Staff

He graduated in political science and history at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. He became associate professor of political sciences in 2006, based on his habilitation thesis “End of Germany as a civilian power? Germany’s out-of-area operations during the red-green coalition of 1998-2005.” In further training he completed courses „1st Security Policy and Defense Management Course“ (Center for Defense Studies in Aberdeen and Center for European Security Studies in Groningen) and „Leaders for the 21st Century Course 99-2“ (George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies). In 2009, he studied U.S. National Security at the U.S. Winter Institute on (University of Delaware, Newark, USA). 

He specializes in international relations, international security organizations, German and Czech security policies, civilian command and democratic control of armed forces, and the history of armed conflicts. He has authored or co-authored five monographs and over forty peer-reviewed articles home and abroad, including five studies indexed in Web of Science, four in SCOPUS, and dozens of popularizing and journalistic texts. Between 2006-2010 he participated as co-investigator in the German PRIF project „The Image of the Democratic Soldier in European Comparison“. He was also lead investigator in national projects funded by the Grant Agency of the CR (NATO Adaptation, Armed conflicts after the Cold War), and by the Czech Academy of Sciences (Civilian Command and Democratic Control of the Czech Armed Forces).

He is currently lead investigator in the Grant Agency of the CR project “Germany and military out-of-area operations: civilian power, trading state, or middle power?”, set to conclude in 2019 and lead investigator and manager of the Czech Ministry of the Interior grant “Methodology for the forecast, early warning, and prevention of threats to Czech internal security from regional armed conflicts”. This project is set to conclude in 2020. On a long-term basis, he is also involved in specific research grants at MU. He has successfully supervised 8 Ph.D. candidates. In 2010 and 2011 he was part of the Czech Defense Minister’s expert team producing the White Paper on the Defense of the Czech Republic 2011.

Room 440, phone: 549 494 996, e-mail: zkriz@fss.muni.cz

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Political scientist, Rector Emeritus of Masaryk University and Minister of Education in 2012-2013.

He graduated in Czech language and History at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University (1983-1988) and then worked as a historian at the museum in Kromeriz (1988-1989). In the 1980s he participated in independent civic activities and co-organized a student movement (a samizdat periodical Revue 88). After November of 1989 he shortly worked as an editor and then co-founded the Political Science Department. In 1996 he habilitated at the Charles University in Prague, in 2002 was appointed the first professor of political science in the Czech Republic. He founded and led a number of political science institutes, he was among others Head of the Department of Political Science (1993-2002), Department of International Relations and European Studies (2002-2004), Head of International Institute of Political Science (1996-2004, 2012), Head of Institute of Comparative Political Research (2005-2011) and Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University (2004). He had been the Rector of Masaryk University for two terms (2001-2011). In the years 2011-2012 he was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, from May 2012 to July 2013 he was the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports. Since 2013 he has been a Member of Parliament of the Czech Republic, since January 2014 the Chairman of the Civic Democratic Party.

In years 2005-2009 he was a Deputy Chairman and in years 2009-2011 the Chairman of Czech Rectors Conference, he was also among others a member of the Council of the European University Association (2009-2011). He was a member of Accreditation Commission of the Czech Republic (2002-2004), of the Council of Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (2007-2012); in years 2008-2014 he was a member and a Deputy Chairman of the council of government’s Research, Development and Innovation. He had a function in many research and academic councils of universities and research institutions in the Czech Republic as well as abroad. He has received a number of awards for his academic activities both at home and abroad. 

In his academic research he specializes in comparative political science and European policy. He is the author/co-author of 14 monographs and more than 200 expert studies that have been published in a number of countries; he participated in many national and international research projects. Among his best-known publications belong Evropská unie (with M. Pitrová, 2003, 2009), Teorie politických stran (with M. Strmiska 1998, 2009), Katolicismus a politika (1996), Partie i systemy partyjne Europy Środkowej (with A. Antoszewski, R. Herbut and J. Sroka 2003), Die Verborgene Kirche (with J. Hanuš 2004), Laboratoř sekularizace (2007), Evropský mezičas (2007, 2010), Politika, jaká nemá být (2010) and Na konci bezstarostnosti (2015). 

Room 447, phone: 549 49 4411, e-mail: pfiala@muni.cz

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Vít graduated in history and political science at the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University (1995 – 2000). He has worked at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at FSS MU since 2002. In 2015 he was appointed professor. He is a guarantor for European Governance Master’s study programme, which is taught at the Masaryk University together with Utrecht University, and holds a function of member of the Doctoral board. Since 2012 he has been a Director of International Institute of Political Science FSS MU.

Professionally and pedagogically he focuses on issues of contemporary history and comparative political science. He deals mainly with research of changing relations between domestic policy and political system of the European Union and examination of development of tools and forms of multilevel governance in the European Union, while he develops especially those qualitative methods, which combine social science and historical ways of asking questions and finding answers. In the fields of his research interests he willingly supervises Diploma and Dissertation theses.

Vít is an author of a number of articles in journals and anthologies, an editor of many publications; most recently Towards the Partnership: The Third Decade of Czech – German Relations (s B. Dančákem; muni press 2016); Presidents above parties? Presidents in Central and Eastern Europe, Their Formal Competencies and Informal Power (muni press 2013), an author or co-author of many monographs, for example Europeanised Defiance: Czech Euroscepticism since 2004 (with V. Havlík and P. Kaniok, Barbara Budrich Verlag 2017), Party Systems in East Central Europe (with L. Cabada and P. Jurek, Lexington Books 2014), or Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe Compared (with L. Kopeček, Ashgate 2010).

Room 447, phone: 549 49 4761, e-mail: hlousek@fss.muni.cz

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Since 2016, Petr Kaniok has been working as an associate professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. At the same time he works as Academic Researcher at the International Institute of Political Science. Since 2012, he has been the editor-in-chief of Czech Journal of Political Science.

In his research he focuses on the issue of Euroscepticism, EU institutions, political system of the EU, theory of European integration and political systems of Nordic countries. He is the author of monographs Předsednictví Rady EU – příběh půlstoletí"(2008) and České předsednictví Rady EU – most přes minulost (2010), editor of several reviewed works (for example Česká politika v Evropské unii: Evropský integrační proces a zájmy České republiky, together with Vít Dočkal, Petr Fiala and Markéta Pitrová, 2006, or Euroscepticism and European Integration, together with Krisztina Arató, 2009). He periodically publishes in scientific journals with impact factor in the Czech Republic as well as abroad and appears at important scientific conferences.

As for grant and project activities, he was a successful principal investigator of grants Předsednictví Rady EU – most přes minulost (2009-2010, Czech Science Foundation - GAČR) and Předsednictví Rady EU a jeho role v rozhodovacím systému EU (European Commission, Jean Monnet Teaching Module, 2009-2013). He is currently the principal investigator of following grants: All Rights Reserved? Barriers towards EUropean CITIZENship (2013-2017, European Commission, 7th framework programme) and Evropa 2020: Horizont proměny relevantních aktérů politického systému České republiky (2013-2016, Czech Science Foundation - GAČR). 

Room 454, phone: 549 49 3571, e-mail: kaniok@fss.muni.cz

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Monika Brusenbauch Meislová received her PhD from the Department of Political Science and European Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University in Olomouc. She is currently an associate professor at Masaryk University in Brno, where she supervises the European Studies Master's programme.

She is also a Visiting Professor at Aston University in Birmingham, UK, where she previously served as an International Visiting Scholar, and a member of the Centre for Research on the English-speaking World at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. In 2024, the European Commission awarded her the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair. She is a member of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, editor of the renowned Journal of International Relations and Development, and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies and the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies. From 2020 to 2022, she co-led the UACES pan-European research network "Limits of EUrope." She has also been an International Visiting Scholar at UCL (University College London) in London.

Her research focuses on political discourse, UK-EU relations, British politics, and EU legitimation. She frequently publishes on these topics in leading international journals and is involved in several international research projects. She was awarded the MUNI Scientist Award in 2024 and the FSS Dean's Award in 2021 for her research. She regularly comments on British politics in Czech and international media and is a frequent contributor to prominent political blogs such as the Oxford University Politics Blog and LSE Blogs. She has been repeatedly invited to share her expertise with the British Parliament and the British Foreign Office.

Room 446, phone: 549 49 8794, e-mail: brusenbauch.meislova@mail.muni.cz

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Filip Černoch finished his Doctoral degree in European Studies at Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University. Here he currently works as a researcher and the study advisor for International Relations and Energy Security and Energy Security Pogramme. He was advisor to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on energy issues and a member of  vládního Výboru pro udržitelnou energetiku. He focuses on the EU energy policy.

Room 426, phone: 549 49 3694, e-mail: cernoch@mail.muni.cz

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Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies MU (since 2008). Here, he worked as a Vice Dean (since 2008), in present, he holds the position of Dean (since 2011). In the past, he had worked as a Director of International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University (2004 – 2009).

In his research, he specializes in US foreign policy after the Cold War with a focus on US priorities towards Central and Eastern Europe. In light of political development in Central European countries, he deals with their domestic policy and foreign policy aspects. He puts special emphasis on Visegrad Group and analysis of mutual relations between these states as well as their membership in the European Union and North Atlantic Alliance.

He has published a number of articles, studies and analyses in the Czech Republic and abroad, he contributed as an author and editor to several book titles: Zahraniční politika politických stran v České republice, Maďarsku, Polsku a na Slovensku (author and editor with Miroslav Mareš), Národnostní politika v postkomunistických zemích (author and editor with Petr Fiala), Nacionalistické politické strany v Evropě (author and editor with Petr Fiala), Pobaltí v transformaci – politický vývoj Estonska, Litvy a Lotyšska (author and editor) or Integrační pokusy ve středoevropském prostoru I., II. (author and editor, 1998, 1999).

Besides lecturing activities at the Faculty of Social Studies MU he lectures abroad on regular basis and participates in international conferences and seminars.

In academic year 2003 – 2004 he held a function of Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Columbia in New York, where he realized his research on US foreign policy in 1990s.

He is a member of several expert commissions and councils: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Czech Committee for Central and Eastern European Studies at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Board of Institute for Strategic Studies. In years 2002 – 2004 he had a function of Executive Director of the East European Summer School Club.

Room 453, phone: 549 493 551, e-mail: dancak@fss.muni.cz

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Vratislav Havlík graduated in European Studies and Media Studies and Journalism at Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, where he continued with his doctoral degree in European Studies. He also participated in six month stays at Universität Wien and Technische Universität Dresden (Herbert Quandt Foundation). In 2011 he took part in six month internship at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, during which he among other activities led a course on Europeanisation of Political Systems. In 2012 – 2013 he organized a conference coorganized with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung as a researcher of International Institute of Political Science.

Vratislav Havlík focuses on research of Europeanisation, multi-level governance, paradiplomacy and the role of cities in the EU, and further on Hungarian and German politics and Hungarian-Slovak relations. He is the author of monograph Města jako partner v procesu vládnutí (2013), he is also author of various research articles mainly dealing with participation of local level on European governance and current Hungarian politics.

Under the Department of International Relations and European Studies he participates in projects  Evropa 2020: Horizont proměny relevantních aktérů politického systému České republiky (GA13-24657S) – Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) and Aktuální otázky evropské a mezinárodní politiky II (MUNI/A/0898/2013).

Room 426, phone: 549 49 6267, e-mail: vhavlik@fss.muni.cz

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Hedvika´s majors cover social aspects of the energy systems and energy policies in Asia with a special focus on China and Russia. Currently, she leads several projects on energy poverty and vulnerable households in the Czech Republic and the CEE countries.

She has teaching practice from home university and from abroad. Hedvika has taken part in a number of governmental as well as academic research projects dealing with the gas market in general and Russian activities in gas and nuclear markets in particular and has published numerous articles, books, and studies. In 2009 and 2011 she completed study visits in the UK (under the UK Energy Research Centre) and China (under the London School of Economics and Political Science/Beijing University). Previously, she worked as a manager of a project focusing on students´ education in energy security co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Czech state budget. Currently, she is the main researcher in the project dealing with the transformation of the Czech central heating systems. In the project, she examines the social aspects of the transformation. Since 2019, she is a member of the ENGAGER COST Action - international research network for the issue of energy poverty.

Room 435, phone: +420 549 49 7388, e-mail: kodouskova@mail.muni.cz

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He graduated in Political Science at the Faculty of Social studies and in Law at the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University. He finished his Doctoral degree in 2007 at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, where he currently works as a researcher. In years 2009 – 2012 he was a director of International Institute of Political Science MU. He is a member of Board of Scientific Editors MU. In his research he focuses on political economy of international trade and development, economic history and the process of interests mediation in modern societies. He is the author and co-author of a number of research articles and monographs, especially Evropa ve světové ekonomice-historická perspektiva (with Vladan Hodulák, 2013), Politická ekonomie mezinárodních vztahů (with Vladan Hodulák, 2011) and Národní zájmy v moderní demokracii – Česká republika (2009).

Room 4.56, phone: 549 49 3877, e-mail: krpec@mail.muni.cz

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In the past, Jan worked as a co-editor of „Analyses and Commentaries“ column of information portal of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Natoaktual.cz. In 2009 he participated in six-month stay in Istanbul Bilgi University focused on international dimension of energy commodities transport. After he returned at FSS MU he took part in research of energy security at the Department of International Relations and European Studies and International Institute of Political Science where he focuses on mainly on international trade of energy commodities and unconventional sources of natural gas. During the recent years he has worked also as a member of the research team of a number of short-term projects of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Government of the Czech Republic, Czech-Polish forum or International Visegrad Fund, focused on energy security. Jan is also a member of research team of Grant Agency MU focused on research of local oppositions to infrastructure projects.

He is the author and co-author of several important publications and articles, for example: The framing of unconventional natural gas resources in the foreign energy policy discourse of the Russian Federation (2014), The Future of the Druzhba Pipeline as a Strategic Challenge for the Czech Republic and Poland (2012), Technicko-ekonomické aspekty energetiky (2014) and other.

Room 435, phone: 549 49 6896, e-mail: osicka@mail.muni.cz

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Vice Dean for Strategic Development at the Faculty of Social Studies MU and docent at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies MU. After studying Political Science at the Faculty of Arts and completing postgraduation studies at the Faculty of Social Studies MU she joined the Department of International Relations and European Studies as an expert on European integration. She specializes on political development in the EU, its institutional issues and constitutional development. She is also an author, co-author and editor of monographs, studies and articles, principal investigator of grants, member of the Scientific Board at FSS MU, member of the Editorial Board of International Relations journal (Mezinárodní vztahy). Since 2012, she has held a title of Jean Monnet Chair.

She is an author of a number of significant publications focused especially on issue of European integration and the European Union. For example, this includes titles such as Institucionální struktura EU (1999), Rozšiřování ES/EU (ed. with Petr Fiala, 2002), Institucionální struktura Evropské unie. Vliv integračních paradigmat na výstavbu institucí (2002), Evropská unie (with Petr Fiala, 2003; new updated edition in 2009).

Room 445, phone: 549 495 782, e-mail: pitrova@fss.muni.cz

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Tomáš Vlček works at the Department of International Relations and European Studies and the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University. He is a member of the Center for Energy Studies, an independent research platform, a Senior Expert of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Energy Strategy Expert Group (EESEG), and a member of the Czech Nuclear Education Network academic association. He was selected for the International Visitors Leadership Program, the prestigious professional program run by the United States Department of State, and also initiated and manages the widely respected International Summer School on Energy Security, held every August in Telč since 2012. He has taken part in nearly 30 government and academic research projects on energy security and energy policy, has delivered tens of papers at international conferences and has undertaken a number of research forays to Russia, the USA, and countries in Europe, especially the Central and Eastern Europe, as well as South-Eastern Europe. His research specialization focuses on geopolitical aspects of energy, nuclear energy, and energy security of post-communist Europe.

Room 435, phone: 549 49 7156, e-mail: tomas.vlcek@mail.muni.cz

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She is an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University and since 2012 she has worked as a researcher at the International Institute of Political Science (IIPS MU). In her research she focuses mainly on the issue of non-international armed conflicts, ethnic conflicts, international relations theory, conflicts in the Caucasus, translatlantic relations, NATO enlargement, foreign policy of Russia and international security.

In 2014 she finished her Doctoral degree in International Relations at FSS MU. During her doctoral studies she took part in six-month stay at the Department of Political Science, Baylor University of Texas, USA; doctoral course at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in Norway; ECPR Summer School on Methods and Techniques, Mixed Methods Design in Ljubljana and research stay at Freie Universität Berlin. Zinaida Bechná is the author or co-author of many research articles in Czech and foreign revues and she regularly presents her research at prestigious international conferences, as for example at Annual Convention na International Studies Association (ISA) and at the Department of War Studies na King's College London.

As a member of faculty research team she participates in following projects: Ozbrojené konflikty v mezinárodních vtazích po skončení studené války (GA407/09/0153) and Aktuální otázky evropské a mezinárodní politiky II (MUNI/A/0898/2013).

Room 427, phone: 549 49 6761, e-mail: ziko@mail.muni.cz

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Vladimír Černý studied history and political science at Masaryk University in Brno. In 2007 he was awarded the doctoral degree in history at the Historical Institute of the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University. Now he works as an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, and gives outside lectures at the Faculty of Arts of the same university. In the past, he worked on special projects with the Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. He specializes in the history of international relations, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries. His main interests include the development of Central Europe between 1914 and 1989, armed conflicts of the previous two centuries, and the history and political development of the United Kingdom. He has written or co-written seven monographs, a number of studies published in professional journals, and popular science articles.

Room 454, phone: 549 49 6373, e-mail: vlcerny@mail.muni.cz

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Martin Chovančík received his doctoral degree in the field of international relations from the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in 2014 for his thesis on the utilization of arms embargoes. During his studies, he spent a semester of methodological instruction at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth and cooperated professionally with the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the SR, as well as Jagello 2000 as the editor of analyses on the web portal natoaktual.cz. After his Ph.D. degree he joined Palacký University in Olomouc as a post-doc and was a Visiting scholar at the University of Toronto in 2015. He is currently involved with a number of research projects at the International Institute of Political Science at Masaryk University.

His research focuses on coercive diplomacy, arms trade, and non-military variants of armed conflict resolution, especially international sanctions and crisis mediations. He has authored or co-authored a series of articles on these issues including Iran coercion success and the use of non-kinetic force to support sanctions and prevent military escalation (2016), Managing armed conflict and the use of arms embargoes (2014), and in a more specific local context Czech and Slovak Defense Policies Since 1999: The Impact of Europeanization (2013).

Room 427, tel.: 549 49 7649, e-mail: chovancik@mail.muni.cz

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At the Department of International Relations and European Studies FSS MU in Brno he works as a researcher – postdoc. He finished his Doctoral degree in International Relations in 2012 at Faculty of Social Studies MU. In 2013 he worked as Visiting Scholar at the Department of Economics at University of Missouri – Kansas City.

In his research he focuses on international political economy, especially on the role of power in international monetary and financial relations and on the development of international economic institutions.

He is the co-author (with Oldřich Krpec) of books Politická ekonomie mezinárodních vztahů and Evropa ve světové ekonomice. He further published several research articles and chapters in collective works.

Room 426, phone: 549 49 4982, e-mail: vlod@mail.muni.cz

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Adriana earned her PhD in June 2024 from the Department of International Relations and European Studies, specializing in indicators of civil war escalation. She holds two master's degrees: one in International Relations and another in Mathematical Engineering from Brno University of Technology, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to global issues.

Her academic journey includes a research stay at the University of Ljubljana. At Masaryk University, Adriana is actively engaged in  research projects focused on defense industry, she specializes on data-driven analysis and the application of quantitative methods.

In addition to her academic role, Adriana is the Director of Research at the Global Arena Research Institute where, she leads efforts to integrate advanced mathematical techniques and data analysis into the study of profound changes in global economic, social, and migration flows.

Her passion for applying quantitative methods to various areas of international relations is reflected in her publications. Adriana is particularly fascinated by the potential of machine learning and AI to revolutionize the field, continuously expanding the scope of traditional research methodologies.

Room 4.26, phone: 549 49 5365, e-mail: ilavska@fss.muni.cz

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Martin Jirušek is an Assistant Professor at Masaryk University, Czech Republic, and Managing Editor of the Czech Journal of Political Science. He also works as a consultant and analyst.

Martin has conducted several research projects in central and eastern Europe, Russia, and the United States. He received a Fulbright research scholarship and spent ten months as a visiting researcher at George Washington University in Washington, DC (2021/2022). He was also selected for the International Visitors Leadership Program run by the United States Department of State (2019). He also obtained the Center for European Policy Analysis´s James S. Denton Transatlantic Fellowship (2019).

Martin regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals and reputable publishing houses, such as Palgrave Macmillan, Elsevier, etc. In his work, Martin focuses on geopolitics, energy security, central and eastern Europe, Russia, the United States, and the transatlantic dimension of energy security.

Room 428, phone: 549 49 3994, e-mail: jirusek.martin@mail.muni.cz

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He is an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at FSS MU in Brno and the Head of Research Department of Institute of International Relations in Prague. He finished his Doctoral degree in International Relations in 2008 at the Faculty of Social Studies MU in Brno.

In his research and teaching activities he focuses on analysis of foreign policy (especially of the Czech Republic and smaller European states), on Central European regional cooperation and its iterference into European transatlantic policy and into eastern and south-eastern external dimension of the EU. He also specializes in philosophy of sciences, especially in developement in the field of pragmatism and scientific realism.

He is the author and co-author of a number of research articles on the mentioned issues in Czech as well as foreign periodicals (for example, Osteuropa, EuropeanSecurity, Perspectives or Mezinárodní vztahy), the main author of annual analytical studies of the Czech foreign policy and a co-author (together with Martin Hrabálek) of publication Czech Foreign Policy in 2007 – 2009: Analysis, Česká zahraniční politika: Aktéři, struktura, proces and the author of monograph Člověk, poznání a mezinárodní politika.

He was the principal investigator of grant by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Rozvoj výzkumu v oblasti zahraniční politiky a mezinárodních vztahů, in present he is the principal investigator of the Czech Scientific Foundation’s grant Bezpečnostní multilateralismus jako instituce and the principal investigator of strategic grant of International Visegrad Fund Visegradgroup in the Post-Lisbon EU: GettingCloser to MoveFurther. He was granted the „Visiting Scholar“ scholarship for spring term of 2012  by Fullbright Foundation on Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Room 446, phone: 549 494 718, 251 108 110, e-mail: 11048@mail.muni.cz

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Jan Kotýnek krotký obtained his master's degrees in Sociology and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies (FSS) of Masaryk University and completed two internships at the European Parliament. In 2019, he received an award for the best diploma thesis in the field of international migration awarded by the Geographical Migration Center at Charles University. Four years later, at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at FSS, he defended his doctoral dissertation on migration discourse in the European Parliament and received the award of the Vice-Rector of Masaryk University for excellent results in doctoral studies.

During his doctoral studies, he worked as a research assistant at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he participated in research on solidarity in the European Union. At the Department of Sociology, he participated in research on the project "The Thirteenth Immigrant." He capitalized on his work on these projects by publishing several articles, chapters, and co-authoring a book on Czech attitudes towards migration. After his doctorate, he worked at the University of Wrocław, where he focused on inter-parliamentary cooperation in the EU, democratic innovations, and political attitudes towards participatory democracy at the EU level.

Currently, he works as an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Masaryk University in Brno. His research focuses on migration, discourse, political attitudes, the politicization of the EU, participatory democracy, and civic engagement.

Room 4.50, phone: 549 49 5103, e-mail: krotky.jan@fss.muni.cz

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She is an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies MU.

She graduated in International Relations and European Studies and finished her Bachelor‘s degree in Political Studies at Faculty of Social Studies MU. In 2007 she became an assistant at the Department of International Relations and European Studies and since 2010 she has worked here as an assistant professor. In 2004 – 2013 she worked as analyst of European legislation in Centre for the Study of Democracy and Culture, with which she still intensively cooperates. In years 2008 – 2009 she worked as an assistant in European Parliament in Brussels.

She specializes in foreign policy of Russian Federation after 1991 with focus on Russian-EU relations, current development of the European Union‘s legislative, EU Common Agricultural Policy and  eastern dimension of EU foreign policy. She is the author and co-author of research articles in published reviews (e.g. Central European Political Studies Review) and works, chapters in specialized books (e.g. for Institute of International Relations Prague) and analyses (e.g. for Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic or Government of the Czech Republic) and papers presented at conferences in the Czech Republic and abroad. She is the co-editor of Vývoj a výsledky procesů kontroly zbrojení a odzbrojování (with P. Suchý, 2005) and Rusko jako geopolitický aktér v postsovětském prostoru (with T. Šmíd, 2006) and the co-author of monograph Energetická bezpečnost asijských zemí a Ruské federace (with H. Koďousková and A. Leshchenko, 2012; 2nd edition with H. Koďousková, A. Leshchenko and M. Jirušek, 2014).

As a principal investigator and co-investigator she participated in many projects, e.g. Ruské aktivity v zemích vyvážejících zkapalněný zemní plyn realizovaný in 2010 for Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (as a co-investigator) and project Prosazování zájmů ČR v rozhodovacích orgánech EU: Hledání kompromisů, budování koalic v Evropské radě a Radě EU a spolupráce s ostatními institucemi realized in years 2012 – 2013 for Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (principal investigator). She currently participates in specific research project of Masaryk University Aktuální otázky evropské a mezinárodní politiky II(MUNI/A/0898/2013) realized in 2014 (as a co-investigator).

Room 4.54, phone: 549 496 439, e-mail: kuchynko@fss.muni.cz

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Lukáš is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies. His current research focuses on activism networks in response to lignite coal mining and policy networks related to coal mining and environmental policy in the Czech Republic.

In the past, he participated in research projects on gas market integration in Visegrad countries, energy efficiency in the Visegrad Group and Ukraine, as well as a project on behaviour of Russian state-owned enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe.

He lectures on energy efficiency, social science methods, programming for social scientists, and computer-aided text analysis.

Jan Lhotský is a lawyer who focuses on international law and human rights. He teaches in these areas at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University and is also the head of the independent Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

After graduating in law and economics, he continued his doctoral studies in international law. He also studied human rights in the E.MA programme in Venice, Italy and Graz, Austria. He worked in the legal profession and in the legal department of the European External Action Service in Brussels, which is responsible for the EU's external relations. He then worked as a Visiting Professional at the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague and subsequently as a lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

He is a member of the Czech Society for International Law, the Czech Society for European and Comparative Law and serves as an alternate member for the Czech Republic on the Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

He is also currently working as a lawyer at the Office of the Ombudsman and as a senior research fellow at the Centre for International Law at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. In the field of international law, he specializes mainly in human rights and international criminal law.

Room 4.56, tel.: 549 49 6257, e-mail: janlhotsky@mail.muni.cz

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Petr is a graduate of bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies in geography at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University. He completed the degree programme Social geography and regional development in autumn 2022 with a successful defense of his dissertation entitled Czech lands as social constructs and dynamic processes, which was announced by the Czech Geographical Society as the best dissertation in the field of geography in the given year. Subsequently, he and his colleagues finished work on the project Reconstruction of the running of Bohemian-Moravian historical land boundary and mapping of boundary markers for the purposes of their declaration as a cultural monument (TA CR, 2020–2023). Recently, Petr joined the Department of International Relations and European Studies as an assistant professor, where he imparts his, primarily geographical, knowledge and experience to students.

Petr's professional passion is the so-called new regional geography, which examines regions and regional identities in general in various contexts. This includes, for example, the study of borders and symbols, mental maps and representations of space, regionalism or nationalism. The region that enchanted Petr above all is Moravia, but he also likes to study many other, not only historical, regions and regional identities.

Room 4.55a, phone: 549 49 4506, e-mail: petrmarek@mail.muni.cz

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Bohuslav has been working at the Faculty of Social Studies since 2010. As an economist and sociologist specializing in the analysis and evaluation of public policy, his teaching and research practice focuses on the topics of resource provision for security and defense policy. He is the author of more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and several monographs on conscription and professional armies. During his scientific career, he participated as main investigator, co-investigator or member of the research team in several research projects funded by the Ministry of Interior, the Czech Scientific Foundation, the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. Currently, he is working on the project Structural Obstacles and Opportunities for Cooperation and Integration of Post-Communist EU Countries in European Defense Cooperation, where he examines the issues of corruption and differences in national cultures as structural obstacles to security integration. He came to the Faculty of Social Studies from the University of Pardubice, where he worked as an assistant professor in 2013–2023. He is also active in non-profit organizations fighting against corruption and for a greater quality of democracy.

Passing out of the academy in 1997 as a lieutenant, he served as the head of the Financial Service at the 45th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment in Kroměříž (SA-6 GAINFUL). In 1998–2007 he was an assistant professor at the Ground Forces Military College in Vyškov and the University of Defense in Brno. In 2014, he was retied from the service from the position of an military advisor to the Deputy Minister of Defense with the rank of lieutenant colonel, having previously served as the Chief of the Land Forces Training Department, the Military Academy in Vyškov (TRADOC), a systems analyst in the Defense Policy and Strategy Division, the Ministry of Defense, and a planner in the Force Construction Section (J-6), the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces. From December 2012 to June 2013, he was assigned to the position of the head of the expert group in the EUFOR Althea mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the portfolio of coordinating three international teams (Austria, Switzerland, Sweden) providing the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina with training, mentoring and monitoring in ​​weapons and ammunition storage management. For this mission, he received the status of a war veteran. During his military career, he was very active in publishing in Vojenské rozhledy and as a commentator in the daily press, for which he was awarded by an invitation to a dinner with the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces in 2006.

In 1992–1997, he studied at the Ground Forces Military College in Vyškov, where he was accepted to the Faculty of Logistics and Technical Support (4th Faculty). Yet he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1995 and an engineer's degree in defense economics from the Faculty of Defense Economics (2nd Faculty) in 1997. In 1998, he returned to the military academy to begin his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Defense Economics and Logistics, which he completed in 2003 at the only faculty of the school that also gave the Czech Republic a president, the Faculty of Economics and Management. After being retired, he graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University with a Master degree in Sociology - Public and Social Policy in 2018.

He graduated in Political Science at Faculty of Social Studies and Law at Faculty of Law MU. In years 2001 – 2005 he finished his Doctoral degree in Public International Law at the Department of International and European Law at Faculty of Law MU. In the past he worked for International Institute of Political Science MU as a coordinator of projects (1999 – 2001), in the Office of Public Defender of Rights as a lawyer (2001 – 2002), at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic as judge’s assistant (2002 – 2008) and as a head of his Analysis Department (2009 – 2012). He currently holds a position of Secretary General at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and part-time positions as an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at FSS MU (since 2005). He is a member of Government Legislative Council and Examination Board of the Czech Bar Association.

He is the author of a number of texts in the field of constitutional law, international law and political transitology: e.g. monograph Pobaltí v transformaci. Politický vývoj Estonska, Litvy a Lotyšska (with Břetislav Dančák and Adam Rakovský; 2000) or Utváření politického systému v Estonsku: příklad napětí mezi institucionálním rámcem a dynamikou tranzice (2005); further in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms and its regimentation in Czech, international and European law: monograph Práva národnostních menšin: mezi univerzalismem lidských práv a partikularismem skupinových odlišností (2006). He is also the co-author of commentary on Zákon o Ústavním soudu (2007) (Law on the Constitutional Court) and Listina základních práv a svobod (2012) (Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) and the co-author and editor of In dubio pro libertate, Pocta Elišce Wagnerové (2009), Vladimír Klokočka Liber Amicorum (2009), Ozbrojené konflikty po konci studené války (2013) and other. He regularly publishes on issues of public life in the daily press (Lidové Noviny, Mladá fronta DNES, Hospodářské noviny).

Room 446, phone: 549 494 816, e-mail: ipospisi@fss.muni.cz

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Adam Potočňák graduated from Political Science and Security and Strategic Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Masaryk University, having defended his dissertation thesis in September 2022. He has been working as an academic at the Centre for Security and Military-Strategic Studies of the University of Defence (CBVSS UO) since December 2019, having been involved in educating professional officers of the Czech Armed Forces at all levels of career education, including the Senior Officers Course and the General Staff Course. Since 2021, he has been a member of the CBVSS research team within the "Resilience of the Armed Forces and Armed Security Forces to Hybrid Threats" (2021-2025) project. Potočňák joined the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the FSS MU in November 2024. His professional interests include security and defence policy, great power rivalry, transatlantic security, grand strategy, armed conflict analysis and military history. He is a graduate of dozens of international (Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany) professional courses and summer schools focused on security and defence policy, international relations and history, including a year-long non-resident education and networking fellowship, the Transatlantic Security Initiative, organised by the International Republican Institute (2022). He is fluent in English, German, Russian and Polish.

Head of Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University. After finishing his Master’s degree at the Faculty of Social Studies MU in 1998 he completed also doctoral studies at Department of Political Sciences FSS MU. He focuses mainly on development of foreign as well as security policy of the US since the World War II until present, with a special emphasis on period of the Reagan administration, further on security issues – the role and development of nuclear weapons, development of arms control and disarmament between the superpowers in the first as well as the second nuclear age.

In the summer of 2002 he took part in Fulbright’s Institute of American Studies on U.S. Foreign Policy: Foundations and Formulations held at The Walker Institute for International studies at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. In July 2009 he lectured at Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Missouri State University, Campus Washington D.C. He is the author of Reagan a říše zla, Strategie zadržování v americké zahraniční politice. Vznik a vývoj koncepce 1945-1953 and the editor of studies Zahraniční politika USA v devadesátých letech dvacátého století a Vývoj a výsledky procesů kontroly zbrojení a odzbrojování. Marnost nad marnost? (with Petra Kuchyňková).

Room 443, phone: 549 498 126, e-mail: psuchy@fss.muni.cz

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Jana Urbanovská graduated in Political Science and European Studies at Faculty of Arts at Palacký University Olomouc. During her studies she participated in two-term stay at Friedrich-Schiller Universität (Jena) and one-term stay at Philipps-Universität (Marburg a/d Lahn) in Germany. She finished her Doctoral degree in International Relations at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in 2012 by defending her doctoral thesis “Participation of states in UN peacekeeping operations. The Case of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria”.

She currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the FSS at Masaryk University and as an academic researcher at the International Institute of Political Science also at Masaryk University. In her research, she focuses mainly on German foreign and security policy, Czech-German relations, EU security and defence policy and UN peacekeeping. She participated in the project “Germany and military out-of-area operations” (Grant Agency of CR, 1/2017 - 12/2019). 

Room 427, phone: 549 49 5462, e-mail: urbanovska@fss.muni.cz

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Veronika Zapletalová obtained a doctorate in International Relations at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in 2016. In the past, Veronika was working at Eurocentrum Brno – Office of the Government of the Czech Republic (2007 – 2009). In 2009 she participated in six-month stay in University of Ljubljana focused on the policy-making process in the US and EU. After she returned she took part in numerous government and academic projects on energy security and energy policy.

Veronika currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the FSS at Masaryk University and as an academic researcher at the International Institute of Political Science. Her majors are the external dimension of the EU energy policy, liberalization of the energy market in the EU and the shape of governance in the EU. Veronika participates in the project  ”United in Differences: Visegrad Contribution to EU Differentiated Integration” (Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, 2018 – 2020).

Room 450, phone: 549 49 5971, e-mail: zapletalova@mail.muni.cz

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Vladimir Vučković is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies and academic researcher at the International Institute of Political Science (IIPS) at the Masaryk University. He pursued his PhD in International Relations at Masaryk University where he specialized in Europeanization of the Western Balkans. He has held a post-doctoral visiting fellowship at the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz (2021/22) and at the Department of Political Science at the University of Stockholm (2017/18). Also, Vladimir trained professionally in the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary – Cabinet of the Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary (2013).

His research interest focus on the European Union, in particular Europeanization and EU integration and enlargement, Western Balkans political and socioeconomic developments, geopolitics, and populism in Europe.

Vladimir is author of the monograph Europeanizing Montenegro: The European Union, the Rule of Law, and Regional Cooperation published by Lexington Books – Rowman & Littlefield (2021), and editor of volume Balkanizing Europeanization: Fight against Corruption and Regional Relations in the Western Balkans published by Peter Lang (2019). In addition, he has (co-)authored a good number of peer-reviewed articles, as well as policy briefs and opinion pieces, which have found their way to relevant audiences, including scholars, policymakers, and generally leaders.

Room 4.55a, phone: 549 49 8631, e-mail: vuckovic@mail.muni.cz

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Denis Janšta is a PhD student of International Relations and European Politics and he also works as an assistant at the Department of International Relations and European Studies. In 2019 he graduated from International Relations programme and a year later from Security and Strategic Studies programme.
His previous studies have included several stays abroad, for example in Loughborough (Great Britain), Moscow or Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation). At Masaryk University, he participated in the operation of SUMMIT broadcasting on Radio R, in the activities of the IIPS Student Section and, last but not least, in the activities of Security Outlines, where he worked as an editor for the region of the former Soviet Union.
He specializes in the post-Soviet space with an emphasis on the foreign and security policy of the Russian Federation, especially the countries of Central Europe. As part of the activities at the Department, he participates in the teaching in the courses of Czech Foreign Policy and Energy Relations of Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.

Room 4.55b, e-mail: 427067@mail.muni.cz

Anežka Konvalinová, a Ph.D. student, Instructor and invaluable departmental coordinator at Masaryk University's Department of International Relations and European Studies in Brno. Her research is centered on the intricate landscape of energy transitions, with a specific focus on the coal phase-out in Central Europe, notably in Poland and the Baltic States. Beyond her academic pursuits, Anežka plays a pivotal role as the department's coordinator for Erasmus and internship programs, facilitating transformative experiences for students while actively participating in the Czech-Polish round table and contributing significantly to multiple research projects in the realm of energy transitions.

Room 4.50, phone: 549 49 7218, e-mail: konvalinova@mail.muni.cz

Lenka Martínková earned her master's degree at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University in 2018 in the field of International Relations. She is currently a PhD student in International Relations and European Studies with a focus on Middle East energy security. She works as an assistant at the Department of International Relations and European Studies. Her expertise is in the Middle East region, with a specific focus on conflicts, foreign policy and energy security in the Gulf countries.

Room 4.55b, e-mail: 397457@mail.muni.cz

Petr Svatoň graduated with a master's degree in Economic Policy - International Relations from the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University and is also a graduate of the Faculty of Law at MU. Petr is currently PhD student of a program International Relations and European Studies and is also an assistant at KMVES. His research focuses on the US-China trade war and technological rivalry, the EU's role in this conflict, China's economic model, the World Trade Organization, and general economic history. He completed an internship at the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN in New York and a study stay at Bilkent University in Ankara.

Room 4.55b, phone: 731 871 037, e-mail: petr.svaton@mail.muni.cz

Office 444, phone: 549 495 224, e-mail: cidlova@fss.muni.cz

Office hours:

monday  9:30 - 11:00

tuesday    14:00 - 15:00

wednesday   9:30 - 11:00

thursday  9:30 - 11:00