O NÁS.

Kto sme

DEKK Inštitút je nezávislá výskumná organizácia, ktorá vznikla začiatkom roka 2020 z iniciatívy niekoľkých mladých vedcov, študentov a humanitárnych pracovníkov. Motívom bol záujem o skúmanie spoločnosti a zdieľaná skúsenosť väčšiny zúčastnených z prostredia konfliktov, zdravotníckych projektov a utečeneckých táborov krajín Blízkeho východu, juhovýchodnej Ázie a Afriky, kde si tvrdým spôsobom uvedomili dve veci: dobre fungujúca spoločnosť si vyžaduje starostlivosť a pokojnú osobnú angažovanosť svojich členov a napriek všetkým oblastiam oprávnenej kritiky nám je na Slovensku stále veľmi dobre. Chceme prispieť svojou troškou, aby to tak zostalo.

DEKK Inštitút je slovenským reprezentantom vo World Values Survey Association (WVSA), najväčšej prieskumnej organizácii študujúcej hodnoty na svete, na ktorej spoločenskovedných dátach stojí veľká časť rozhodovania OSN, OBSE či Svetovej banky, a vo World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), svetovej asociácii profesionálov z oblasti zberu a dizajnovania prieskumov verejnej mienky.

Dizajnujeme vlastné prieskumy verejnej mienky a analytické nástroje. S ich kvalitou nám pomáhajú partneri z celého sveta, projektoví odborní garanti a Vedecká rada DEKK Inštitútu.

Nechceme ale robiť vedu pre vedu. Rozhodli sme sa o naše výstupy aj analytické nástroje podeliť, tak ako sa v minulosti iní nezištne delili s nami, a uľahčiť tak život štátnym analytikom, vedcom, novinárom aj širokej verejnosti, ktorá si v ľahko dostupných databázach, ktoré postupne zverejňujeme, bude môcť overiť tvrdenia, s ktorými je konfrontovaná v stále mohutnejúcom informačnom toku zo štandardných aj alternatívnych médií.

Chceme prispieť ku skvalitneniu spoločenskej diskusie a zároveň pritiahnuť pozornosť k problematike kohézie.

Náš cieľ je dlhodobý. Uvedomujeme si, že pochopenie a následná intervencia v oblasti sociálnej kohézie je práca približne na dve generácie. No Slovensko máme radi, a to o to viac, že sme strávili niekoľko rokov v zahraničí – v lepšom, ale aj výrazne horšom prostredí. Vieme preto, kam by sme sa ako spoločnosť mohli dostať, ale aj ako hlboko klesnúť. Sme presvedčení, že každý jednotlivec môže prispieť k zlepšeniu krajiny. Toto je náš príspevok.

Čo je sociálna kohézia

„Sociálna kohézia“, resp. spoločenská súdržnosť, je termín, ktorý vedci vymysleli, aby popísali spoločenské sily, ktoré spôsobujú, že ľudské skupiny držia pohromade. Kohézia má dve primárne roviny – medziľudskú a medzi ľuďmi a inštitúciami.

DEKK ako výskumný inštitút participuje na rôznych výskumoch, od dizajnu dotazníkov a ako sa čo najlepšie pýtať na rôzne fenomény, aby neboli odpovede skreslené, po terénne výskumy moderných „kmeňov” v tribalizovanej spoločnosti, ale naším hlavným záujmom je od počiatku sociálna kohézia.

S tou má veľká časť európskych krajín problém. V mnohých dlhodobo stagnuje alebo dokonca klesá. Ide o vážny problém, keďže ľudské spoločnosti s nízkou kohéziou fungujú výrazne horšie a majú väčšie množstvo nežiaducich javov ako spoločnosti so zdravou kohéziou. V najhoršom prípade môže nízka kohézia končiť tragicky.

Prečo DEKK?

Dorrit Dekk (narodená ako Dorothea Karoline Fuhrmann v roku 1917) bola rodáčka z Československa (Brno) a počas 2. sv. vojny spolupracovala na rozšifrovaní Enigmy. Názov DEKK Inštitút je inšpirovaný ideou, že Dorrit Dekk pracovala na vážnom probléme svojej doby, o ktorom vtedy málokto vedel a považoval ho za dôležitý.

Sociálna kohézia je dnes ekvivalentom toho, čo bola kedysi Enigma. Je to kľúčový problém týkajúci sa celej spoločnosti, ktorý však vo svojej komplexite málokto eviduje a ešte menej ľudí ho eši. Dorrit Dekk tak bola obyčajným človekom, ktorý prispel k vyriešeniu neobyčajnej výzvy, ale po vojne sa vrátila k normálnemu životu a živila sa ako dizajnérka.

Aj my sme obyčajní ľudia, ktorí vkladajú svoje sily do riešenia neobyčajného problému. Začiatkom roku 2020, keď náš inštitút vznikal, sme inšpirovaní Dorrit Dekk začali pracovať na skúmaní kohézie popri svojich obyčajných prácach a životoch – avšak so snahou o maximálnu profesionalitu a spájanie síl s poprednými špecialistami vo vede a výskume.

DEKK Inštitút
Lermontovova 911/3
811 05 Bratislava-Staré Mesto
IČO: 53486234 
Email: info (at) dekk.sk
Ochrana osobných údajov

© 2023 DEKK Inštitút | All rights reserved | CREA:THINK studios

Filip Janči

Research intern

Filip is in charge of working with psychological resources at DEKK.

He has obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology at the Comenius University, while he is also a graduate of the Anton Neuwirth College's two-year program. It was there that he first encountered Aristotle and his idea that everything alive in the world has a natural goal towards which it is moving: prosperity.

So he began to ask the question: if all beings have a purpose deeply rooted in their nature, why do people go against it and engage in destructive behavior? In DEKK, he sees hope for investigating part of this question, that is, why societies fall apart. In addition, he is also interested in the individual dimension of this question: why do the lives of some individuals fall apart? For this reason, he participates in social assistance to homeless people in a low-threshold daily center.

In the past, he organized several discussions with public figures, journalists and statesmen, and also won the Slovakian ŠVOK competition in the Psychology category with his research.

In his free time, he likes to read the newspaper, listen to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers or hang out in the city with a good cup of coffee.

Paulína Boleková

Research intern

Paulína is studying at the Bratislava International School of Liberal Studies (BISLA) for a bachelor's degree and in the Nexteria Leadership Academy 3-year development program, where she develops her soft skills and organizes community activities.

In the past, she worked on projects for Microsoft, Tatra banka, Slido and the city of Trenčín.

She likes to think about why society is the way it is. Her passion is psychology, informal education and self-development.

Ján Pastorek

Researcher

Ján Pastorek is one of the founding members of the DEKK Institute.

He graduated from the bachelor's program in computer science at the Comenius University in Bratislava and liberal arts at the Anton Neuwirth College. During his studies, he completed a research internship at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, where he devoted himself to the application of reinforcement learning and genetic algorithms in solving non-local games, i.e. games where connected pairs of qubits are used in order to maximize the winnings of the given game, for which he received the Dean's Prize.

He also joined the Comenius College selection program, where he and other students meet and discuss issues related to science and philosophy. He graduated from St. John's College in the USA, Master of Arts in Liberal Arts, majoring in mathematics, science, philosophy and theology. He is currently finishing the international interdisciplinary Joint Master's program in cognitive science MEi:CogSci at the Comenius University in Bratislava and the University of Vienna, starting his PhD. in neural networks soon. 

He is devoted to philosophy, data science, artificial intelligence (especially machine learning) and quantum computing. He works as a data scientist at CulturePulse, Inc., where he mainly develops an agent-based model of information dissemination based on scientific theories.

He likes to ask questions. In order to share this passion, he taught computer science at the St. Uršula high school in Bratislava and led seminars on art as part of the Academy of Great Works program.

Michal Gačko

Technology specialist

Michal Gačko is a graduate of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics at the Slovak Technical University in the field of applied informatics. He studied for one semester in Norway at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology as part of the Erasmus program. He also spent some time studying psychology, before definitely opting for information technology. He has experience in the design, implementation and management of various types of database systems, as well as in the design and implementation of architectural patterns and structures in software systems. In addition, it deals with data analysis and data visualization.

Veronika Cigáneková

Analyst for Public Policies

Veronika Cigáneková works as an analyst focusing on public policies, translating the DEKK team research into practice.

She graduated from King's College London, BA in philosophy, where at the end of her studies she explored the links between philosophy and public policy. She is currently studying for a master's degree in public policy at Sciences Po in Paris (Institut d'études politiques de Paris).

Her experience is primarily from the non-profit sector, where she founded or led several projects and organizations. Thematically, she was interested in youth civic participation, the development of social entrepreneurship or the topic of Slovak brain drain abroad. Her last experience is from the Nexteria Global HUB project, which she founded and led for two years. She previously worked as a project manager and later as a salesperson at SuperScale.

Her passion is topics related to society and a positive impact on it. This is what she looks for in all the activities in which she is involved.

Hugo Gloss

COO

At DEKK Hugo Gloss is responsible for the preparation and successful implementation of projects. He serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) responsible for the smooth running of the organization and its research.

He studied international relations and diplomacy at the University of Bologna and Roma Tre University in Rome and completed a one-year training course at the Anton Neuwirth College. He interned at the Representative Office of the Slovak Republic at the Holy See and at the Department of Communication and Prevention of the Presidium of the Slovak Police Force. He worked at Accenture and coordinated humanitarian projects of Caritas Slovakia in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Ukraine. As part of his work, he visited countries where social cohesion has been severely damaged, which is the reason why he cares that Slovakia does not follow a similar path.

He currently works as a researcher at Charles University in Prague and is preparing for his PhD. study, which will be focused on the development of a system for measuring and strengthening social cohesion in Slovakia according to the successful models in other states, with focus on Estonia. He is married, has four children.

Pavol Kosnáč

Director

Pavol Kosnáč holds the position of scientific director of the institute and leading researcher (PI) of the World Value Survey (WVS) program in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which is covered by DEKK. He is the author of the program “Slovakia in data”, the goal of which is to accumulate and make available a database of complex social scientific data to the general and professional public.

As part of the DEKK Institute's cooperation with Charles University in the CEDMO project, he leads a team of 9 scientists studying the impact of social changes on the generational shift in values and social cohesion, applied for example in the analysis of the information environment, the growing (un)willingness to defend the country or the impact of war on Ukrainian culture.

He studied comparative religious studies in Bratislava, Islam and philosophy of science at Oxford, and completed scientific internships at the London School of Economics in London and Mahidol University in Bangkok. He is currently completing his PhD. in political science at Masaryk University in Brno.

It deals with the possibilities of interdisciplinary research and the integration of field research methods, psychological and cognitive research tools, public opinion polls and big data. He specializes in the overlap between ideology, religion, violence and war. Experience from humanitarian and research work in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India led him to try to understand the issues of complex systems, social cohesion and social stability.

He works as a consultant for humanitarian organizations and universities in Great Britain, Ukraine, Iraq and Thailand. He is a registered expert witness in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities in matters of religion at the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic and is a representative of Slovakia with voting rights in the World Value Survey Association (WVSA) and the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR). He is a member of the Slovak Society for the Study of Religions in Bratislava, the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) of Great Britain, a member of the advisory board of the Inform Institute at King's College London and the advisory board of the Forgiveness project at the Woolf Institute at the University of Cambridge. 

He has received Peter B. Clarke Memorial Prize in 2013 from British Sociological Association and is co-author and editor of two books studying cohesion and development of belief systems.