol, UK: Digital asset-making in the global higher education sector. (14.4.2023)
  • 2023, British Sociological Association annual conference, Manchester, UK: Panel discussion  ‘Thinking Sociologically About Educational Technology: Giving Voice to Future Action’. (12.4.2023)
  • 2022, Malmo University, Sweden: Research symposium on assetization (invitation only). The (im)possibility of digital disruption of higher education. (11.-13.10.2022)
  • 2022, 1Edtech, Brussels, Belgium: Panel discussion What is the future role of trust in a public Edtech ecosystem. (3.10.2022)
  • 2022. Center for Higher Education at TU Dortmund, Germany: Summer School in Higher Education Research and Science Studies (HERSS). Workshop 5: Digital higher education: platformization, privatisation and a new governance model. (29.9.2022)
  • 2022. Policy Futures International Webinar Series, Danish School of Education, Aarhus University. The (im)possibility of digital disruption of higher education. (26.9.2022)
  • 2022. Higher Education Close-Up (HECU) conference Keynote talk. Lancaster University. Higher education industry expansion: commodification versus assetisation. (5.7.2022)
  • 2022. NORRAG (Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training) and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organised an online side event to the Human Rights Council on 24 June 2022. Contribution on assetisation in digital higher education.
  • 2021. University of South Africa, Academic Development Open Virtual Hub (ADOVH). Digital technology in higher education: platformization, privatisation and new governance models. (24.11.2021).
  • 2021. Infoclio, Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences. Digital higher education: platformization, privatisation and new governance models. (19.11.2021, Bern, Switzerland).
  • 2021. (invitation only) an introduction for the United Nations Expert Consultation ‘Privatisation and the digitalisation of education’. (12.10.2021)
  • 2021. Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), University of Stirling. Digital rentiership in higher education: the future of personal data governance. (6.10.2021).
  • 2021. Centre for Higher Education Futures (Aarhus University) and Critical Higher Education research group (University of Cambridge). The digital: new wave of privatisation of universities. (24.9.2021).
  • 2021. British Educational Research Association (BERA) – invited contribution for the early career researchers on getting research grants (16.9.2021).
  • 2021. Research seminar, Lancaster University. Universities and unicorns: the discursive construction of digital higher education by financial investors. (Komljenovic and Mármol Queraltó). (22.6.2021).
  • 2021. Bristol Conversations seminar series. Universities and unicorns: mappings and trends of investments in higher education technology (with Sam Sellar). (29.6.2021).
  • 2021. European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education, ESSDE (European Trade Union Committee for Education, ETUCE, and the European Federation of Education Employers, EFEE). Evidence for the Higher Education Working Group. Digital rentiership in education and what it means for higher education institutions, staff and students. (17.6.2021).
  • 2021. Research seminar, University of Edinburgh. Universities and unicorns: the discursive construction of digital higher education by financial investors (with Javier Mármol Queraltó). (16.6.2021).
  • 2021. Research seminar, University of Durham. Emerging digital rentiership in higher education: digital platforms, digital data and rents. (9.6.2021).
  • 2021. National symposia on Learning Analytics in Higher Education. The Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology, University of Bergen, Norway (part of mandate of the national centre for Learning Analytics). Emerging education rentiership: digital platforms, digital data and rents. (26.5.2021)
  • 2021. Ideas Lab seminar series, University of Cambridge. Digital rentiership and assetization in higher education. (23.4.2021)
  • 2021. CGHE webinar. From a rebel to consumer and now a digital user: the changing role of students in British university governance (with Rille Raaper). (15.4.2021)
  • 2021. The Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) and the Boston College Center for International Higher Education (CiHE). Talk at the event: The digitised university as space: The future of home and community in higher education life. Title: Universities and Unicorns: building digital assets in higher education (13.4.2021).
  • 2021. Universities of Agder (Norway), Aarhus (Denmark) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden). Talk at the event: Understanding Digital Transformations of Higher Education Teaching and Learning in the Nordics and Beyond. Title: Universities and unicorns: building digital assets in the higher education industry (with Sam Sellar). (30.3.2021)
  • 2021. Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts panel. Data rent - value, ownership and management in the digital economy (23.2.2021).
  • 2021. CEPA seminar, Liverpool Hope University. Universities and unicorns: building digital assets in the higher education industry (with Sam Sellar) (3.2.2021).
  • 2020. CGHE panel: Higher education and the hopes of the world: The next three years of CGHE research (3.12.2020).
  • 2020. European Researchers’ Night, Slovenia. On the steep paths of the academic profession: experiences of women in academia (27.10.2020).
  • 2020. Education International. Datafication and the platform university. Webinar for the Research Network meeting. (28-29 October 2020).
  • 2020. Society for Research into Higher Education. Digital platforms, digital labour, and the future of employability (30 July 2020).
  • 2020. University of Bath and SRHE. Digitalisation, Assetization and the Future of Value in Higher Education (19 February 2020).
  • 2019. University College London. Centre for Global Higher Education. Digital Higher Education Markets: From Commodities to Assets (19 December 2019).
  • 2019. Leibniz University Hannover. Digital Higher Education Markets: From Commodities to Assets (2nd September 2019).
  • 2019. University of Glasgow. Private companies’ strategies in terms of how they connect with universities and sell their services (28 May 2019).
  • 2019. University College London, Institute of Education. Varieties of European universities’ engagement with social media platforms (6 March 2019).
  • 2017. Lancaster University. With Paul Ashwin and Jan McArthur. Does it matter what you study? (15 November 2017)
  • 2016. Lancaster University. Educational Research Department Seminar Series. Making higher education markets (16 November 2016).
  • 2013. Central European University: Invited Workshop on April 26 2013. With Zgaga, P. and Miklavic, K. Higher education reforms in the Western Balkans: an international perspective.
  • 2010. European Forum for Quality Assurance 2010. Experiences in external quality assurance exercises from various perspectives (20 November 2010).

Organiser

  • 2024, EASST/4S: Co-convenor of the panel 'Assetization of knowledge and knowledge of assetization in financialized capitalism' (16-19.7.2024)
  • 2023, SRHE: Organising the panel Political Economy of Edtech (9.11.2023).
  • 2023, SRHE: Organising the panel Universities and Unicorns – New Forms of Value in Digital Higher Education (21.9.2023).
  • 2023, Centre for Global Higher Education: Webinar series on AI in higher educaiton (6 webinars running from 5 to 21 September 2023.
  • Panel co-convener: European Education Research Association – ECER, 2023 (Glasgow, UK). EdTech and the construction of value.
  • Panel convener and panel chair: Society for Research into Higher Education - SRHE) 2021 (online). Universities and unicorns: the role of assetisation and rentiership in the construction of higher education digital futures [Symposium]. (9.12.2021).
  • Panel convener and panel chair: European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2017 (Oslo, Norway). Unbundling and reassembling knowledge production.
  • Panel convener and panel chair: European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2016 (Prague, Czech Republic). Market-making of, in, and around European higher education.
  • Panel convener and panel chair: Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2016 (Vancouver, Canada). Global Education Market-Making and Trading.
  • Symposia Coordinator:  European Education Research Association – ECER, 2014 (Porto, Portugal). Responding to theoretical, analytical and methodological challenges in higher education research: alternative approaches.
  • Symposia Co-coordinator: Consortium of Higher Education Researchers – CHER, 2012 (Belgrade, Serbia). Higher education reforms in Western Balkans.
  • Symposia Co-coordinator: Consortium of Higher Education Researchers – CHER, 2011 (Reykjavík, Iceland). Higher Education reforms in Europe.

Papers delivered

  • Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) conference. EdTech and assetization of knowledge dissemination. (17.7.2024).
  • Capitalization and the Start-Up Economy Workshop: Critical Perspectives on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capitalism. Presentation EdTech Start-up Industry: Investor Strategies and Challenges. (20.-21.6.2024).
  • SRHE: Organising the panel (Universities and Unicorns – New Forms of Value in Digital Higher Education) (21.9.2023).
  • European Education Research Association – ECER, 2023 (Glasgow, UK): Value(s) of EdTech in Higher Education: synergies and discrepancies between universities, EdTech companies and investors
  • European Education Research Association – ECER, 2023 (Glasgow, UK): Capitalising the future of higher education: investors in education technology and the case of Emerge Education
  • Comparative and international education society (CIES) annual conference: Assetization of digital disruption in higher education. (22.2.2023)
  • European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) annual conference. Emerging Big EdTech: disrupting education and assetising learning. (7.7.2022)
  • Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) annual conference. Universities and unicorns: mapping financial investment flows in higher education technology. (9.12.2021).
  • Consortium of Higher Education Researchers – CHER, 2019 (Kassel, Germany): Public-Private Partnerships in the Higher Education Industry: Between Commodification and Assetization
  • European Sociological Association – ESA, 2019 (Manchester, UK): What is Value in the Higher Education Industry: Commodification, Assetization and Enclosing Universities’ Future
  • Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2019 (San Francisco, USA): Varieties of European universities’ engagement with social media platforms.
  • European Education Research Association – ECER, 2018 (Bolzano, Italy): Making Higher Education Markets: Trust-building Strategies Of Private Companies To Enter The Public Sector; AND University Structures For Graduate Employability In The Digital Economy (with Eva Hartmann).
  • European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2018 (Hamburg, Germany): Higher Education and the Labour Market Infrastructure in the Digital Economy (with Eva Hartmann)
  • European Association for the Study of Science and Technology – EASST, 2018 (Lancaster, UK): Higher education and the labour market infrastructure in the digital economy (with Eva Hartmann and Adrian MacKenzie)
  • Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2018 (Mexico City, Mexico): Academia.edu, Google Scholar citations and ResearchGate: Platformization of Academia.
  • Society for Research into Higher Education – SRHE, 2017 (Newport, UK): Employability aspirations of first year students of chemistry and chemical engineering.
  • European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2017 (Oslo, Norway): Unbundling and Reassembling Knowledge Production – the Role of Social Media Platforms.
  • European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2016 (Prague, Czech Republic): Mapping actors in marketising higher education.
  • Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2016 (Vancouver, Canada): Under construction: education markets.
  • Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2015 (Washington DC, USA): Global buzz and cultural, political and economic processes at work in transformations of the higher education sector: The case of NAFSA higher education conference and expo.
  • Comparative and International Education Society – CIES, 2015 (Washington DC, USA) with S. Robertson: Unbundling higher education: When all that is solid melts into…profit!
  • European Consortium for Political Research – ECPR, 2015 (Montreal, Canada) with S. Robertson: Forum Shifting and Shape Making in Europe’s Negotiations on (Education) Trade in Services Education.
  • European Education Research Association – ECER, 2014 (Porto, Portugal): Higher education industries and markets: an example of using global value chains analysis.
  • Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies Collaborative Research Network - UACES CRN workshop, 2014 (Cambridge, United Kingdom) with V. Ivosevic. Interplaying governance: EHEA and ERA.
  • Consortium of Higher Education Researchers - CHER (Belgrade, Serbia), 2012: Higher education reforms in the Western Balkans – The discursive meaning of the university and its autonomy.
  • European Association for Institutional Research – EAIR (Stavanger, Norway), 2012. Idea of a University and its Autonomy in the European Higher Education Area.
  • Consortium of Higher Education Researchers - CHER (Reykjavík, Iceland), 2011. Ideation of the Institutional Autonomy in the European Higher Education Area.
  • Future of higher education - Bologna researchers’ conference (FOHE-BPRC), Bucharest, 18 October 2011. Institutional autonomy and the attractiveness of the European higher education area - facts or tokenistic discourse?
  • European Education Research Association – ECER, 2011 (Berlin, Germany). Idea of a University and its Autonomy in the European Higher Education Area.
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