PristupačnostAbout employee
prof. dr. sc. Tihomir Orehovački
| Title: | Professor |
| Location: | Ulica Alda Negrija 6, ured 020 |
| E-mail: | |
| Department: | Faculty of Informatics in Pula |
| Graduation year: | 2005 |
| PhD graduation year: | 2013 |
| Employed since: | 2015 |
Teaching
undergraduate
- Basics of Programming (172482) - Lecturer in charge
- Data Structures and Algorithms (186175) - Lecturer in charge, Lecturer in charge
- Design and Programming of Computer Games (199907) - Lecturer in charge
- Programming (199563) - Lecturer in charge, Lecturer in charge
graduate
- Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures (199912) - Lecturer in charge
- Development of IT Solutions (273510) - Lecturer in charge
- Human-Computer Interaction (257023) - Lecturer in charge
Biography
Tihomir Orehovački earned his undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin, University of Zagreb, in 2005. During the 2005/2006 academic year, he also completed a comprehensive programme in pedagogy, psychology, didactics, and teaching methodology at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Čakovec Department. He received his PhD in 2013 from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin, University of Zagreb.
Throughout his academic and professional development he has pursued extensive scientific training through workshops and research visits at institutions in Spain (Mondragon University in Bilbao; Ramon Llull University in Barcelona), Israel (College of Management Academic Studies, Rishon LeZion), Denmark (Business Academy Aarhus, University of Applied Sciences), Italy (Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano), Turkey (University of Istanbul), Slovenia (Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana), Belgium (KU Leuven), Cyprus (University of Cyprus), and Slovakia (Technical University of Košice). As principal investigator of a Croatian Science Foundation project, he spent the period from April to July 2012 at the University of Lleida in Spain, collaborating with the Human–Computer Interaction and Data Integration Research Group (GRIHO).
He has authored more than 130 scientific papers published in international conference proceedings, journals, and books, as well as 19 professional papers in national conference proceedings. His research spans empirical software engineering, human–computer interaction, technology adoption, social computing, human-centered AI, and computer science education.
Since January 2025 he has served as Full Professor at the Faculty of Informatics, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, following appointments as Associate Professor (2019–2025) and Assistant Professor (2015–2019). Prior to joining the University of Pula, he held the positions of Senior Teaching Assistant (2013–2015) and Teaching Assistant (2006–2013) at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb. His early professional experience includes teaching computer science in primary and secondary schools, and a brief period working as a financial advisor.
He has held numerous significant academic and administrative roles, including membership in the Committee for Scientific and Artistic Work of the University of Pula (since 2016), chairing the Faculty Quality Committee (since 2022), and coordinating the second year of the graduate study programme in Informatics (since 2021). He has been actively involved in student competitions, serving as coordinator of the University’s STEM Games activities (since 2018) and as the long-term coordinator of national student programming competitions (since 2016). In addition, he served as a member of the Working Group for the Gender Equality Plan (2022–2024) and led the internal project Journal of the Faculty of Informatics in Pula between 2022 and 2024. His earlier roles at the faculty include chairing the Promotion Committee and coordinating both the first and second years of the undergraduate study programme.
He has participated in a wide range of national and international scientific projects. These include the European Digital Innovation Hub – EDIH Adria (2023–2025), the Erasmus+ project Security and Privacy in Academic Data Management at Schools (SPADATAS, 2022–2025), the Google-funded ai.Shuttle autonomous mini-bus project (2021–2026), and the Croatian Science Foundation project MISC4SC (2020–2023). Earlier in his career he contributed to projects on speech therapy technologies, organisational interaction modelling, Web 2.0 applications in education, and international capacity building in EU programme management. He is currently a researcher on the project Development of a Model for Monitoring Driver Attention and Fatigue Using Artificial Intelligence (2025–2029).
He has delivered numerous invited lectures, including presentations on structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), empirical software engineering, software quality assessment, and pedagogical applications of social web technologies at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, the University of Split, the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, and the Jožef Stefan Institute. He has also organised and led a wide range of professional workshops and webinars on topics such as PLS-SEM, instructional design, e-learning pedagogy, social web tools, and international project management, both within Croatia and internationally.
He is a member of several major international professional associations, including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the European University Information Systems E-Learning Task Force (EUNIS ELTF), and the International Society for Web Engineering (ISWE). His service to the scientific community includes membership on programme committees for conferences such as ICSIE, HUSO, IUI, ICNT, ISD, and QUATIC. He has served as thematic track chair at HCII 2021, ISD 2017, ISD 2016, and ISD 2014, and has chaired sessions at international conferences in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
He has also contributed editorially as member of the Organising Committee, editor of the Book of Abstracts, and technical editor of the proceedings of ISD 2014, and served in various roles within the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, including work with the Centre for Educational Projects and the Centre for International Projects. He is an external member of the Centre for Quality and the Laboratory for Generative Programming and Machine Learning at the same faculty.
He has reviewed more than 290 manuscripts for international journals, conferences, and edited volumes. Journals he has reviewed for include leading titles such as ACM Computing Surveys, ACM Transactions on the Web, Computers & Education, Computers in Human Behavior, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Information Sciences, and Expert Systems with Applications, among many others. His reviewing portfolio extends across computer science, information systems, human–computer interaction, educational technology, and applied interdisciplinary research.
He has served as a reviewer for several books, monographs, textbooks, and edited collections, including the Handbook of Research on Applied E-Learning in Engineering and Architecture Education (2015), Transformation in Teaching: Social Media Strategies in Higher Education (2012), Programming for the Web (2025), Smart Cities Development and Trends: Cases and Research Opportunities (2022), Business Informatics and Innovations (2022), and Programming in Python and Visual Basic (2018).
In 2014 he served as evaluator of an e-learning course for the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet), and in 2011 he reviewed primary-school informatics curricula for the Centre of Excellence of Međimurje County.
His contributions to research, teaching, and professional practice have been recognised through numerous awards, including the Friend of MIPRO Award (2022), multiple Dean’s Awards from the University of Pula and the University of Zagreb, the EUNIS Dørup E-Learning Award (2011), and several recognitions for outstanding scientific work, innovative teaching, and contributions to international cooperation. He was a Mini-Project Winner at the COST IC0904 Training School on Research Methods for Human–Computer Interaction in 2012.
He has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to mentoring students and supporting the development of young researchers. He has co-authored 34 scientific papers with undergraduate and graduate students, including 19 with students whose theses he supervised, as well as 9 professional papers with supervised students. With a doctoral student under his mentorship in the postgraduate doctoral programme in Informatics at the University of Rijeka, he has co-authored four scientific papers.
To date, 179 students have completed their bachelor’s or master’s theses under his supervision, 158 of them at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, underscoring his sustained commitment to teaching excellence, mentorship, and the advancement of the next generation of information science professionals.
Scientific publications (CroRIS)
Recursos Educativos Abiertos para mejorar la protección de datos de los estudiantes en las escuelas
Development of a multiplayer fighting game using the Unity environment and the NetCode library
Development of a 3D RPG game with procedural world generation in the Unity development environment
Software Life Cycle
Development of backend components of a web application for making new friends and love relationships
Computer Games: From Idea to Publisher
Software testing
Perceived quality of source code version control system by students of informatics
Brewing control system
Development of a system for managing time tables
Test Driven Development
Creating a Web application for managing cryptocurrency portfolios in the React.js environment
Augmented reality
NoSQL Databases
Abstract data type graph
Distributed databases
Design of a game for learning programming concepts in the development environment Unreal Engine 4
An Example of a Development - Vehicle Service Management System
Features of Vue.js Framework and its Packages
Making a Computer Game in GameMaker Environment
Development of an indie game in Unity 3D environment and its placement on the Google Play store
Programming the Device for the Internet of Things
Additive technology and 3D printing industry
Virtual Reality
MongoDB
Internet of Everything
Cloud computing
Importance of the future entrepreneurs' computer literacy development for the implementation of cloud services as a foundation of improved competitiveness in the labor market
Extreme Programming
Odabir najprikladnijeg web IDE-a za učenje programiranja pomoću AHP-a
Software Product Lines
Advantages and disadvantages of using Web 2.0 applications for e-learning in hybrid courses at higher education institutions
Rich Internet Applications
Repository of scientific and professional papers of the Faculty of Organization and Informatics
Advanced Data Structures
Divide and conquer method
Web Usability Evaluation Methods
Project decomposition and time schedule
Application development using design patterns
Usage of Web 2.0 technologies in business
OCL as prerequisite of automated source code generation
The assessment and development of quality in e-learning
Quality development in e-learning
E-learning 2.0 tools
Web 2.0 and the evolution of e-learning
Faculty of Informatics
A: Rovinjska 14
52100 Pula
Croatia
T: +385 52 377 011
E: fipu-ured@unipu.hr
W: fipu.unipu.hr
