office: 2.35

e-mail: michal.synek@fhs.cuni.cz

tel.: (+420) 604973709

https://msynek.academia.edu

CURRENT COURSES

viz SIS

CONSULTATIONS

viz SIS

RESEARCH AREAS

I am a sociologist of science/technology and disability.

The most important lines of my research have so far included:

- relations between repertoires of caring (e.g. cooking and serving meals or case management) and different version of disability;

- tensions between various objects of care (e.g. things and people) in social services;

- life stories of people identified as disabled;

- crip science, art and politics.

Presently, I am working on two book-length projects: "Life Stories For Human Rights", on life stories of people who spent their lives in asylums, and "Besides Disability", on theory and methodology of co-narrating.

I have worked as advisor to self-advocates. I am interested in theoretical problems with practical impact at the crossroads of science and technology studies, disability studies and care studies.

WORK EXPERIENCE

[2017 – 2021] Researcher, Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences

[2013 – 2023] Researcher, lecturer and consultant, Czech Alzheimer's Society

[2015 – 2019] Researcher and a leader of a research team, Centre of Expertise in Longevity and Long-term Care, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University

[2003 – 2007] Manager of humanitarian and development projects, Caritas Internationalis

[2002 – 2004] Social worker, Czech Helsinki Committee

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING

[2015 – 2020] Ph.D. in sociology (STS), Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University

[03/2014 – 07/2014] Educational exchange, Institut für Religionswissenschaft, University of Vienna

[2008 – 2014] Mgr. in Religion Studies / Sociology of Religion, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. (2023) Souostroví / postižení / veřejnosti [Disability / archipelago / public]. Praha: Display – sdružení pro výzkum a kolektivní praxi.

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. (2023): At home in the ‘home’: Narratives of home in repertoires of institutional dining. Housing Studies (On-line First): 1–24. doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2023.2262949

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / CARBOCH, R. (2022): „Všechno stejný, všechno zastavený“: Karanténa v „domově“ pro lidi označené za postižené. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 58 (5): 563–585. doi/org/10.13060/csr.2022.029.

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / CARBOCH, R. (2022) Vlastní místo? Každodennost a údržba budovy v „domově pro osoby se zdravotním postižením“. [A proper place? Practice of everyday and building maintenance in a „home for persons with health impairments“]. Biograf (75-76): 77–110. Available on-line at: http://www.biograf.org/text.html?id=1099.

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / BOSÁ, M. (2022): O různých praxích a normativitách pečování [On different practices and normativities of caring]. Biograf (75-76): 3–14. Available on-line at: http://www.biograf.org/text.html?id=1095.

HRADCOVÁ, D. / SYNEK, M. (2021): The Rest is Noise: On Describing Cognitive Multiplicity. Qualitative Research 21 (3): 442–460. doi.org/10.1177/1468794120975987

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. (2020): Obdělávat svou zahradu: Spekulativní etika Maríi Puig de la Bellacasa. [We must cultivate our garden: Speculative ethics of María Puig de la Bellacasa]. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 56 (2): 259–275. doi.org/10.13060/csr.2020.009

HRADCOVÁ, D. / SYNEK, M. / ZGOLA, J. / HOLMEROVÁ, I. (2020): Promoting the Enjoyment of Food as Part of Dementia Care: The Bon Appetit Intervention in Care Homes. In J. Manthorpe & E. Moniz-Cook, eds.: Timely Psychosocial Interventions in Dementia Care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

SYNEK, M. (2020): Impaired Food: Routine, Materiality and Ontology in Social Care Practice. Ph.D. thesis. Masaryk University.

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / JAHODOVÁ, D. / CARBOCH, R. (2019): Kritické gesto a záležitosti péče v souřadnicích ne/způsobilosti [The dis/ability coordinates of the critical gesture and matters of care]. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 55 (5): 585–611. doi.org/10.13060/00380288.2019.55.5.478

ILIFFE, S. / WILCOCK, J. / SYNEK, M. / CARBOCH, R. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / HOLMEROVÁ, I. (2019): Case management for people with dementia and its translations: A discussion paper. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice 18 (3): 951–969. doi.org/10.1177/1471301217697802

SYNEK, M. (2018): Perfect etiquette: On diplomatically arguing with members. Medical Anthropology Theory 5 (1): 25–49. https://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/4844

SYNEK, M. / HRADCOVÁ, D. / JAHODOVÁ, D. / CARBOCH, R. (2017): O (ne)soudržnosti pečování: Mnohočetné ontologie života s demencí [On (non)coherence of caring: Multiple ontologies of life with dementia]. Biograf (65–66): 5–52. Available on-line at: http://www.biograf.org/text.html?id=1017.

SYNEK, M. / CARBOCH, R. (2014): Profesní slepota a režimy spěchu: Podpora soběstačnosti při jídle v institucionální péči o lidi s mentálním znevýhodněním [Professional blindness and regimes of haste: Support of self-sufficiency in eating in institutional care for people with intellectual disability]. Biograf (60): 5–37. Available on-line at: http://www.biograf.org/clanek.html?clanek=6001.

SYNEK, M. (2012): Doktrína a politika lhaské debaty: Obraz samjäské tradice v kronice Baže [Doctrine and politics in Lhasa debate: Samye tradition in dBa' bzhed cronicle]. Sacra 10 (1): 5–32.

MEMBERSHIPS

Biograf journal: member of the editorial board

Czech Association for Social Anthropology (Anthropology of Medicine Section)

Society for Social Studies of Science /4S/

The American Studies Association (Critical Disability Studies Caucus)

Czech Association for the Study of Religions

RESEARCH PROJECTS

[2021 – Current] Life stories for human rights, implemented by Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, funded by Norway grants. Link: https://zivotnipribehy.com/english

[2019 – 2022] Vulnerable residents in fragile residences: An inquiry into tensions of residential care, implemented by Center for Theoretical Study, funded by Czech Science Foundation

[2014 – 2017] How to eat well in institutional care: Dis/ability in repertoires of dining research project, Faculty of Social Sciences, Masaryk University, project supervisor: Doc. PaedDr. Zdeněk Konopásek, Ph.D.

[2017 – 2018] Paperwork and the practice of social change: The use of written documents in participative planning, Implemented by Centre for Theoretical Study, funded by Charles University Institutional Development Grant

[2015 – 2018] Case management as a complex intervention in dementia, its impact on resources utilisation and the quality of life of patients and caregivers, implemented by Centre for Expertise in Longevity and Long-term Care, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, funded by Czech Health Research Council

[2018 – 2019] Restrictive Interventions in Psychiatry, implemented by Centre for Mental Health Care Development