PhD. Students

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Mgr. Matúš Brziak is a doctoral student at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University. He obtained his master's degree in the field of Cognitive Science at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics at Comenius University. During most of his master's studies, he focused on theoretical and qualitative approaches in phenomenology, in close collaboration with researchers at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. In his dissertation work on the topic The sense of self and its relation to anxiety he used phenomenological interviews to explore how the experience of anxiety affects one's sense of self. Currently, he is focused on the interdisciplinary connection between phenomenology, self-regulated learning, and metacognition. The goal of his doctoral research is to examine how understanding of self-regulated learning can be enriched through qualitative approaches in phenomenology.

Graduate of pre-primary and primary pedagogy at the Faculty of Education, Comenius University in Bratislava. As part of her master's degree, she focused on the discourse on sexuality in young school-age children. She currently works as a full-time doctoral student at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, with a training facility at the Institute of Social Communication Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Her main research interests include intimacy, healthy sexuality and sex education.

Miroslava studied psychology at Comenius University in Bratislava and Trnava University in Trnava. At the same time, she completed a one-year MA Gender Studies program at the Central European University in Budapest. For almost ten years she was working in the field of field social work and drug prevention as a psychologist and project manager in NGO Odyseus. She has experience in school and clinical psychology, volunteering, and being an external project evaluator, consultant, and lecturer at the NGO PDCS. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Her interests include gender equality, sexuality, value conflicts, participation and crisis work in various forms. She is also currently involved in the implementation of the H2020 - ATHENA project, which aims to develop a gender equality roadmap for SAS in collaboration with other EU partner institutions. In her spare time, she works on psychological aspects of the climate crisis.

Graduated social and work psychology at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava. In her master's theses she focused on the attitudes, perceptions and factors that influence the acceptance of unknown technologies. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Her main topics of interest include surrogate motherhood, parenthood and attitudes and dilemmas of couples who can't have children.

Graduated with an MA in social and work psychology from the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava. During her studies, she focused on student decision-making, the social influence of choosing a university, the talent structure of teachers, and pedagogy students. She dealt with political and social issues during her 3-year work experience in political major party. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In addition, she works as a psychologist in the office of a clinical psychologist and in the Community Center Kopčany - Ulita o.z. She is also a participant in long-term psychotherapeutic training in the Slovak Institute of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. Her areas of interest are stereotypes, social change, mental and behavioral disorders, intergroup relations - specifically intergroup relations in the school environment and the issue of disadvantaged groups in the current social and normative context in Slovakia.

Graduate of social and work psychology at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava. As part of her master’s thesis, she focused on attitudes, prejudices and relations of the Slovak majority and the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava with educational center at the Institute of Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. After finishing her degree, she started working at the The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

Graduated in psychology at the Faculty of Arts at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Kosice. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In her thesis she focused on the motivations for engaging in polyamorous relationships. Since 2020 she is a candidate for group psychoanalytic psychotherapy training.

Graduated in social and work psychology at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences and in cognitive science at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava. During her PhD studies, she was involved in two DG JUSTICE funded projects with the focus on anti-Gypsyism, political climate, and identifying effective methods to combat discrimination. After completing PhD studies in 2022, she was awarded a postdoctoral Š. Schwarz scholarship at SAS. She is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute and an assistant professor at the Centre for Cognitive Science, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava, where she teaches courses on empirical research methodology and social cognition. Her main interests are social and political psychology, intergroup relations, prejudice, stereotypes and social cognition.

Nikola Kallova’s research aims to deepen the interdisciplinary discussion of well-being topics, particularly the philosophical-educational topics of well-being in relation to education and the social-psychological topics of relational well-being. After her undergraduate training in philosophy, she continued her doctoral studies with an interdisciplinary focus on pedagogy and philosophy of education. Currently, she focuses on qualitative empirical research into romantic relationships with a focus on relationship-induced learning. During her academic tenure, she completed two three-month fellowships in the Department of Philosophy in New Haven (Connecticut, USA) and the Department of Educational Psychology in Pretoria (South Africa). She is also the managing editor for the transdisciplinary scholarly journal Human Affairs.

Kristína studied clinical psychology and counselling at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. In her thesis she explored normative beliefs as a predictor of risky behaviours on the internet. She has worked in psychology and special education advisory services, focusing on psychological diagnostics and counselling. She completed her PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. She now works as a psychologist and is part of zvolsi.info team, which focuses on media literacy in youth. Her areas of interest are critical thinking, new media, social networks, hoaxes, disinformation and online propaganda.

Graduated in politics from the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Trnava University. During her studies, she undertook an internship in public administration. She completed her PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Her thesis was focused on the use of deliberative democracy in schools. She now works at the mayor’s office of the town Prievidza.

Simona graduated with an MA in social and work psychology at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava. Her thesis was focused on the violation of social norms in a high school context. During her doctoral studies she received a scholarship for a research mobility at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. She completed her PhD studies at the Faculty of Education of Trnava University, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of Slovak Academy of Sciences. As a team leader for popularisation of science at the Young Researchers of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Mladí vedci SAV) she founded the event Science Slam SAV, which presents the research of young scientists in popular and entertaining form. Now she works at the Department of Psychology (Faculty of Arts) of University of Ostrava.

Romana studied social anthropology and journalism at Vienna University. As part of her MA she studied cultural identities of ethnic minorities, media representations and social inclusion within the majority society. She has worked for People in Need Slovakia as a field researcher and project manager in migration and minorities. She completed her PhD studies at the Faculty of Education of Trnava University, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of Slovak Academy of Sciences. She is now a training coordinator for the commercial sector.

Kamila graduated in psychology at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava. Her thesis was focused on cognitive development of preschool children. She completed her PhD studies at the Faculty of Education of Trnava University, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of Slovak Academy of Sciences. During her PhD studies, she received a scholarship for a research mobility at the Centre for cognition, learning and memory at University of Bern in Switzerland. Additionally, she worked as a child psychologist at the Institute for Children Speech, where she focused on assessment of cognitive skills related to speech disorders and at Different Coaching, as a counselor for children and parents. After successfully completing her PhD studies, she was awarded Š. Schwarz scholarship and continues to work at the Institute as a post-doctoral researcher.

Jana graduated in psychology from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Healthcare, at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, and undertook a PhD at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Education at Trnava University in Trnava. Her main research interests include minority identities. Her research and publications have focused on the construction of social and political barriers in relation to sexual minorities. Her thesis was on identifying the facilitators and barriers to deconstructing stereotypes in gender identity. After successfully completing her PhD studies, she was awarded the Š. Schwarz scholarship for the best doctoral graduates. She now works at the Faculty of Education of Trnava University in Trnava and is active in LGBTQ+ justice.

Jana completed her studies in social education and training at the Faculty of Education in Trnava University in Trnava. While studying for her MA she undertook internships at the education ministry and Slovak parliament. She did volunteer work at the Family Aid Centre in Trnava, and Helping Children at Risk – Centre of Hope. She is interested in youth policy, opportunities for young people’s civic participation, and international policy relations and EU structures. She completed her PhD studies in school education at the Faculty of Education at Trnava University in Trnava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication of Slovak Academy of Sciences, and now works at the United School of St Francis of Assisi in Bratislava.

Jozef studied preschool and elementary education with a primary school teaching component at the Faculty of Education at the Catholic University in Ružomberok. He did volunteer work and then become a trainer at the Diocese Centre of Free Time in Važec and a teacher at the Private Primary School in Ružomberok. After successfully completing a full-time PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava and the Institute for Research in Social Communication at the Slovak Academy of Sciences he began working as a lecturer at the Catholic University in Ružomberok at the Department of Preschool and Elementary Education.

Lucia studied psychology at the Faculty of Arts at Trnava University in Trnava. Her focused on the issue of gender roles. After completing her MA she worked as a psychologist at the Centre of Educational Psychology for Counselling and Prevention in Pezinok and then in Senec, where she worked on sociopathological prevention, individualised diagnosis of children and advising pupils parents and teachers. After completing her full-time PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava, in cooperation with the Institute for Research in Social Communication of Slovak Academy of Sciences, she was awarded the Š. Schwarz scholarship for best doctoral graduates. She continues to work at the Institute as a post-doctoral researcher and scientific secretary. She is a member of the Association for Planned Parenthood and of Prevention AD. Her research interests are gender roles, teaching and parenting roles, teacher education, sex education and inclusive education.

Estera studied for a combined degree in psychology and citizenship studies and ethics at the Faculty of Education at Comenius University and philosophy at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University. She was a part-time employee at the Department of Social Work at Danubius University in Sládkovičovo, where she taught gender equality, equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination and social work with young people at risk. She completed her PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and now works as a field social worker at OZ Mládež ulice, teaches at Trnava University in Trnava as a lecturer and volunteers as an equine-therapy assistant.

Zuzana studied philosophy and history at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava. After completing her MA she taught at a secondary grammar school. She studied for a full-time PhD at the Department of School Education at Trnava University in Trnava, based at the Institute for Research in Social Communication at SAS. Under the expert guidance of Professor Višňovský she wrote her thesis on the philosophy of education – especially the philosophical and educational legacy of the American philosopher John Dewey. In 2014 she undertook a summer study trip at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. She now teaches students at V. B. Nedožerský Grammar School in Prievidza.