Drazan Kozak was born on July 31, 1967. He graduated at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty (SF) in Slavonski Brod, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in 1991. After that he started with his postgraduate study at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB), University of Zagreb. Simultaneously he has been employed at the SF Slavonski Brod, as the scientific novice. He achieved his titles Master of Science in 1995 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2001, both at the FSB Zagreb. Thesis research was focused on the fracture behaviour of strength mismatch welded joints with surface and/or through-thickness crack located in the middle of the weld and/or in the heat affected zone.

Academic career he started as an Assistant Professor in 2002 and today he is Associate Professor in the field of Mechanics and Strength of Materials. Prof. Kozak is lecturer in the courses as Engineering Mechanics I (Static) and II (Kinematics and Dynamics), Strength of Materials I and II, Finite Element Method and Fracture Mechanics at the Mechanical Design Department by SF in Slavonski Brod.

He was main researcher on the bilateral international Slovenian-Croatian project (2003-2004) 'Application of fracture mechanics by energetic components revitalisation' and Hungarian-Croatian project (2005-2007) 'New approach to design of welded components based on benefits of present heterogeneity in the welded joint'. The results of the bilateral projects were implemented into structural integrity assessment of vital parts of steam generator in Nuclear Power Plant Krško in Slovenia. At the moment Prof Kozak leads bilateral Austrian-Croatian (2008-2009) project 'An influence of surface treatment processes on the fatigue behaviour under multiaxial loading' together with Dr-Ing Jürgen Fröschl (Montanuniversität Leoben). During last years he was actively included in the work on the fundamental national project 0152-018 'Life cycle assessment of the structures considering fracture mechanics approach', as researcher. He was main investigator on the project for young scientists 'Numerical modelling of strength mismatch welded joints with cracks' supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of Croatia (MZOS). At the moment prof. Kozak is the leader of the project 152-1201910-1909 'Analysis and fracture assessment of structures of anisotropic materials' granted also by MZOS. The aim of the project is to reach the best performance of structural component in order to ensure safe service of heterogeneous and anisotropic materials, especially in biomechanics issue.

Dr Kozak attended courses or had scholarships for short-time visit to Hochschule Bremen (1992 and 1994), TU Vienna (1993 and 2002), CISM Udine (1992 and 1998), University of Sheffield (1998), University of Maribor (2001), MPA Stuttgart (2003), NATO Advanced Research Workshop in Budapest (2003), Enlargement and Integration Workshop JRC Petten (2005 and 2006), FITNET 3rd Training Seminar Miskolc (2005) and ESF-ORI Conference in Lisbon (2007). He published over 70 scientific-research papers at the Conferences or in Journals mainly devoted to numerical modelling of the fracture behaviour of heterogeneous welded structures.

Currently Prof. Drazan Kozak is the Vice Dean for Science at the native Faculty - SF. He is also president of the Croatian Group for Structural Integrity coordinated by ESIS and active as the member of the Executive Committee of Croatian Society of Mechanics. Prof. Drazan Kozak is the member of the Editorial Board of Open Mechanics Journal. He is member of the Rotary club Slavonski Brod. He is married and father of two daughters.