Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs

Anja Kopač Mrak was born on 4 April 1974 in Kranj, where she completed her secondary education. She graduated in sociology, management of human resources, at the Faculty of Social Sciences. She spent part of her studies at post-graduate level at the University of Bath, in England, attending an international course entitled “Analysis of European Social Policy”. In 2004, she received a doctorate in sociology (social policy), studying issues related to reform of the social state.

As of 1998, she has been employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences, first as a young researcher, and later as a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Organisations and Human Resources. She has participated in numerous domestic and international projects in the fields of social policy, employment policy, and management of human resources, as well as serving as head of an international research team. She has been a member of international research networks (COST A13, RECWOWE), and was a national EU expert on pensions prior to becoming State Secretary in December 2008. She has performed numerous evaluations of national social policies and employment policies in the field of European social policy, mostly concerning the employment of the unemployed, balancing professional and family responsibilities, and lifelong learning.

She is an assistant professor of sociology and a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences. She teaches the sociology of social policy, European social policy, and cooperates on the implementation of the subject labour and social law. She is the author of numerous research articles on social policy and employment policy, among which her book “Activation – a turning point in social policy” should especially be mentioned.

Between December 2008 and February 2012, she served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. She is a firm advocate of equal opportunities.

She is a mother of two children and lives in Domžale.