our team
Michal Smetana
Michal Smetana is the principal investigator and head of ELISS.
He is also the coordinator of the Peace Research Center Prague (PRCP), and researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.
His main research interests lie at the intersection of security studies, international relations, and political psychology, with a specific focus on issues related to nuclear weapons in world politics, arms control and disarmament, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, deterrence theory, and norms and deviance in international affairs.
MAREK VRANKA
Marek Vranka is a researcher at ELISS and the Peace Research Center Prague (PRCP). He also lectures at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University and leads the Prague Experimental Laboratory for Social Sciences.
His research interests involve social psychology and decision making, especially in relation to areas of morality and (dis)honesty. He studies psychological factors influencing the formation of attitudes towards nuclear and chemical weapons as well as towards peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Sarah Komasová
Sarah Komasová works at the Department of Security Studies, at the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University, where she also obtained her doctoral degree. She is also a researcher at the Department of Air Transport, Faculty of Transportation Sciences, Czech Technical University in Prague and an analyst in STEM: Empirical Research for Democracy.
She is interested in qualitative and mixed methods, as well as Actor-Network Theory inspired approaches. Empirically, she focuses on the issues of terrorism, airport and aviation security.
Michal Onderco
Michal Onderco is an associate professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and an affiliate at PRCP and ELISS.
His main research interest is in international relations, particularly the study of international security, and the domestic sources of foreign policy.
Ondřej Rosendorf
Ondřej Rosendorf is a student of the doctoral program in International Relations at the Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, and a junior researcher at the PRCP and ELISS.
His research interests include issues related to political psychology, arms control and disarmament, and military diffusion.
Petr Houdek
Petr Houdek is an associate professor and the director of the Research and Science Center at the Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business. He also lectures at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.
His primary research interests include behavioural economics, social psychology, and research methodology.
Barbora Srbová
Barbora Srbová is a student assistant, PR coordinator and website manager at ELISS.