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Sabina Avdagic

Sabina Avdagic was born and grew up in Bosanska Dubica in Bosnia-Herzegovina (which, during her childhood, was part of Yugoslavia) in 1973. She went to Croatia to study for her undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Zagreb. Moving to Budapest, Sabina studied for an MA and then a PhD at the Central European University (CEU). Her dissertation was on labour incorporation in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. While completing her PhD, she was a visiting fellow at Cornell University, and an International Policy Fellow of the Open Society Institute.

After gaining her PhD in 2003, Sabina went to Cologne as a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies before moving to the European University Institute (EUI) at Florence as a Jean Monnet Fellow. In 2006, Sabina came to Sussex as a Research Councils UK (RCUK) Fellow which converted into a full lectureship in the Department of Politics. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Politics at Sussex in 2014 and then to Reader in Political Economy in 2021. 

Sabina’s research focused initially on comparative political economy looking at labour relations, labour market institutions, trade-union-party relations, the political economy of Central and Eastern Europe, social pacts and social dialogue, the welfare state and immigration. She published Social Pacts in Europe: Emergence, Evolution and Institutionalization (Oxford University Press 2011) with Martin Rhodes and Jelle Visser, as well as authoring numerous influential academic journal articles. In the latter part of her career, Sabina focused increasingly on the role of information in shaping redistribution preferences and immigration attitudes. 

While at Sussex, Sabina taught across a range of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She taught the core module Comparative Public Policy for Politics undergraduate students in their second year. Democracy and Inequality was her final year Politics module which encapsulated her research interests and into which she invested huge energy and commitment. Building on her strengths in mastering new and cutting-edge research methodologies, Sabina also taught research skills and methods modules in various forms for Masters’ students during her time at Sussex. Sabina took her teaching very seriously and was widely respected by her students. In recognition of her commitment to encouraging methodological innovation and rigour, from 2024 the annual Prize for Best Undergraduate Dissertation in Politics was re-named the ‘Sabina Avdagic Prize’. 

In 2021, Sabina took on the role of Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange (DRaKE) in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology (LPS). She brought enormous energy and  enthusiasm to this role and through her leadership and sheer force of personality came to define research within the School. She had a clear research strategy introducing several innovations, such as an annual writing retreat, and structured research bid clinics and feedback sessions to bolster peer review. Her crowning achievement was a revamped research common room in the Freeman Building, an attractive space for discussion and collaboration, with a proper coffee machine to power the researchers using it. In recognition of her contribution, in summer 2024 Sabina was nominated by the Politics department for, and received, one of the University’s Research Culture Awards. 

In July 2024, at a special day of events to celebrate Sabina’s life and achievements, the research common room was re-named the ‘Sabina Avdagic Room’ and a plaque unveiled in her memory. There was also an academic symposium and a ceremony to mark the planting of a mimosa tree in Sabina’s memory in the Freeman Building terrace area. 

Sabina died suddenly and tragically in January 2024. She was a strong, forceful presence at Sussex but also a wonderful colleague and friend with real heart and soul. Sabina leaves behind her husband Uli Sedelmeier, a Sussex alumnus, and teenage daughters Tali and Luna, together with a massive unfillable Sabina-shaped hole in the Politics department and the School.

On Wednesday July 17th, the School of Law, Politics and Sociology (LPS) held a day of activities to remember and celebrate the life of their dear colleague and friend Dr Sabina Avdagic, read more here.

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