Students from Dartmouth College in the USA have been studying in the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development every spring semester since 1994. In the doctoral program, dissertations are produced under the so-called co-tutelle in cooperation with partners from France. We collaborate with leading experts from the University of California, School of Public Health on research on socio-economic aspects of health. The Department of Demography and Geodemography is part of the international network Population Europe: The European Population Partnership comprising 30 prestigious European demographic centres. The establishment of the ENVISAT data receiving station and the organisation of courses with the participation of leading European experts in the field of remote sensing are examples of the developing cooperation of the Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Cartography with the European Space Agency (ESA). The Geomorphology and Geodynamics research team from the Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology has been awarded World Centre of Excellence status for landslide research for the period 2017-2020. We serve in international professional organizations (e.g. IGU - International Geographical Union, ICL - International Consortium on Landslides, IALE - International Association of Landscape Ecology, ICGdR - International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction) and on editorial boards of renowned journals (e.g. Geografiska Analler B: Human Geography, Geomorphology, Health & Place, Landslides, Urban Research and Practice).
We support inbound and outbound mobility of students and academic staff. We strive to strengthen the international environment of the section by involving foreign teachers and talented local and foreign students in the STARS programme, as well as in study programmes conducted in English and Czech.
Current developments in internationalisation in the Geography Department
Research teams of the Geography Section or their representatives participate in international projects funded by the European Commission (H2020 - e.g. PULCHRA: Science in the City: Building Participatory Urban Learning Community Hubs through Research and Activation, Erasmus+ KA2, Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility), other international sponsors (UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund, COST) and domestic grant schemes (OP VVV, MŠMT programme INTER-EXCELENCE, Inter-Transfer, GAČR international projects). The Geography Section is also active in the 4EU+ inter-univvvversity alliance supported by a call from the European Commission, which seeks to support research-oriented teaching. Two projects submitted by Geography Section researchers were supported in the 4EU+ pilot call for university cooperation: the project Landcover monitoring with emphasis on vegetation under the climatic change pressure using multitemporal and multisource remote sensing data fusion led by Dr. Potůčková from the Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Cartography and the project Impact of climate change on the environment - research and education submitted by Prof. Vilímek from the Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology.
The research teams of the Geographical Section are holders of a number of international contracts, e.g. Earth Observation Capacity Building for Baltic Countries and Eastern Europe (ESA), International Agreement with experts from University College London (UCL) and University of Coimbra, Interdepartmental Agreement with Earth Sciences Department at the University of Firenze, Memorandum of Cooperation with Tashkent State University of Economics. The Geomigration Research Centre has a permanent cooperation agreement in the prestigious European network of researchers working on international migration and integration of foreigners IMISCOE Network. Cooperation also takes place in the Erasmus+ programme, thanks to which new contracts enabling international mobility were signed in 2018, among other things.
Academic and scientific staff of the Geography Section participate in international study programmes, for example through the European Space Education Resources Office (ESERO CZ) or through participation in the international 4Cities study programme focused on urban studies as an associated partner. The Geography Section also participates in the organisation and lectures of international summer schools in Prague and abroad and in the organisation of international conferences. We are also involved in other international professional activities and education, publishing in international journals and co-authoring with international colleagues. Our students and staff go on short- and long-term international stays at partner institutions. The Department of Geography hosts guest lecturers from abroad and is also a popular mobility destination for international students who can participate in activities organised by local students associated with the Erasmus Club or the local geography student organisation EGEA.