Unable to resist: Researchers’ responses to research assessment in the Czech Republic

Human Affairs ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Linkova
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Research Development ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Public Events ◽  
Politics Of Resistance ◽  
Group Interviews

AbstractInstituted in 2004, the Czech Republic research assessment has since changed on an annual basis. In this paper I examine how researchers in the Czech Republic negotiate research assessment. Using the concept of epistemic living spaces (Felt & Fochler, 2010; Felt, 2009), I first set in context the Czech research assessment system and second explore the micro-politics of resistance in which researchers engage in their daily conduct. Empirically, I draw on individual and group interviews carried out with Czech researchers in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, analyses of science policy documents including the Methodology for Evaluating Research, Development and Innovation Results, as well as public debates relating to research assessment, such as blogs and newspaper articles. The interviews were carried out between 2007 and 2010. Additional sources of data include participant observation at public events and seminars on the research and development system reform, research assessment and audit of the Czech system of research, development and innovation gathered between 2009 and 2011.

Public leadership and strategies of Czech municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic – municipal activism vs municipal passivism

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Plaček ◽  
David Špaček ◽  
František Ochrana
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Leadership

PurposeThis paper discusses the role of public leadership and the strategic response of local governments to the external shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors examine the typical Czech response with regard to how the leadership of municipalities in the Czech Republic responded to this extremely negative external stimulus.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use qualitative research methods for this investigation. They have chosen the case study method (see Yin, 2009; Stake, 1995; Klonoski, 2013). The general case is the Czech Republic. Mini-cases consist of municipalities from the Znojmo region, municipalities of the Central Bohemian region and the municipal districts in the capital city of Prague. Furthermore, the method of participant observation was used.FindingsThe authors’ analysis of the problem of local government responses to the pandemic crisis shows that municipal leaders responded with a variety of (non-)adaptation strategies. It appears that certain framework factors influenced the various local governments' behavior.Originality/valueThe article examines the strategic behavior of Czech municipal leaders regarding the pandemic crisis based on the observation of the reactions of local governments in the Czech Republic to the pandemic crisis and strives to define their basic strategies.

scholarly journals The Czech Republic in FP7: Low participation with high collaborative excellence

Ergo ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Albrecht
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Research Development ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Simple Index ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
Index 2 ◽  
Framework Programmes

The Framework Programmes for research and technological development (FPs) are very important instruments fostering the growth of the European Union’s potential needed to achieve breakthrough solutions to urgent and difficult problems that are unlikely to be properly tackled at the level of individual national research and development systems. The FPs mainly support projects with considerable “European added value” that stem from transnational collaboration in research, development, and innovation (R&D&I). However, attempts to measure the collaboration [1, 8] are still rather rare and usually based on analysing project results. This article deals with a simple index [2, 3], which might be interpreted as representing the value of “collaborative potential” of EU member countries. Namely, for each given country the index quantifies the ability of its teams to collaborate in transnational consortia with teams from the most prestigious European scientific institutions. Since the “standard” indicators used in FP assessment characterize the participation of member countries in FP7 rather than quantitatively analyse their collaboration [4, 1], the proposed index should complement the usual studies focused on analysing per country participation in FP7. This article confirms the low participation of Czech (CZ) teams in FP7, which was discussed in many previous studies. However, we want to argue that the participating CZ teams collaborate with teams from premier European institutions more intensively than teams from many other member countries.

Homeschooling as a Barometer of State Power and Control in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
pp. 250-266
Author(s):  
Irena Kašparová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
State Power ◽  
Compulsory Schooling ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control

The chapter introduces homeschooling in the Czech Republic, Europe, from the perspective of an anthropologist, who herself had both observed the phenomenon scientifically, as well as practiced it with her four children. The author introduces homeschooling as an important social topic, that may be regarded as a barometer of state power and control over its citizens. The text takes the reader onto a historical journey through various regimes that have governed the country, from the dawn of compulsory schooling under the Habsburg dynasty in the 18th century, through to two World Wars, onto socialism, communism, and finally, democratic government and its various turbulences over the last 30 years. Based upon participant observation, interviews, autoethnography, and secondary sources analysis, the author shows nuances and niches of homeschooling within the state compulsory education system, its battle for recognition, inclusion, and sustainability, which is achieved not only by law itself but also by five pillars of successful homeschooling, noted at the end of the chapter.

Gendered practices of family social workers: The case of the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087282091167
Author(s):  
Barbora Gřundělová ◽  
Alice Gojová
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Group Interviews

The aim of this article is, through a study of the construction of gender in social work, to identify gendered practices of family social workers in their interactions with clients and to consider the implications of these practices for gendered power relations. Using social constructionism and a critical and interpretive framework, we carried out repeated individual and group interviews, while observing interactions between social workers and parents. A qualitative research strategy was used. Analysis of Constructivist Grounded Theory identified the six gendered practices in interactions with clients.

scholarly journals General evaluation framework for research, development and innovation programmes and its possible utilization in the Czech Republic

Ergo ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Vladislav Čadil
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Research Development ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Third ◽  
General Evaluation ◽  
Effi Ciency ◽  
International Audit

In the Czech Republic the low attention is paid on evaluation of public R&D&I expenditures effi ciency, as also revealed the International Audit of the R&D&I System. Therefore, the main article’s aim is, by comparing with foreign best practices and recommendation of the European Commission, to point the most signifi cant weaknesses out and to sketch a general framework for new R&D&I programmes evaluation. The article is structured into fi ve relatively independent parts. The fi rst one defi nes programme evaluation, the next one summarises foreign best practices, the third one gives a brief summary of main methods and approaches and last but not least the fi fth part suggests the new general framework for evaluation of Czech R&D&I programmes.

scholarly journals Impact of Score Recalculation of Publication Evaluation on the Czech Higher Education Institutions

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-254
Author(s):  
Martin Flégl ◽  
Igor Krejčí ◽  
Helena Brožová
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Financial Impact ◽  
Research Development ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Impact

The evaluation of the publication outputs in the Czech Republic is based on the methodology from the Research, Development and Innovation Council. This methodology assigns a score to each output according to a various categories. The evaluation is carried out for 5 year-long sliding period. However, the assigned score for an output is published with more than a year delay. Moreover, the assigned score, in most of the cases, does not correspond with the scientists’ first calculation, which was made according to the generally known rules. The impact of this issue on the chosen scientific organisations, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), is the topic of this paper. The evaluation and analysis of the financial impact of this gap on the Czech higher education institutions’ budgets is provided with data from the years 2007 to 2012.

scholarly journals Legal analysis of the new register of research organizations

Ergo ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Martin Kobert
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Central Body ◽  
Research Development ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Successful Completion ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Ongoing Effort ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
State Administration

AbstractIn the middle of 2017 the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports published a new register of research organizations as part of an ongoing effort to establish, within the framework of the Czech Republic state administration, a central body responsible for assessing the defining attributes of research organizations, thereby removing the need for each grantor to conduct such assessment individually. The consequence of this measure is to effectively replace the existing register maintained by the Research, Development and Innovation Council, which essentially has no legal relevance compared to this new register. Successful completion of the assessment is a requirement for research organizations to obtain funding not considered to be state aid therefore the existence of a legally binding register is crucial even though the above mentioned authorities do not perceive it this way. This approach questions the future of the register itself underscored by the fact that it has been marred by legislative errors. However, the register now works and more than 112 entities (updated to 14th of December 2017) are registered and available for grantors to use to assess beneficiaries. The aim of this article is presentation with its legal substance and analysis of its meaning for potential registrants, especially in the context of providing grants, including the relevant issues.

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