Katarina Hočevar

My name is Katarina Hočevar, and I work as a Research Assistant in the Department of Evolutionary Biology, at the Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković"—National I Institute of the Republic of Serbia (IBISS). I got my bachelor's degree in 2016 at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. At the same faculty, during the academic year 2016/2017, I completed my Master's degree within the module Molecular Biology and Plant Biotechnology, and in the academic year 2017/2018 I enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Biology in the module Evolutionary Biology. I am working on my doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Sanja Manitašević Jovanović, Senior Research Associate at IBISS, and Dr. Tijana Cvetić Antić, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Biology. I have been working at IBISS since November 2017.

My primary scientific interest is focused on studying the adaptive response of plant organisms to global warming. I am particularly interested in analyzing the phenotypic responses of biochemical and morpho-physiological traits of Iris pumila L. to a slight increase in ambient temperature, simulating global warming conditions. Furthermore, I extend my research interests to the application of geometric morphometric methods to analyze the shapes of the flower organs in I. pumila.

I am a member of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB), the Serbian Evolutionary Society, the Serbian Plant Physiology Society (SPPS), and the Serbian Society for Molecular Biology (MolBioS).

In addition to my research activities, I actively participate in the popularization of science by presenting contemporary biological concepts to the general public. To this end, I have actively participated in events such as Biodiversity Day (2017), Science Festival (2019), Fascination of Plants Day (2022), and Researchers' Night (2022). I am also a participant in the ReFocuS FLOW project, obtained under the HORIZON-MSCA-2023-CITIZENS-01 call, with dr. Jasmina Nestorović Živković as project leader.