About us

Our mission

SPOT, the Centre for Social Issues – SPOT, z.s., was founded in 2011 with the mission of to carry out and promote research in the field of social sciences and to provide consultancy in the field of social sciences, multicultural coexistence, urban development and urban policies with the aim of finding and offering models, concepts and practical solutions contributing to democratic, respectful and dignified coexistence of residents.

Our projects

2022

Partner of Electronics Watch – monitoring of employment conditions in the electrical industry in the Czech Republic Minimum Decent Wage Project together with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cooperation with MAS Cínovecko on the project Community Social Work in Dubí

2021

Partner of Electronics Watch – monitoring of employment conditions in the electrical industry in the Czech Republic Minimum Decent Wage project together with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cooperation with MAS Cínovecko on the project Community Social Work in Dubí

2020

The last year of the project Fair Jobs in the Municipality (together with Nová škola o.p.s. and Multicultural Centre Prague z.s.) Partner of Electronics Watch – monitoring of employment conditions in the electrical industry in the Czech Republic Minimum Decent Wage Project together with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

2019

Continuation of the Fair Jobs in the Municipality project (together with Nová škola o.p.s. and Multikulturní centrum Praha z.s.) Partner of Electronics Watch – monitoring of employment conditions in the electrical industry in the Czech Republic Minimum Decent Wage Project together with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

2018

Continuation of the Fair Jobs in the Municipality project (together with Nová škola o.p.s. and Multikulturní centrum Praha z.s.) Minimum Decent Wage Project together with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

2017

Launch of the three-year project Fair Jobs in the Municipality (together with Nová škola o.p.s. and Multikulturní centrum Praha z.s.)

2016

Study on Social Exclusion and Rural Housing (together with Praguewatch z.s. and the Platform for Social Housing) Community garden Konšelská, Prague 8 Research on zero tolerance policies in Litvínov and Duchcov

2015

Qualitative study on “motivation to work” (together with Multicultural Centre Prague) Situational analysis of the Frýdlant region (together with the Seventh Continent, o.s.)

2014

Study When does work pay? Analysis of economic motivations for employment (together with Multicultural Centre Prague) Conference “Roma Access to Housing: the Dilemma of Housing First and Housing Ready” Zero Tolerance Study (internal study for the Agency for Social Inclusion) Participation in the project Local Engagement for Roma Inclusion (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights)

2013

Situational analyses in the form of applied research in localities selected for cooperation with the Agency for Social Inclusion in 2012 and 2013 – Kraslice, Krnov, Žlutice Civil society monitoring report on the implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategy and the Decade Action Plan in the Czech Republic in 2012 – for the Decade of Roma Inclusion Secretariat Foundation Analysis of data on indebtedness (on the example of Děčín) – contract for the Agency for Social Inclusion

2012

Evaluation in local partnerships in localities from 2011 – Kolín, Mělník – contract for the Agency for Social Inclusion

Our team

Marie Jelínková, Ph.D.

Is an assistant professor at the Department of Public and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, and a member of SPOT. Her long-term research focuses on the topic of international migration, particularly on the situation of migrants in the Czech Republic. Her current research zooms on the response of Czech institutions to high numbers of Ukrainian refugees. In recent years, she has focused on local integration policies toward migrants. She also dealt with topics such as Mongolian migration, migrants’ access to health care, and the situation of undocumented migrants. She is a member of the board of the Integration Centre Prague.

Petr Kučera

Is a human geographer, researcher and data analyst, member of the SPOT Executive Board. He has participated in research on social segregation, network topology and discursive practices in socially divided localities and regions. He has participated in data analysis of communication on the Czech Internet. He is a local representative of the Greens in Prague 1. (Twitter: @bzzzwa)

Filip Pospíšil, Ph.D.

Is an anthropologist, journalist and human rights activist who focuses on marginalized groups in Central Europe and has extensive experience in policy development and implementation, social research and advocacy. He co-founded the weekly A2 in 2005 and served as Deputy Editor until 2012. In 2010 he received his PhD in Anthropology from the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague. In recent years, he has been most involved in research, advocacy and campaigns on migration, discrimination against European Roma and privacy and personal data protection. From 2012-2015, he worked as a regional policy coordinator and mediator at the Czech Agency for Social Inclusion, where he was responsible for crisis intervention and mediation in situations of ethnic and social conflict and coordination of regional policies for greater social inclusion of Roma. As a researcher, he participated in the Urban Inclusion Strategy project led by the Association for Integration and Migration (2017-2019). Since 2019, he has been working as the Head of the Department of Analysis and Concepts at the Centre for Social Services Prague. He taught at FHS UK, FF ZČU, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, The New School and CET Academic Programs.

Lucie Trlifajová

Is an anthropologist and analyst of social policies at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, and at the Centre for Social Issues – SPOT. In her research, Lucie focuses mainly on the issues of precarity, inequality, welfare or debts and their impact on citizenship hierarchies. She has published on these issues in Czech as well as international academic journals. Lucie is a co-author of the Minimum decent wage calculator for the Czech Republic.

Ludmila M. Wladyniak, Ph.D.

Is a sociologist with a focus on qualitative research, especially visual research methods. She works at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University and also at the Centre for Social Issues SPOT. In her research work she investigates topics in the field of cultural sociology and sociology of families. She has a rich experience in studying peripheral regions of Central Europe (social exclusion, local identity).

Jakob Hurrle PhD

Studied urban and regional planning in Berlin. He obtained his PhD in social geography at the Faculty of Sciences at Charles University. His dissertation deals with the displacement of poor urban residents to marginalized rural areas of the Czech Republic. He participated in studies on the situation of Roma and marginalised communities and evaluations of development projects in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Since 2017 he works as elected councellor for social affairs in the district of Prague 7.