Theory closely linked to practice. The professor from ISS is engaged in public sector research

Michal Plaček from the Institute of Sociological Studies FSV UK received a professorship in the field of public and social policy this year. He is not idle on his academic path, which he closely connects with practice – he cooperates with a number of research institutions, foreign universities and domestic public administration. 

In his research, he has been dealing with a whole range of topics – management in the public sector, corruption in public administration, the issue of green public procurement, or marginally also development studies. In recent years, he specifically focused on cross-sector cooperation in times of crisis – he was interested in why the public sector does not want to cooperate with other actors, such as non-profit organizations, and how this cooperation was affected by past crises. "It seems that the Czech public sector knows how to perfectly manage the first stages of the crisis – that means providing accommodation and basic needs. But then it has a big problem in the next stages, when it has to make more sophisticated policies and focus, for example, on the labor market, education or mental health," he emphasises.

He also participates in a number of projects in which, among other things, he tries to connect technical fields with social sciences. He also carried out some research projects in developing countries, and at the faculty he supervises doctoral students who come from these areas. For example, in 2022, he went to Indonesia with FSV UK PhD student Choirul Anam. 

You can read the entire interview with the researcher on the FSV UK science website.