Bravely for Innovation: A Program for Educating Social Innovators in the Visegrad Countries

Ing. Kateřina Berková, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Economics in Prague.

Her teaching and research focus on the didactics of economic subjects and accounting, particularly project-based learning, the development of soft skills, critical thinking, formative assessment, and financial education of youth.

She is also involved in teacher training in the areas of innovative teaching methods and the digitalization of education.

Phdr. Michala Bojarski Ph.D. is a psychologist currently teaching at the Department of Didactics at the University of Economics in Prague and at the Department of Psychology at Metropolitan University in Prague.

She specializes in applying psychological principles to education and learning processes. Her expertise in V4 project lies in psychology of team conflict and in methodology.

Virag Havasi studied law, economics, sociology, pedagogy at the University of Miskolc [Hungary], obtained her PhD at the University of Debrecen [Hungary].

Since 2013, she is Associate Professor of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Miskolc and since 2023 she is the head of the Social Work Department.

She has been a visiting lecturer in several European (and Moroccan) universities under the Erasmus mobility programme.

She participated in several community and regional development projects aiming the social intergation of the Roma in rural territories of Hungary and also in initiatives for supporting citizens' participation in Miskolc.

Her main research topic is civil society with special focus on social innovation and community development.

Her book "Secular Civil Society and Religious Communities. Roles and Role Opportunities in Today's Hungarian Society" was published in 2025 (Miskolci Egyetem ATTI, Miskolc).

My research interests focus on the methodology of educational research. I pay particular attention to the decisions made by early-career researchers during the research process. I am also interested in attitudes toward scientific research, including students’ attitudes toward mathematics and statistics.

Education

• 2024 – Completed postgraduate studies in Data Analysis and Data Mining; Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Łódź
• since 2022 – PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences, University of Łódź
• 2022 – Master’s degree in Pedagogy, specialization: Early Childhood Education. Master’s thesis entitled “Attitudes of Students of Social Sciences and Natural Sciences toward Scientific Research”
• 2020 – Bachelor’s degree in Pedagogy, specialization: Early Primary Education and Preschool Education. Bachelor’s thesis entitled “The Process of Students’ Self-Assessment at the Early Primary Education Stage”

Academic and Governance Activity

• since 2025 – Member of the Scientific Council of the Center of Social Innovations, University of Łódź
• since 2025 – Representative of doctoral candidates on the Equality Council, University of Łódź
• since 2025 – Member of the Polish Pedagogical Society
• since 2024 – Member of the European Association of Methodology
• 2022–2024 – Member of the University Doctoral Students’ Council

Pavel Krpálek is an expert in the didactics of economic subjects, within the field he focuses mainly on the theory of teaching economics, practice enterprise concepts, economic and financial management, development of financial literacy and application of social psychology.

In his research and publication activities, he focuses on the development of human resources in formal and informal education, personnel management and undergraduate and postgraduate training of teachers and lecturers.

Assoc. Prof. Mgr. Ing. Katarína Krpálková Krelová, PhD., ING-PAED IGIP, focuses on her teaching and research activities on engineering pedagogy, subject-specific didactics of economic disciplines, and the quality of education.

Her research and publications primarily address innovations in teaching economic subjects and the development of teachers’ pedagogical competencies.

Irena Míková (Faculty of Management Prague University of Economics and Business) has long been involved in the issues of education and lifelong learning. She followed up on the knowledge related to Formal education and the stage of Initial education (acquired at the Faculty of Education) within the framework of her doctoral studies.

However, her research activities were more focused on the area of Further education and appropriate evaluation approaches. She pays attention to the factors of the education process and development of employees in the organization, which influence the level of achieved educational results with an impact on the indicators of the organization's success.

In the field of pedagogical activity, she is involved in teaching Communication Skills and Rhetoric, Managerial Ethics and participates in teaching the Bachelor's Seminar.

E-mail: mikovair@vse.cz

Jan Pospíšil (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Management, Prague University of Economics and Business (VŠE), where he also serves as Chair of the Faculty Senate and a member of the Academic Senate.

His research focuses on consumer behavior, marketing communication, and intergenerational differences.

Kinga Szabó-Tóth studied sociology, community development, coaching and social research methodology at different universities including the University of Miskolc [Hungary], University of Manchester [UK], obtained her PhD at the Corvinus University of Budapest [Hungary], and also has a habilitation degree from the University of Debrecen ([Hungary].

Since 2008, she is Associate Professor and also the director of Institute of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Miskolc, Hungary, also teaching at several universities in Hungary.

Previously, Szabó-Tóth held Marie Curie fellowship at the CCSR, University of Manchester, and has been a visiting lecturer in several European universities under the Erasmus mobility programme.

Szabó-Tóth is a member of the Board of the Hungarian Sociological Association, and also is a member of the Public Council of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as well as the member of the Sociological Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Her previous books include:

• SOCIAL INNOVATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION - From theory to practice, Ibidem Verlag, Hamburg, 2025;
• BUILDING FROM SCARCITY. Applied sociology research on disadvantages and compensation of disadvantages, University of Miskolc, 2023;
• IDENTITY OF SUCCESSFUL GYPSIES IN ENGLAND AND HUNGARY, L’Harmattan Publisher, 2008.

ORCID: 0000-0001-5568-3644

• Head of the Social Innovation Centre at the University of Łódź (CEIN)
• Head of the Department of Rural, Urban and Sociology of Social Change
• Member of the Executive Board of the Section of Rural and Agricultural Sociology of the Polish Sociological Association
• Graduate of the School for Leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations and the School of Building Local Partnerships
• Recipient of scholarships from the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Minister of Science and Higher Education
• Facilitator and trainer of workshops on social innovation prototyping · Populariser of knowledge on social innovations on the portals www.ngo.pl and innowacjespoleczne.pl
• The head of the project entitled “Local Systems of Social Innovation in Rural Areas” (National Science Centre, Poland; grant no. UMO-2015/19/D/HS6/00690)
• The head of the project entitled “The Use of Knowledge on Social Innovations by Rural Non-Governmental Organizations”

Author of numerous publications on the implementation of social innovations and the development of local ecosystems supporting social innovation.

Selected publications:

• Zajda Katarzyna: Why do social innovations not scale out? A case study of social innovations implemented by rural NGOs from post-socialist Poland, Innovation-The European Journal of Social Science Research, 2026, s.1-23, DOI:10.1080/13511610.2026.2614468.
• Matysiak Ilona, Zajda Katarzyna: Challenges of smart solutions for rural ageing: Critical reflections illustrated by social innovation directed to older rural women in southeastern Poland, European Urban and Regional Studies, 2025, s. 1-8, DOI:10.1177/09697764251361740.
• Zajda Katarzyna, Pasikowski Sławomir: Targeting Education in NGOs: Supporting the Implementation of Social Innovations, New Educational Review, Adam Marszałek, vol. 79, 2025, s. 44-53, DOI:10.15804/tner.2025.79.1.03
• Pasikowski Sławomir, Zajda Katarzyna: Nongovernmental organizations' leaders' attitude toward social innovation: The validation of a research tool, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, vol. 33, nr 4, 2023, s. 835-850, DOI:10.1002/nml.21543.
• Zajda Katarzyna, Pasikowski Sławomir, Kretek-Kamińska Agnieszka: The implementation of grassroots product-oriented social innovations by non-governmental organisations: proposal of a measurement tool, Innovation-The European Journal of Social Science Research, vol. 36, nr 2, 2023, s. 301-315, DOI:10.1080/13511610.2020.1742668.
• Zajda Katarzyna: What Features Distinguish the Rural Nongovernmental Organisations that Implement Social Innovations? Evidence from Postcommunist Poland, Voluntas, vol. 34, 2023, s. 1221-1231, DOI:10.1007/s11266-022-00546-8.
• Zajda Katarzyna: Wdrażanie innowacji społecznych przez wiejskie organizacje pozarządowe i lokalne grupy działania, 2022, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, ISBN 978-83-8220-724-8, [978-83-8220-725-5], 230 s.
• Zajda Katarzyna, Mazurek Damian: Public institutions and NGOs cooperation for social innovations in post-socialist rural Poland, European Countryside, de Gruyter, vol. 14, nr 4, 2022, s. 623-637, DOI:10.2478/euco-2022-0031