Katerina Cidlinska holds a Ph.D. in Sociology (Charles University, 2020). She is based at the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. Between 2010–2022 she was in research positions at the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she focused on issues of professional identities, academic careers, gender inequalities in academia, and disciplinary specifics of all mentioned topics. She was active in HE politics as a chair of The Czech Association of Doctoral Researchers. Currently, she is a consultant and lecturer in the field of HR policies and professional development in academia.
In these turbulent times, we see more clearly than before how vital it is to understand society so that we can protect and develop democracy, prevent (not only social) wars and authoritarian politics, and deal with climate change. STEM cannot face these challenges successfully on its own. To solve the task, we need to support SSH and start to listen to their voices. I believe that this comparative project is a valuable step towards the necessary recovery of the SSH field.