Dr. rer. nat. Dejan Zagorac Full CV

DZ-v2

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

The main research topics of Zagorac’s L-TIM research group span from structure prediction and energy landscape investigations to structure-property relationships on a multi-scale level. In particular, the research topics are:

(1) Structure prediction and modeling of crystalline compounds in combination with experimental investigations;

(2) Energy landscapes investigations and multi-scale modeling;

(3) First-principles investigations of mechanical, electronic, optical and other properties of advanced materials;

(4) Ab initio optimization, data mining and theoretical modeling at extreme conditions;

(5) Phase transitions and structure-property relationship of advanced materials, e.g. oxide/sulfide semiconductors, (hybrid) perovskites, High-entropy alloys (HEAs), etc;

SHORT CV

Dr. rer. nat. Dejan Zagorac, Senior Researcher. He received his doctorate in 2012 at the Faculty of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Germany in collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research (FKF) in Stuttgart, Germany. Afterward, he continued his post-doctoral studies at the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research (FKF) in Stuttgart, Germany, and in the Theoretical Chemistry Department, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany. Since 2015, he has been the Head of the Laboratory for Theoretical Investigation of Materials  (L-TIM) at the Center for Synthesis, Processing and Characterization for Application in Extreme Conditions (Cextreme Lab) and in the Department of Materials Science, Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča“, University of Belgrade, Serbia. He is engaged in research related to theoretical investigations of new materials, structure prediction of new compounds or new (meta) stable modification of existing materials, and theoretical investigation of the properties of the materials. A special area of research is the theoretical modeling of advanced materials applicable to extreme conditions. Dr. Dejan Zagorac published over 160 papers in his scientific career, with over 50 scientific papers in international journals from the SCI list. He was invited speaker at international and domestic conferences and universities, a reviewer in international and domestic journals and books, a member of international and domestic scientific associations, a member of the organizing committee of the conferences, and is Editor in Chief in the international publishing house. He speaks English, French and German language. He is married and father of three children.

PROFESIONAL EXPERIENCE

01/2024 to 12/2025: Guest scientist at Solid State Quantum Electronics Department (Prof. Dr. Jochen Mannhart), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany;

2024 to now: Principal Research Fellow/Full Professor, the Department of Materials Science, Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča“, University of Belgrade, Serbia;

2020 to 2024: Research Associate Professor & Principal Investigator, the Department of Materials Science, Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča“, University of Belgrade, Serbia;

2015 to now: Head of the Laboratory for Theoretical Investigation of Materials  (L-TIM) at the Center of Excellence, Center for Synthesis, Processing and Characterization for Application in Extreme Conditions (Cextreme Lab), Belgrade, Serbia;

2015-2019: Research Associate & Principal Investigator, the Department of Materials Science, Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča“, University of Belgrade, Serbia;

2013-2014: Postdoctoral, Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany;

2012-2013: Postdoctoral, Department for Inorganic Solid State Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany;

2012: Ph.D. Degree, Faculty of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Germany;

2007-2012 Department for Inorganic Solid State Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany, Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Martin Jansen;

2007: M.Sc. Degree, Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, Serbia.

HONORS

2008-2010: Max Planck Scholarship (MPI) sponsored by the international scientific association “DFG” (German Science Foundation), Germany.

2015: One of the Founders of the Center of Excellence, Center for Synthesis, Processing and Characterization for Application in Extreme Conditions (Cextreme Lab), Belgrade, Serbia.

2016-2025: Editor-in-Chief, Technicum Scientific Publishing, Stuttgart, Germany.

2016-2025: Editor at the ICSD (Section Theoretical Crystal Data), FIZ Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany

2017: External reviewer of the international project of the National Fund for Science and Technological Development (FONDECYT) of the Chilean National Commission for Science and Technological Development (CONICYT).

2018: Winner of the ELSEVIER Award, Materials Chemistry and Physics for 2018. – Certificate for outstanding contribution to the reviews that contributed to the quality of the magazine.

2019-2020: Winner of the Top Cited Article Award for, whose article has been recognized as a high-impact paper in the Journal of Applied Crystallography. In the same period, the corresponding article (https://doi.org/10.1107/S160057671900997X) was in the category most read and most cited, while another article in the Acta Crystallographica Section B (https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052520618014099), has been in the category highlighted articles. Research article in the Nanomaterials has been published in 2022 as a Feature Paper (https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12091595) and in Materials 2023 as a Editor’s Choice (https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010326) representing the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. In The 2024 Winner of the Top Cited Article Award for the work published in Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie as one of the top 10 most-cited papers published (https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.202200198).

2020-2025: Editor at the Journal of Innovative Materials in Extreme Conditions (abbr. JIMEC), Belgrade, Serbia.

2021-2025: Board member of the Supervisor Committee at the Serbian Society for Ceramic Materials, and Funding Board of the Serbian Society for Innovative Materials in Extreme Conditions.

2021: Winner of the Award “Dr. Dubravko Rodić” for outstanding scientific work by young scientists in the field of crystallography awarded by the Serbian Crystallographic Society.

Dr. Dejan Zagorac has published 13 invited articles in international journals from the SCI list, i.e. in the Zeitschrift fur Anorganische und Allgemaine Chemie (2017,2022,2022,2023), Crystal Research and Technology (2017), J. Phase Equilib. Diffus. (2020), Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung – Section B Journal of Chemical Sciences (2020), Crystals (2021,2023), Nanomaterials (2022,2023), Materials (2023), International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology (2023).

SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS

Dr. Dejan Zagorac was involved in mentoring several MSc and Ph.D. thesis, and currently works with three Ph.D. students at universities in Serbia, and had significant activities in commissions and bodies of the ministry responsible for science and technology development and other bodies related to scientific activity in Serbia. Additionally, through international cooperation, he is involved in several Ph.D. theses in Universities abroad e.g. Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, University of Stuttgart, Germany, Jülich Centre for Neutron Science-4 (JCNS-4), Germany, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and he was an external member of the International Dissertation Commission at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India.

INVITED TALKS

Dr. Dejan Zagorac held a number of invited lectures and three plenary lectures from his field of expertise at international and national scientific meetings and universities, i.e. at the international conference in Chemnitz, Germany, in 2010, at the international conference in Telluride, Colorado, USA, in 2011, at the Institute of Electrochemistry, University of Ulm, Germany in 2015, at the conference of the Serbian Society for Ceramic Materials in Belgrade, Serbia in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022, at the conference in Porquerolles, France in 2016, and 2023, at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2017, at the conference of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS), Strasbourg, France in 2018, at Bakul Institute for Superhard Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine in 2018,  at Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2019 and 2021, at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, Cambridge, UK, in 2020., at the European Ceramic Society (ECerS) international conference at the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2021., at the 25th IUCr Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography, Prague, Czech Republic, in 2021, and at the international conference in Lovran, Croatia, in 2024. He also held a plenary lectures at the International Conference (IMEC2022) in Belgrade, Serbia in 2022, at the 11th  SCS Conference (ACA XI), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia in 2023, and at the (ICSI2023) in Funchal, Madeira Portugal in 2023.

COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

Dr. Dejan Zagorac has led and participated in international, national, and bilateral research projects in the past, and the last five years in particular:

  1. National project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia in the field of basic research no. III 45012, in Serbia entitled “Synthesis, characterization, and processing of nanostructured materials for application in energetics, mechanical engineering, environmental protection and biomedicine”(2014-2019).
  2. EU Horizon 2020 project implemented under the Pan-European Research Infrastructure on High-Performance Computing HPC-Europa3- Grant Agreement number: 730897 between Germany and Serbia entitled ” Energy landscape of amino acid on TiO2 surface”, (2019-2019).
  3. National project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia in the field of basic research no. 1702101, in Serbia entitled “New structural and functional materials for application in extreme conditions “, (2019-2022).
  4. EU Horizon 2020 project implemented under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 823717 – ESTEEM3 between Germany and Serbia entitled “Lattice Modification in carbon and nitrogen Ion ‐Implanted nanometric ceria (CeO2)”, (2019-2022).
  5. Bilateral project between Slovak and Serbia implemented under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Serbia entitled “Ultra high-temperature carbides for extreme environment applications”, (2019-2022).
  6. EU Horizon 2020 project implemented under the Pan-European Research Infrastructure on High-Performance Computing HPC-Europa3- Grant Agreement number: 730897, HPC17RQ6CK between Germany and Serbia entitled “Energy landscapes of rare-earth compounds containing several different anions”, (2020-2020).
  7. EU Horizon 2020 project implemented under the Pan-European Research Infrastructure on High-Performance Computing HPC-Europa3- Grant Agreement number: 730897, HPC17EHYRZ between Germany and Serbia entitled “Search for new hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites: Energy landscapes of Guanidinium-BX3 substituted by B = (Sn2+, Ge2+, Ba2+, Zn2+) and X = (I−, F−)”, (2021-2021).
  8. Bilateral project between Germany and Serbia implemented under Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia and Deutcher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD entitled “Compositionally Complex Metal Carbides and Carbonitrides”, (2022-2023).
  9. 9. International project between Russia and Serbia implemented under the International Institute for Nuclear Research-Dubna, Russia and Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade) entitled: “The dynamics of H2O in minerals and ice in confined mesoporous space”, (2022-2024).
  10. Two Erasmus+ Projects, Staff Mobility For Training, between Croatia (Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka) and Serbia (Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade), one as a host and one as a guest, (2023).
  11. National project of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia in the field of basic research no. 1702213,1702313,1702413, in Serbia entitled ” Theoretical research of advanced materials in standard and extreme conditions “, (2022-2024).
  12. SPring-8 international project between Japan and Germany implemented under the International Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Japan and Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany, Proposal Number: 2023A1613 (Proposal Reference No. 57102), entitled: Stability and behaviour of the Wadsley-type vanadium oxide V6O13 at extreme conditions, (2023-2023).
  13. Erasmus+ Project, Staff Mobility For Training, between Croatia (Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka) and Serbia (Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade) (2024).
NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS & CITATIONS

Dr. Dejan Zagorac published over 160 papers in his scientific career, with over 50 scientific papers in international journals from the SCI list. Results on 15/05/2025:

Scopus, 59 papers, h-index = 18, 1246 citations;

Google scholar, 137 papers, h-index = 20, 1673 citations;

LIST OF SELECTED PAPERS

 

  1. Zagorac D., Muller H., Ruehl S., Zagorac J., Rehme S. Recent developments in the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database: Theoretical crystal structure data and related features, (2019) Journal of Applied Crystallography, 52, pp. 918 – 925. DOI: 10.1107/S160057671900997X
  1. Zagorac D., Schön J.C., Zagorac J., Jansen M. Prediction of structure candidates for zinc oxide as a function of pressure and investigation of their electronic properties (2014) Physical Review B – Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 89 (7), art. no. 075201. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.89.075201
  2. Zagorac D., Doll K., Zagorac J., Jordanov D., Matović B. Barium Sulfide under Pressure: Discovery of Metastable Polymorphs and Investigation of Electronic Properties on ab Initio Level (2017) Inorganic Chemistry, 56 (17), pp. 10644 – 10654. DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b01617
  1. Zagorac D., Buyer C., Zagorac J., Škundrić T., Schön J.C., Schleid T. Band-Gap Engineering and Unusual Behavior of Electronic Properties during Anion Substitution of Sulfur in LaFSe, (2024) Crystal Growth and Design, 24 (4), pp. 1648 – 1657. DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.3c01291
  1. Zagorac D., Schön J.C. Energy landscapes of pure and doped ZnO: from bulk crystals to nanostructures, (2022) Frontiers of Nanoscience, 21, pp. 151 – 193. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-824406-7.00015-4