Martin Potůček – 70 years Laudation

Martin Potůček was born on 2nd September 1948 in Prague. He got his first academic degree from Masaryk University Brno (at that time University J. E. Purkyně) – graduating in 1973 –and received the title PhD in Philosophy and Sociology in 1976. In 1989, he got a PhD degree from the University of Economics in Prague, focussed on management and planning. Habilitation in sociology (1992) and inauguration in public and social policy (1998) at Charles University in Prague were next in his academic career. Moreover, Martin Potůček holds an M.Sc. in European Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1991). After the first graduation, he worked as a researcher in the department of complex modelling at Sportpropag, and later on, in the Institute of Social Medicine and Healthcare Organisation. From 1990, he worked at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. In the period 1994–2003, Martin Potůček was the director of the Institute of Sociological Studies, and from 2000 till 2018, he held the post of the head of the Centre for Social and Economic Strategies (CESES). He went for many medium and long term study visits at prestigious universities, like Oxford (1993, 1994), Konstanz (1997–2008), Institute for Human Sciences Vienna (1998), Central European University in Budapest (1998–2000) and Hertie School of Governance, Berlin (2014). He is a member of university scientific councils and editorial boards of many journals. Martin is the author, co-author or editor of 86 academic books, 7 textbooks, 90 peer reviewed articles and about 120 research reports and policy papers. His achievements made him a Laureate of the Sri Chinmoye Award ‘Lifting Up the World With a Oneness-Heart’ and a Holder of the ‘Alena Brunovska Award’ (NISPAcee). He was recently awarded a Silver memorial medal from the Charles University in 2018. Martin Potůček is married and has two children.