Maja Žutić, PhD, receives international award for best young researcher

We are proud to announce that Senior Research Assistant Maja Žutić, PhD, from the University Department of Psychology at the Catholic University of Croatia, has received the prestigious international award for the Best Young Researcher of 2025, presented by the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology (SRIP), one of the largest and leading international societies dedicated to research in reproductive mental health. The award was presented to her on September 15, 2026, at the University of Chester in the United Kingdom.

The award is presented as international recognition to a young researcher for outstanding contributions, research excellence, and methodological innovation in the field of reproductive mental health and represents one of the most significant recognitions for early-career researchers. In addition to a monetary prize and a plaque, Žutić delivered a lecture entitled “Differential Susceptibility to Stress and Social Support in Peripartum Depression: The Role of 5-HTTLPR/rs25531”, presenting results from projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (IP-2018-01-6547; IP-2024-05-4961).

In her research to date, Žutić has developed an interdisciplinary biopsychosocial approach combining psychology and molecular biology to test complex models for predicting peripartum mental health problems. Her work is particularly notable for leading one of the first quantitative studies of Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex (D-MER) and for developing the first scale for measuring this phenomenon. The scale has been recognized as a valuable tool for clinicians and researchers and is currently being translated into seven languages. Her work also includes one of the first studies examining the bidirectional relationship between gestational diabetes and peripartum depressive symptoms, as well as the validation of instruments for assessing peripartum mental health. In recognition of these achievements, SRIP highlighted Žutić’s work as a valuable contribution to the under-researched field of mental health among pregnant women and mothers.

This recognition represents a particularly significant achievement as it comes one year after Žutić received an award for the best doctoral dissertation, continuing the international recognition of the quality of her work. At the same time, the award confirms the scientific excellence of research conducted at the University Department of Psychology and the international recognition of the Catholic University of Croatia.

Congratulations to Maja Žutić on this outstanding achievement!