Her research focuses on labour migration, labour mobility, the anthropology of art, cultural change, and Slovenian communities in Argentina and Australia. Within her scholarly work, she examines migration as a cultural process, return migration, and various aspects of migrants’ creative work. Her research on the mobility of artists has also led her into the broader field of labour mobility studies, which has become her primary area of interest in recent years. Through the coordination of several international projects (funded under the SEE and EaSI PROGRESS schemes), she has helped establish a strong and well-functioning international network of partner institutions. She has presented her research findings in articles and conference papers at numerous national and international scientific conferences. She is the author of the book Buenas Artes and co-editor of two monographs on labour mobility. In addition to academic publishing, she also writes for wider audiences; in 2019, she published Migracijski pojmovnik za mlade (Migration Glossary for Young People), which received the prestigious Golden Pear Award for quality youth literature.

Kristina is co-editor of the scientific journal Dve domovini / Two Homelands and serves as section editor for emigration studies at the Novi Slovenski biografski leksikon (New Slovenian Biographical Lexicon). She is a member of the Slovenian Ethnological Society, the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), and the Society for Slovene Studies.

VAH JEVŠNIK, Mojca, TOPLAK, Kristina. 2024. Access to information on the posting of workers : company practices and challenges in the case of Slovenia. IN: DANAJ, Sonila, TOPLAK, Kristina, VAH JEVŠNIK, Mojca (Eds.). Access to information on the posting of workers : construction companies' practices and challenges. Ljubljana: ZRC Publishing, pp. 104-119. 

TOPLAK, Kristina. 2023. Intra-EU cross-border workers in the time of COVID-19 movement restrictions: cross-border and posted workers from Slovenia. IN: VAH JEVŠNIK, Mojca, TOPLAK, Kristina (Eds.). Further discussions on labour mobility in the EU. 1st ed. Ljubljana: ZRC Publishing, pp. 103-125. 

TOPLAK, Kristina, LUKŠIČ-HACIN, Marina. 2022. International mobile workers caught between restrictive measures and freedom of movement during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Slovenia. Dve domovini/Two Homelands: razprave o izseljenstvu/migration studies. 56, pp. 107-124. 

TOPLAK, Kristina. 2021. Med ustvarjalnostjo in migracijami: biografski portret umetnice in begunke Bare Remec. Dve domovini/Two Homelands: razprave o izseljenstvu/migration studies. 53, pp. 45-61. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/9530/8789, doi: 10.3986/dd.2021.1.04.

TOPLAK, Kristina. 2020. Jožica Paddle Ledinek. IN: RATEJ, Mateja (Ed.). Osebnosti slovenske medicine, (Zbirka Življenja in dela, ISSN 2385-9792, Biografske študije, 24, 17). 1. izd. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU, Založba ZRC, str. 179-189, portret. 

TOPLAK, Kristina. 2019. Migracijski pojmovnik za mlade, (Zbirka Pojmovniki, knj. 11). 1. izd. Maribor: Aristej, 136 p., ilustr. Nagrada: Zlata hruška, 2020

TOPLAK, Kristina. 2018. The mobility of artists and culture professionals in the European Union. IN: TOPLAK, Kristina, VAH JEVŠNIK, Mojca (Eds.). Labour mobility in the EU, (Migracije, ISSN 1580-7401, 28). 1st ed. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC SAZU, pp. 63-87. 

ŠUMI, Irena, TOPLAK, Cirila, TOPLAK, Kristina. 2016. From raw ideology to cooked legality: nation and citizenry in post-socialist Slovenia. Anthropological notebooks, 22, no. 3, pp. 125-143. http://www.drustvo-antropologov.si/AN/PDF/2016_3/Anthropological_Notebooks_XXII_3_Sumi.pdf.

VAH JEVŠNIK, Mojca, TOPLAK, Kristina. 2016. Država blaginje in njen vpliv na izseljevanje: primer Slovenije. Časopis za kritiko znanosti, 44, 264, pp. 331-344.

• Challenges of International Labour Mobility in a National Context. The case of Slovenia (fundamental research project • October 1, 2023 - September 30, 2026)
• Enhancing the collection and analysis of national data on intra-EU posting: POSTING.STAT (February 1, 2021 - July 31, 2022)
• Secure Mobility: Uncovering Gaps in the Social Protection of Posted Workers (January 1, 2021 - July 31, 2022)
• Made in YU: How nonhumans activated Yugoslavia (research project • January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022)
• DRIM (Danube Region Information Platform for Economic Integration of Migrants) (international project • January 1, 2017 - June 30, 2019)
• POOSH - Occupational Safety and Health of Posted Workers (international project • January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2018)
• National and Cultural Identity of Slovenian Emigration in the Context of Migration Studies (research programme • January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2027)
• SEEMIG – Managing Migration and its Effects in SEE - Transnational Actions towards Evidence Based Strategies (international project • June 1, 2012 - November 30, 2014)

• Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU, Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures, Migration Studies module – Migration and Culture (co-lecturer)
• University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology – Od predmetov do simbolov (From Objects to Symbols) (external lecturer)

• Golden Pear Award for the publication Migracijski pojmovnik (Migration Glossary), Aristej Publishing House, 2019
• Award of the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad for her doctoral dissertation, 2008

• Field editor at the Novi Slovenski biografski leksikon (New Slovenian Biographical Lexicon)
• Member of the Slovenian Ethnological Society, the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), and the Society for Slovene Studies
• Member of the ARIS Expert Panel within the industrial ecosystem Cultural and Creative Industries (2026)