Mateja Hulina was born in 1986 in Zagreb. She completed her undergraduate studies in archaeology and anthropology in 2008, her graduate studies in prehistoric archaeology in 2011, and her doctorate in 2020 with the topic Dietary habits of the Neolithic populations in Croatia at the University of Zagreb. During and after her studies, she participated in archaeological excavations in cooperation with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Brdovec Museum, Delmat-Galiot d.o.o., Geoarheo d.o.o. and others. She worked at the Institute of Archaeology in 2014-2016 as a professional associate and in 2019-2020 as a library assistant. During her doctoral studies, she stayed at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, and at the University of Tübingen, where she was studying and performing organic residue analysis and joined the research group led by dr. sc. Cynthianne Spiteri. She also participated in workshops related to the application of chemical analysis in archaeology (Palaeodietary workshop, Pyrolysis training course).
She started working as a senior assistant at the Institute of Archaeology in 2022. She is participating as a researcher in Croatian Science foundation projects Childhood in Protohistory in southern Carpathian Basin (IP 2019-04-2520), led by Darija Ložnjak Dizdar, and The Transfer Area from the Sutla River and across the Middle Course of the Sava River during the Bronze and Iron Ages (UIP-2020-02-7127), led by Janja Mavrović Mokos (FFZG) as well as in Croatian Austrian bilateral project From Ashes to Insight - creation of standardized forms for the study of cremated remains in archaeology, led by Petra Rajić Šikanjić (Institute of anthropology, Zagreb).
Her scientific interest is primarily related to the diet and everyday lives of prehistoric people, pottery, and organic residue analysis.
She is a member of The International Society for Biomolecular Archaeology (ISBA).