Laura Šakaja is a scientific advisor. She received her master's degree at the Faculty of Geography of the Moscow State University "M. V. Lomonosov", and her doctorate from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb with a topic in social geography. She was employed at the Moscow State University and Abkhazian State University. After moving to Croatia, she worked as a consultant at the Institute of Culture, Ministry of Culture, then as a research associate at the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies in Zagreb and as a professor at the Geography Department, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. She has been retired from 2023. She authored scientific books Culture and Space: Spatial Organization of Cultural Activities in Croatia (1999), Introduction to Cultural Geography (2015), and a scientific and popular publication Blind People in the City Space (2018). Her works include articles published in scientific journals with the highest IP in the field (Geografiska annaler, Social & Cultural Geography, Cultural Geographies). She was awarded the Federik Grisogono Prize for Science (2018) and the Croatian Geographical Society's Prize for Science (2022). She was the editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Migration and ehnic studies and co-director of the international course "Divided societies" at the Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik. Her scientific interest is related to the study of mental maps and imaginative geography, symbolic landscapes, urban toponymy and spatial aspects of religious and ethnic relations, as well as spatial aspects of disability.