Dražen Šimleša was born in Bjelovar in 1976. He took his first, second and doctoral degrees in the Sociology Department at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. He is now employed as senior assistant at the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb, his area of expertise being globalisation and sustainable development. He has published five books and several scientific papers. He teaches globalisation at the Centre for Peace Studies and courses on global society and sustainable development at the Centre for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. He is active on the civil society scene and currently volunteers as the secretary of the Green Network of Activist Groups (ZMAG). He is also the vice-president of the Federation of the Eco-Village Associations Network in the Balkans.