Mgr. Petr Vašát, Ph.D.

Education

Petr Vašát is an anthropologist and urban researcher. He received his PhD in Ethnology from the University of West Bohemia in 2013 and is currently a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. His research, which employs various methods such as ethnography, social network analysis, photovoice, or GPS tracking, focuses on the comparative study of poverty and inequality, informality in urban environments, and different aspects of street culture. Recently, Petr has been investigating how and why social innovations in architecture, art, and design are used by collectives to assist marginalized individuals and communities in both the Global South and North by improving their material environments. In the past, he had held visiting positions at Columbia University (Fulbright-Masaryk Fellowship), Central European University (Junior Core Fellowship) or Harvard University (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Research Fellowship), among others.

• 2008 - 2013: Ph.D., Ethnology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia
• 2006 - 2008: M.A., Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia
• 2003 - 2006: B.A., Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia

Teaching Activities

• 2023: Urban Sociology, Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of West Bohemia (in Czech)
• 2013 - 2016, 2018: Qualitative Methodology, Department of Sociology, University of Hradec Kralove (in Czech)
• 2016 - 2017: Sociology of Post-socialism, Department of Sociology, University of Hradec Kralove (in English)
• 2015 - 2016: Social and Cultural Anthropology, Department of Sociology, University of Hradec Kralove (in Czech)
• 2015: Urban Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Hradec Kralove (in Czech)
• 2015: Reading Sociological Papers, Department of Sociology, University of Hradec Kralove (in Czech)
• 2013: Methodology of Social Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, University of Pardubice (in Czech)
• 2011: Anthropology of Gender and Social Networks, Department of Anthropology, University of West Bohemia (in Czech)

Foreign Study Visits and Internships

• 2021 - 2023 (24 months): Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University, United States
• 2021 - 2024: Georg-Simmel Center for Urban Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
• 2020 - 2021 (nine months): Institute for Advanced Study, Central European University, Hungary
• 2019 (three months): Universidad del Rosario, Escuela de Ciencias Humanas, Colombia
• 2017 - 2018 (nine months): Columbia University, Department of Sociology, United States
• 2016 (two weeks): University of Roehampton, Department of Social Sciences, United Kingdom
• 2016 (week): University of Coimbra, Faculty of Economics, Portugal
• 2013 (week): University of Kent, School of Anthropology and Conservation, United Kingdom
• 2011 (month): Durham University, Department of Anthropology, United Kingdom
• 2008 (two weeks): The University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Science, Social Anthropology, United Kingdom

Medallion

• 2023 - up to now: member of International Sociological Associtation (ISA)
• 2021 - up to now: member of Urban and Regional Development (RC 21 of ISA)
• 2019: member of Regional Studies Association
• 2018: member of International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences
• 2014 - up to now: editorial board of AntropoWebzin journal
• 2013 - up to now: editorial board of Sociální pedagogika / Social Education journal
• 2013, 2015: member of International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)  
• 2013: member of Masaryk Czech Sociological Association
• 2008 – 2009: editor-in-chief of journal AntropoWebzin