Voices of Early-Stage Researchers: Dunja Kobiljski

What motivated you to choose your research field or topic, and how did you get started?

My professional career of IT Project Manager motivated me to choose research field of Agentic AI, as I’m managing mostly Agentic AI related projects. 

How did you learn the skills and methods needed at the beginning of your research career?

I am still learning the skills and methods through consultations with mentors and writing conference papers.

Which tools, software, or research infrastructure have been most helpful in your daily work?

NotebookLM and ChatGPC/Gemini have been most helpful so far for writing papers.

Web of Science and Scopus have been most helpful for researching and finding literature.

Which career-related resources (mentoring, training, mobility programs, networks) have supported your professional growth so far?

Mentoring and consultations with professors.

How do you collaborate with supervisors, colleagues, or project partners?

Mostly by consulting them via email.

Can you share a moment when collaboration helped you achieve something significant?

Collaboration helped my understand how to write conference papers, specifically SLR.

How do you build professional networks, online or at conferences, and how has that helped your research?

I am building professional networks at workplace, as well as via Linkedin.

How has mentorship or coaching influenced your development as a researcher?

It helped me steer the research process in the right direction.

What has been the biggest challenge in your research, and how did you overcome it?

No challenges faced so far.

Have you faced limitations related to funding, infrastructure, or institutional support? How did you handle them?

I haven’t.

How do you manage setbacks or unexpected results? 

I tend to understand the root cause and find a way to avoid it in future work. I also tend to improve part of my work that doesn’t have required quality and gain new skills.

How do you balance research workload, deadlines, and personal life as an early-stage researcher?

Holistic overview of the yearly workload helps me understand and plan activities in a timely manner.

How do you see your research contributing to society or advancing your field?

I hope that it will surface new findings related to Agentic AI field and outline its importance and benefits for business processes.

Which emerging trends, technologies, or approaches in your field excite you the most?

Development and improvements within AI excite me the most.

What advice would you give to researchers in general?

To be persistent and curious.