Jan Píša, Ph.D.

After completing my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography at the Faculty of Science of the J. E. Purkyně University (UJEP), I continued my doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in applied economics and administration at the Faculty of Social and Economic Studies of the same university, which I completed in 2022. I started my academic career as a researcher at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, UJEP, where I work as an assistant professor focusing on social and economic geography and regional development. Specifically, my research focuses on the role of various actors in the development of old industrial regions and the challenges these places face. So far, I have mainly worked on research projects investigating (1) how inhabitants of the Ústí nad Labem region can influence positive changes in their surroundings; (2) how the construction of a high-speed railway can influence the development of the Ústí nad Labem region; and (3) how migrants from larger cities can contribute to positive changes in small rural localities. In the near future, I would like to focus mainly on researching the transformation of former industrial and mining areas, as this process directly affects the character of the places where I work and live.

• 2015 (Bc.) Faculty of Science, UJEP in Ústí nad Labem (field of study: Geography of Central Europe)
• 2017 (Mgr.) Faculty of Science, UJEP in Ústí nad Labem (field of study: Geography)
• 2022 (Ph.D.) Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, UJEP in Ústí nad Labem (field of study: Applied Economics and Administration)

• 2017– Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem

• PÍŠA, J., HRUŠKA, V. (2023). Disentangling the ‘capacity to act’: variegated resources of individuals exerting change agency. European Planning Studies. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2023.2258165.
• PÍŠA, J., HRUŠKA, V. (2023). ‘It was my duty to change this place’: motivations of agents of change in Czech old industrial towns. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 1-17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2023.2208580.
• GÖRMAR, F., GRILLITSCH, M., HRUŠKA, V., MIHÁLY, M., NAGY, E., PÍŠA, J., & STIHL, L. (2022). Power relations and local agency: a comparative study of European mining towns. Urban Research & Practice, 1-24. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2022.2051066.
• HRUŠKA, V., PÍŠA, J. (2019). Winning and losing rural localities of the post-socialist economic restructuring: case study of Czechia. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, 68(4), 373–389. https://doi.org/10.15201/hungeobull.68.4.4.
• PÍŠA, J. (2019). The lawn grew too quickly! Perception of rural idyll by Czech amenity migrants. GeoScape, 13(1), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.2478/geosc-2019-0004.