Academic Senate of the Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University Minutes of the 211^th meeting, October 26, 2020 The meeting was held online on the Zoom platform. Present (in alphabetical order): ● Bc. Barbora Adamková ● Ing. Rudolf Burgr, Ph.D. ● Mgr. Mikuláš Černík ● Sonya Darrow ● Mgr. Otto Eibl, Ph.D. ● Mgr. and Mgr. Vratislav Havlík, Ph.D. ● Bc. Daniel Jirků ● Katarína Kováčová ● doc. Mgr. and Mgr. Peter Spáč, Ph.D. ● doc. Mgr. and Mgr. Jan Šerek, Ph.D. Absent: ● doc. Mgr. and Mgr. Oldřich Krpec, Ph.D. Guests: ● prof. PhDr. Stanislav Balík, Ph.D. ● doc. PhDr. Roman Chytilek, Ph.D. ● Ing. Pavlína Kadlčková, DiS. ● prof. PhDr. Tomáš Katrňák, Ph.D. ● Mgr. et Mgr. Adéla Souralová, Ph.D. ● PhDr. Petr Suchý, Ph.D. ● prof. PhDr. David Šmahel, Ph.D. ● doc. PhDr. Martin Vaculík, Ph.D. Agenda: 1) The proposal of the dean to establish IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research on the Internet and Society FSS MU from January 1, 2021 2) The proposal of the dean to discontinue the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU by December 31, 2020 3) Agreement to new members of the Disciplinary Committee of FSS MU 4) Miscellaneous The program was approved (10 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstained from voting). 1) The proposal of the dean to establish IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research on the Internet and Society FSS MU from January 1, 2021 Dean: He presented a proposal to establish a new research facility IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research of the Internet and Society FSS MU from January 1, 2021. Šmahel: He added that the establishment of the interdisciplinary research facility will allow higher stability of members of the scientific team, more effective motivation and employment of scientists from various fields. The main goal is excellent publications and getting prestigious grants schemes, also working with talented young team members in order to teach them how quality and excellent science should be done, and more effective popularization of science. The scientific team has had its own identity for several years, it communicates its results on social networks to the expert and lay public, it has a functioning management as well as education. It is also very strongly entangled in international research networks. Resolution: AS FSS MU approved the proposal of the Dean of FSS MU to establish the new research workplace IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research of the Internet and Society from January 1, 2021. (10 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstained from voting) Vaculík: He stated that he considers the establishment of this research workplace to be a step in the right direction, it is a poster child of excellent research at the FSS. 2) The proposal of the dean to discontinue the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU by December 31, 2020 Dean: He presented a proposal to discontinue the research workplace named Institute of Population Studies FSS MU by December 31, 2020 and merge it with the Department of Sociology FSS MU, with which it is uniquely tied. The heads of the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU and of the Department of Sociology FSS MU expressed their support for this proposal. Katrňák: From the position of the head of the Department of Sociology FSS MU, he added that this is de facto a change of the organizational structure, it is not a change of the content of the work that is being done by individual employees. Those workers with a part-time contract divided between the department and the research workplace will automatically go under the department. Those workers whose working time has been funded through the project will go under the department with no change in funding, during the next year their future will be discussed. Future of the one worker who had a contract with the research workplace and who was not funded by any project, is being intensively discussed. Dean: He summed up that the directions of research that have developed so far at the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU will be transferred with the relevant staff to the Department of Sociology FSS MU. If a person used to have a part-time contract at the Department of Sociology FSS MU and has transfered it to the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU, then, according to the Labor Code, he or she is entitled to get his or her contract back. If a person’s contract was established only within the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU, then this right cannot be applied and it is up to the head of the department to propose a vacancy opening to the dean. In a case of merging the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU and the Department of Sociology FSS MU, the uncertainty of who should transfer and who should not would affect all the current members of the department, so it is proposed to discontinue the research workplace, that would be followed by the transfer of staff, of the research and of inventory things from the research institute to the department. Jirků: He asked if he correctly understood that the "merging" of that research workplace with the Department of Sociology FSS MU does not mean a job guarantee for employees who have a full-time job at the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU. Dean: He confirmed that this is the case, it is a matter that is dependent on an economic and personnel assessment of the situation by the head of the workplace, it is not a right under the Labor Code. Jirků: He asked whether the same number of jobs would be established at the Department of Sociology FSS MU as there are workers that are leaving the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU. Dean: He replied that at least on the administration side there will be savings in relation to jobs. Some jobs will be transferred under projects. Number of calls for new jobs at the Department of Sociology FSS MU will be smaller than the number of terminating employees at the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU. Jirků: Subsequently, he asked whether after the transition to the Department of Sociology the scientific range of the research workplace will remain the same. Katrňák: He replied that he firmly believes in it. The transformation of the research workplace into the department will not interrupt current contracts, they will expire, eventually they will be resolved. Černík: He also encouraged the representatives of the public who are employees of the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU to express themselves. Lucie Galčanová Batista: She stated that the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU, due to its structure and longevity, provided its members with a certain perspective, it was able to fill the gap in project finance. She asked how many dismissals would be given in the proposed process. She also asked whether there will be an option to provide a space for further follow-up projects and for maintaining research lines and whether it will be possible to co-finance part-time work up to full-time. Dean: He replied that the possibility of co-financing the gaps in project positions will of course remain, the Department of Sociology FSS MU will have the financial resources to do so at a reasonable rate. The number of dismissals is currently unknown, he did not want to anticipate the decision of the AS, he assumes that there will not be many of them. In other cases, it will be a matter of termination of contract by agreement or the establishment of jobs newly systematized as academic positions. Katrňák: He stated that he would not prevent anyone from submitting a project. Regarding the vision for the future, he stated that he would be glad to see that full-fledged members of the department will participate in its running, pedagogical and research activities. Lucie Galčanová Batista: She thanked for the explanation and said that for the concerned employees the "fusion" process is relatively unpleasant, even regarding the ongoing coronavirus crisis. She would appreciate a reflection of the whole process and support of the concerned employees from the side of the faculty, in order for them to receive information well in advance and transparently. She described the current course of this process as very unsatisfactory, both for personnel or structural reasons. Dean: In his reply, he pointed out that the insufficient communication with the concerned employees is not a problem of the management of the faculty, which handled the matter as transparently as possible. He encourages the heads of workplaces to openness regarding information, in a long run. An insufficient potential for an internal change of the functioning of the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU was also one of the motives for the proposal to discontinue it. Eibl: As chairman of the Senate, he noted that this discussion should take place primarily on the premises of the workplace, not of the AS. Vice-Dean Vaculík: He stated that in the way of communication of the head of the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU with its staff could have been better. He believes that the head of the Department of Sociology FSS MU will set up communication differently. On the evaluation of the research workplace, he pointed to the long-term minimum publishing performance of some of its employees. He apologized for unpleasantness of the matter. Lucie Galčanová Batista: She specified that she did not mean the “reflection” as a contradiction of the present proposal. Personally, she considers the strategy of "merging" the research workplace with the department to be good and she believes that it will benefit the whole workplace. She added that she did not know where else the workers should receive some support during such process than at the management of the faculty. Šerek: He asked if the FSS had a more general concept of how research workplaces should be established and discontinued and whether there is a tendency to create smaller institutes. Dean: He replied that FSS does not have a single philosophy of the existence of research workplaces. Each research workplace differs, the connecting features are the meaning of an independent existence from an economic point of view, the existence of a shared identity of the research institute and the ability to encourage its staff to produce high-quality science. If these three conditions apply then it is possible to imagine the emergence of another institutes. On the contrary, if these conditions are not fulfilled then it is possible to consider the abolishment of such an institute. Unfortunately, at the Institute of Population Studies FSS MU several of these moments were not working in a long run. He concluded that the asymmetrical naming of the departments and not naming the research workplaces in the Statute of the FSS MU is not accidental. From the beginning it was assumed that research workplaces will be more fluid and tied to the zeitgeist. Resolution: AS FSS MU decided to dicsontinue the research workplace Institute of Population Studies FSS MU by December 31, 2020 on the proposal of the Dean of the FSS MU. (6 for, 0 against, 4 abstained from voting) 3) Agreement to new members of the Disciplinary Committee of FSS MU Dean: He stated that in June this year five of the six members of the Disciplinary Committee of the FSS MU will finish their two-year term in the office. For this reason the management of the faculty, led by requirement that half of the members should be students, and with the effort to have representatives of as many departments as possible, is asking the AS to consider their consent to the five submitted people as new members of this faculty body. Havlík: From the position of the current member of the Disciplinary Committee of the FSS MU, he said that its activities are very important. It deals mostly with cases of violation of academic ethics, in relation to bachelor and master theses, but also to seminar papers. Resolution: The AS FSS MU approved that the Dean of FSS MU appoints the following people to become members of the Disciplinary Committee of FSS MU: Mgr. Jiří Baroš, Ph.D.; Mgr. Vratislav Havlík, Ph.D.; doc. PhDr. Iva Šmídová, Ph.D.; Mgr. Jiří Ammer; Mgr. Martina Novotná. (9 for, 0 against, 1 abstained from voting) 4) Miscellaneous a. Activities of the Sustainability Working Group Adamková: She asked about the current situation regarding the activities of the Sustainability Working Group of the faculty. Dean: He said that the first meeting of this working group took place during spring, the next one will be soon convened online. b. Presence in the building of the FSS during the stricter anti-coronavirus measures Havlík: Given the possibility of applying stricter governmental anti-coronavirus measures, he asked how likely it is that in case of pressure to establish a home-office mode it will be at least possible to allow the presence in the FSS building to providing online education. Dean: He replied that it depended on the form of governmental measures, without specific background materials he cannot say any more at this time. He repeated that the management of the faculty will not issue any more decisions beyond the governmental and university measures. Eventual consideration will be left up to individual employees, or up to heads of individual workplaces. Eibl: In conclusion, he thanked everyone present for participating and stated that the next regular meeting of the AS FSS is scheduled for Monday, November 30, 2020 from 16:00, online using the Zoom platform. Resolutions adopted: 2020-10-26 / 1 AS FSS MU approved the proposal of the Dean of FSS MU to establish the new research workplace IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research of the Internet and Society from January 1, 2021. (10 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstained from voting) 2020-10-26 / 2 AS FSS MU decided to dicsontinue the research workplace Institute of Population Studies FSS MU by December 31, 2020 on the proposal of the Dean of the FSS MU. (6 for, 0 against, 4 abstained from voting) 2020-10-26 / 3 The AS FSS MU approved that the Dean of FSS MU appoints the following people to become members of the Disciplinary Committee of FSS MU: Mgr. Jiří Baroš, Ph.D.; Mgr. Vratislav Havlík, Ph.D.; doc. PhDr. Iva Šmídová, Ph.D.; Mgr. Jiří Ammer; Mgr. Martina Novotná. (9 for, 0 against, 1 abstained from voting) Mgr. Otto Eibl, Ph.D. President of the Senate doc. Mgr. and Mgr. Jan Šerek, Ph.D. Vice-President of the Senate Bc. Daniel Jirků Vice-President of the Senate Minutes taken by: Kristýna Bláhová Translated by: Bc. Veronika Dombrovská