Overview of the Department of Demography and Geodemography's International Involvement at the Faculty of Science, Charles University

Since 2009, the Department of Demography and Geodemography at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, has been the only department in the Czech Republic to be part of the European Population Partnership, a network of leading European demography centers known as Population Europe, supported by the European Commission. Three faculty members (Prof. J. Rychtaříková, Assoc. Prof. J. Kocourková, and Dr. T. Kučera) serve on the advisory board, known as the Council of Advisors.

The department is also actively engaged in international expert groups and scientific collaboration through various specialist networks. Assoc. Prof. J. Kocourková is involved in the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, focusing on utilizing demographic research for policy development at the EU level. Dr. K. Hulíková Tesárková is an active member of the EAPS Health, Morbidity, and Mortality working group. Assoc. Prof. L. Šídlo represents the Czech Republic in the European expert network on health workforce planning (through projects such as JA HEROES - Health Workforce to Meet Health Challenges, previously SEPEN - Support for the Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting Expert Network).

The department has successfully developed a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and, since 2012, has served as an implementing partner of UNFPA for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECARO), with Dr. T. Kučera as the main coordinator. As part of this collaboration, a key international activity is the provision of the UNFPA Executive Training Course on Population and Development.

In contractual research, the department collaborates with Mott MacDonald, an international consultancy, on projects for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the EECARO region. Students can also participate as observers or organizers in some of these activities, such as the 2019 international conferences held in Sarajevo (UNFPA) and Prague (NISPAcee – Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe).

Since its inception in 1990, the department has maintained strong contacts with European universities where demography is taught, utilizing primarily the Erasmus+ program and its selected activities. It currently holds exchange agreements for students and faculty with ten foreign training institutions. The department has also consistently obtained Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility grants, particularly for collaborations with universities in Moldova and Uzbekistan.

Since 2020, the department has been leading the EXPRO research project (led by Assoc. Prof. A. Velková), in cooperation with scientists from Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

In the master's program, Dr. T. Sobotka, a graduate of the department, participates as a course guarantor for one of the elective courses. He leads an internationally recognized research team at the Vienna Institute of Demography at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

A key part of the academic development and a source of international contacts for students in the master’s program in demography is the annual international Young Demographers conference, organized by the department, which has recently attracted students and young professionals from not only Europe but also non-European countries.