In Brief

Tereza Pospíšilová studied sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University (1998 Mgr., 2004 Ph.D.) and International Relations and European Studies at the Central European University in Budapest (2000 MA). She worked at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (1997), National Training Fund (1998-9), Center for Theoretical Study (CTS) at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Charles University (2000-2004) and at Civil Society Development Foundation (2003-2005). In 2002, she spent six months on a traineeship at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna.  In addition to her teaching at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, she has occasionally been working as a lecturer for the National Healthy Cities Network. She has implemented a number of research projects, among them two major projects were prepared in collaboration with NGOs: the international Civil Society Index was prepared together with Civil Society Development Foundation (2003-2005) and the Patterns and Values of Volunteering project was prepared together with the Hestia volunteer centre (2009-2010). Pospíšilová also prepared two studies for the CR public administration: Analysis of the CR Government Advisory and Working Bodies (Government of the CR, 2000) and Report on the Nonprofit Sector (The CR Government Council for NGOs, 2005).

“Social sciences in general are to contribute to knowledge, critical thinking and, in my opinion, to the formation of the society. Our field of study is tied to a specific aspect of social reality: the civil society. Work carried out by various associations, organized civic actions, their functioning, impact or survival as well as the role of civic values—all these are themes we focus on.

What is the significance of Civic Sector Studies?

I see the significance of this field of study in bringing up citizens-professionals who will be acquainted with the term of civil society and will be able to critically analyse some of its aspects.  Whether they work for the public administration, companies or directly in NGOs, they will be “professional citizens”.