Contract-based research collaboration

Preventing Aggressive Behavior: A Collaborative Initiative with State Police and Primary Schools

On March 31, 2025, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Czech Police and the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University regarding the prevention of targeted violence in elementary schools in the Czech Republic. Physical violence is an increasingly common problem in Czech schools; since the incident at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in 2023, the Czech Police have recorded a high number of threats and acts of physical violence.

The Czech Police, in cooperation with a team from the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, has agreed to adapt the American School Threat Assessment Model program. This approach emphasizes fact-based, individualized investigation of behavior and communication, highlights contextual factors and collaboration among experts to determine whether a student is on a path toward targeted violence, and proposes options for intervention to prevent it. The author of this comprehensive program, which is currently the most widely used in American schools, is Prof. Dewey Cornell, who has kindly agreed to allow our team to adapt his program to the Czech context and has offered us his full cooperation.

The principal investigator and contact person for the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University is Kateřina Koros Bartošová.

Assessment of Safety Culture and the Influence of the Human Factor on the Operational Safety of Services Provided by the State Enterprise Air Traffic Control of the Czech Republic

The Operational Safety Department of the Czech Air Traffic Control Authority (ŘLP ČR, s. p.) is developing an integrated management system covering the areas of operational safety, quality, the environment, protection against illegal acts, and information security. This includes, among other things, the ongoing monitoring of safety culture within the organization and the assessment of the human factor’s influence on the operational safety of the services provided. In the area of assessing safety culture and the influence of the human factor on the operational safety of the services provided, ŘLP ČR, s. p., collaborates with the Institute of Psychology at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University.

Brno Longitudinal Study of Roma and Non-Roma Youth (2019–2021)

This joint project between the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, and the University of Kentucky (Prof. Alexander T. Vazsonyi) is a short-term longitudinal study that tracks the development of social competencies during early adolescence. It builds on the Brno Longitudinal Study of Youth conducted between 2014 and 2017, which focused on the development of social competencies in the general Czech population. The aim of the current study is to replicate this research project with a population of adolescents in which Roma youth predominate.