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Vanesa Varga has obtained the title of assistant professor in the scientific field of information and communication science in 2023 at the Catholic University of Croatia. She gave her inaugural lecture entitled “Habits and motives for using smartphones among adolescents” at the Catholic University of Croatia in 2023. She completed her post-graduate doctoral studies in information and communication sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Zagreb in 2020 and obtained the academic title of Doctor of Science in the scientific field of social sciences, the scientific field of information and science communication. She has obtained the academic title of Master of Education in Croatian Studies in 2012 at the Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb (today the Faculty of Croatian Studies). In the same year, she has obtained the academic title of Master of Communication Studies. In 2013, she has obtained the academic title of Master of Museology and Heritage Management at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Zagreb. She taught or still teaches at the Faculty of Croatian Studies (Social Media, Founders of Communication Studies and their Works, Sociological Aspects of Mass Communication, Legal Aspects of Mass Communication, Concepts and Theory of Research on Media Effects), at the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University of Croatia (Communication and Presentation Skills), at the Department of Communication of the Catholic University of Croatia (Visual Communication, Internet Activism) and the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Zagreb (Communication, Business Communication, Graphic Design Communication, Visual Communication and Media Communication).

She was employed from 2021 to 2023 as a postdoctoral researcher (now a senior assistant) on the project of the Croatian Science Foundation (UIP-2019-04-7545) “Digital technology in the family: patterns of behaviour and effects on child development”. So far, she has presented independently or as a co-author at nineteen conferences with international review (UK, Greece, USA, etc.), and at two conferences with domestic review. She has published 18 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings, as well as one chapter in a book. She has obtained the award for the best work of a young author (Best Young Researcher Paper, 2023) of the journal Applied Psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad for the work The children’s motivation for digital technology use: parents and children’s perspective (authors: Varga, Vanesa and Kotrla Topić, Marina).

In 2023 she was the leader of the Catholic University of Croatia one-year scientific project “Happiness is not in things: the role of the media, parents and peers in shaping materialism in children” (HKS-2023). Also, during 2023, was the lead of the project “Family and individual media usage plan: interactive advisory website” financed by the Croatian Agency for Electronic Media. Until now, in her scientific work, she has applied the methods of interviews, focus groups, surveys, diary studies and observations. Her interests include media effects.