Organizational structure and staffing of IRSE are based on the following principle:

The head of IRSE develops its research programme in cooperation with the management of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University (bottom-up) and with the heads of research groups (top-down). The head also supervises activities of the research groups and publications.

The heads of research groups are responsible for the strategy and planning in their thematic area (curriculum, teaching and learning, teacher education), prepare project proposals in compliance with IRSE’s research programme. The heads of research groups are autonomous researchers, presenters of the projects and main authors of project outcomes.

The members of research groups cooperate on carrying out the project tasks. They become co-authors of the project outcomes. The members of the research teams are staff members and doctoral students of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University, and guest experts.

Three Generations of Researchers

Twenty-seven academic and project workers have participated in the work of IRSE since its establishment. Thirteen of theses academic and research workers worked for IRSE full-time or almost fulltime (0.7–1.0) for at least three years. IRSE often invites colleagues from other departments to cooperate on research projects, which is related to IRSE’s ambition to “operate within the faculty” and offer colleagues research opportunities.

With some exaggeration, we can speak about the “first generation” of the founding staff (consisting of two Professors and one researcher with Ph.D. degree), the “second generation” entering employment in 2007 with launching the LC project (a group of four novice researchers under the leadership of one associate professor) and the “third generation” (of recent Ph.D. graduates) entering employment in 2013. It is natural that every such “generation” brings new or updated research topics.

During its operation, IRSE provided a pleasant environment for the professional growth of each employee; out of which three successfully went through the process of habilitation and seven were awarded a PhD degree.