doc. PhDr. Martina Rašticová, Ph.D.
Research Team Leader
Martina Rašticová, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Mendel University in Brno, where she currently leads the Department of Management and the Research Team Smart Society. Since 2022, she has served as the chair of the COST Action DIGI-net, CA21107, which focuses on work inequalities in the labor market accelerated by digitalization. She has been involved in gender, age, and cross-cultural research projects and has been publishing her work since 1998. From 2004 to 2007, she lived in Washington, DC, and in 2006-2007, she received the Associated Research Scholarship at George Washington University. She lives near Brno, the Czech Republic, with her husband and four children.
Mgr. Martin Lakomý, Ph.D.
Research Team Co-leader
Dr. Lakomý is a research assistant at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno. His research focuses on the social aspects of population ageing, the situation of older workers in the labour market, the development of family relationships and the associated value changes based on cross-national quantitative data. Lakomý received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 2019 and has gained experience in domestic research activities and research stays at the University of Bergen, the Netherlands Demographic Institute, and Syracuse University. His most notable publications have come as the lead/sole author of articles in the European Journal of Ageing, European Societies, Information, Communication and Society, and Social Science Research.
Team members
Ing. Jiří Duda, Ph.D.
Ing. Jiří Duda, Ph.D., is an expert in the field of strategic management and human resource management. His long-term scientific research focuses on employee compensation, with particular emphasis on the provision of employee benefits as a tool for workforce motivation. In addition, he is engaged in industry analyses and the examination of external factors influencing the development of corporate strategies, especially in the area of human resources.
doc. Ing. Sylvie Formánková, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Sylvie Formánková, Ph.D., is employed at Mendel University in Brno. Her research focuses on social responsibility and sustainability in both business and higher education environments. In this field, she successfully defended her habilitation thesis and led several national and foreign projects. She founded the Center for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Mendel University in Brno, which was awarded the Czech Social Business Award "Zlatá vážka" in 2024. In this capacity, she has organised a variety of events, including professional lectures, discussion meetings, excursions, conferences, and charity events, for students, employees, and the general public. In 2019, she was awarded the Rector's Award in recognition of her significant contribution to the development of civil society.
doc. Ing. Helena Chládková, Ph.D.
Helena Chládková, Ph.D., is an Associate professor at Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic. She is a guarantor of subjects and a teacher at the same time in Management, Business Management, and Applied Economics and Management at the Faculty of Business and Economics, the Faculty of AgriSciences, and the Faculty of Horticulture. Under her leadership, 95 bachelor's theses, 50 diploma theses, and 5 dissertations were successfully defended. She is the author and co-author of more than 80 refereed scientific papers. Her current research interests: higher education; management and development of SMEs; SMEs competitiveness; analysis of the different industries (primarily wine industry); CSR.
Ing. Amar Khairi, Ph.D.
Amar Khairi is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Mendel University in Brno. His research focuses on the European Union, economic policy and the labour market, with particular attention to the position of older workers and the impacts of digitalisation. He works with both qualitative and quantitative data, aiming to capture the complexity of socio-economic processes in a comparative context. He received his Ph.D. in Economic Policy in 2024 at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno. In addition to domestic academic activities, he is also involved in international cooperation, including participation in a COST project.
Mgr. Ondřej Klíma
Ondřej Klíma is a researcher in the Department of Management at Mendel University in Brno, specializing in the sociological study of video games and their role in civil society. His research focuses on the gaming sphere concept, exploring the cultural, political, and economic meanings of microtransactions in video games and their broader social implications. He also examines key industry controversies, such as the Blitzchung incident and the debate surrounding loot boxes, to understand how digital economies intersect with player agency, regulation, and public discourse.
Mgr. Radka Klvaňová, Ph.D.
Radka Klvaňová is an assistant professor at the Department of Management at Mendel University. She has long-term experience with qualitative research on migration and immigrant reception employing the cultural sociological perspective. She is especially interested in the processes of inclusion, othering, negotiation of the symbolic boundaries of belonging, and immigrant integration policies at both national and local levels. She is a co-author of the book A Critical Cultural Sociological Exploration of Migration Attitudes in Czechia: What Lies Beneath the Fear of the Thirteenth Immigrant. In recent years, she has published in journals such as Cultural Sociology, Population, Space and Place, and Migration Studies.
Ing. Radovan Kožíšek, Ph.D.
Radovan Kožíšek is an assistant professor at Mendel University, Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics. He received his doctor's degree in 2014 for the thesis: "Critical Infrastructure Protection in Power Industry: Differences between Public and Private Sector". His research priorities lie in the field of motivation of Generation-Z, Enterprise Risk management, Process and change management. His last publication's titles from 2023 and 2024 are "The motivation of generation Z: A prototype of the Mendel University student" and "Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility: Attitude of Managers towards Psychosocial Aspects". He participates in mentoring of start-ups in terms of Brno Impact Hub and supports non-profit organizations aimed at the inclusion of disadvantaged groups of youth.
Ing. Renata Kučerová, Ph.D.
Ing. Renata Kučerová, Ph.D., works at Mendel University in Brno as an assistant professor at the Department of Management. Her research focuses on social responsibility and sustainability. She has participated in a number of research projects supported by the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Agency for Agricultural Research. She is currently working on a GACR project investigating corporate behaviour in response to CSR policies, institutions and economic issues. She is actively involved in the activities of the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at MENDELU. She regularly participates in international conferences and teaching mobilities within the Erasmus+ programme.
JUDr. Ing. Jitka Matějková
JUDr. Ing. Jitka Matějková is an Assistant at the Department of Law and Social Sciences, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno. She also holds a researcher position at the Institute of Structural Economics and Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology. Her dual academic roles enable her to effectively bridge the fields of legal studies, economics, and public management. Her scholarly interests focus on the intersection of law, economic efficiency, and public procurement policy. Her work has appeared in numerous prestigious international journals, including Law and Financial Markets Review, Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies, and Baltic Journal of Law and Politics.
Ing. Pawan Kumar Mishra, Ph.D.
Dr. Mishra is presently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno. Pawan has international research experience from Louisiana State University (Louisiana, USA), ETH Zurich, EMPA (Zurich, Switzerland), BOKU (Tulln, Austria), Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Warsaw, Poland), and Punjab University (India). In his career, he has published more than 50 Impact research papers (2608 citations, h-index 24 in WoS) and a U.S patent. His present research is focused on a multidisciplinary study of Technostress and Bioeconomy.
Mgr. Bc. Ondřej Pavelek, Ph.D.
Dr. Ondřej Pavelek is an assistant professor at Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Law and Humanities Sciences. In 2014, he graduated from the Faculty of Social Studies, European Studies, and in 2015, graduated from the Faculty of Law, Law and Legal Science, at Masaryk University in Brno. In 2020, he completed his Ph.D. studies in civil law.
Mgr. Hana Porkertová, Ph.D.
Hana Porkertová works as an assistant professor at Mendel University in Brno and a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Her main research interests involve the sociology of medicine and critical disability studies. She uses qualitative methodology and poststructuralist approaches—mainly Deleuze-Guattarian philosophy and actor-network theory. She has published her work in Critical Sociology, The Sociological Review, Social & Cultural Geography, Qualitative Research, etc.
Yuliia Prus, Ph.D.
Dr. Yuliia Prus acquired her Ph.D. in management and now works as an Associate Professor at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and the Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno. She is an author and co-author of more than 80 scientific papers. Executor of 5 research and 4 Erasmus+ projects. Participant in more than 20 scientific conferences in Ukraine and the EU. Her research interests are spatial development, green economy, HR-management, smart specialization, and peacebuilding.
Prof. Volodymyr Rodchenko
Volodymyr Rodchenko is a researcher in the field of local development, strategic and project management, with over 20 years of experience in science, education, and consulting. Director of Karazin Business School, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University / Assistant Professor of the Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, leader of more than 10 scientific and research international projects. Author of numerous scientific publications, co-organizer of more than 70 popular science events. He actively cooperates with government agencies, local governments, and international partners.
doc. Ing. Hana Stojanová, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Stojanova's research focuses on project management and human resources in the context of Industry 4.0. Dr. Stojanova has presented her work at 32 scientific conferences, both domestically and internationally, and has shared her expertise with students during invited lectures at institutions such as the University of Jordan in 2022 and 2025, the University of Defence in Czechia in 2022, Zhejiang Wanli University in China in 2019 and 2018, and Western Caspian University in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2017. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals, including Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology, Výkonnost podniku, and The Science Journal of Business and Management since 2015.
Ing. Jakub Šácha, Ph.D.
Jakub Šácha received a master's and doctoral degree at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Technology in Brno, with a specialization in applied mathematics. He has worked in the Department of Statistics and Operations Analysis, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, as an Assistant Professor since 2009. He deals with statistical methods, especially regression analysis and multivariate statistical methods. In publishing activities, he works on quantitative data preparation and analysis, specification of statistical models, and uses these methods to analyse data from questionnaire surveys. He has published in Heliyon, European Countryside, and Current Issues in Tourism.
Mgr. Eva Šerá, Ph.D.
Eva Šerá is an assistant professor at the Department of Management, PEF MENDELU. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology and is particularly drawn to interdisciplinary approaches, especially those intersecting with the field of economics. Her research focuses on systems thinking and the application of systemic approaches to the study of organizations and their communication processes. She is especially interested in how organizations navigate issues of sustainability and the circular economy, with a focus on communicative paradoxes. Her empirical research is grounded in textual analysis, using diverse forms of textual data to explore organizational phenomena. She is a member of the COST Project CA21107: Work Inequalities in Later Life Redefined by Digitalization (2022–2026).
Ing. Zuzana Talašová
Zuzana Talašová is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Masaryk University and a researcher affiliated with the Department of Management at Mendel University in Brno. Her research focuses on intergenerational relationships, family care, ageing, and the social implications of digital technologies and artificial intelligence. She is particularly interested in four-generation families, great-grandparenthood, gendered expectations of care, and the ways technologies reshape family relations and caregiving practices, participating in research projects focused on social transformations, digitalisation, family care, and ageing (at Masaryk University, supported mostly by GAČR). She is also involved in projects examining the digital reorganisation of social practices and the individualisation of contemporary society (the latter within the OP JAK framework, WP at MENDELU).
JUDr. Mgr. Roman Zapletal, Ph.D., LL.M.
Roman graduated in law and legal science both in the Czech Republic (Palacký University in Olomouc, Masaryk University in Brno) and abroad (University of Vienna), as well as in historical sociology (Charles University in Prague). His dissertation focused on labour-law issues with respect to employment contract, the principle of the autonomy of will and related, mainly private-law consequences. His most recent academic experience covers the fields of international leadership and diversity, HR management and legal questions of business management (adapted for non-lawyers). Roman focuses predominantly on selected aspects concerning labour and employment law, and also on various interdependent connections in the area of human rights and social sciences.
doc. Ing. Pavel Žufan, Ph.D.
Pavel is an associate professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), Mendel University in Brno, where he has held several administrative positions – chair of the Department of Management (2003–2009), Vice-dean for development (2006–2014), Vice-rector for strategy and IT (2015–2018), and Dean (2018–2023). He also cooperates with several accreditation bodies, and since 2018, he has been the president of an independent accreditation agency, the European Council for Business Education (ecbe.eu). His research is aimed at industry analysis, strategy formulation, and implementation with a specific focus on SMEs, the food industry, and quality management. The main projects he worked on as the coordinator include the management part of the FBE research plan (2005–2011) and the Leonardo da Vinci project “Education in Strategic Management for SMEs” (2012–2015).