Hedvika Janečková graduated with distinction from the Master’s degree programme in Critical Gender Studies (2-year MA, Applied Track) at Central European University (CEU) in 2016.
Hedvika is now a lead expert and manager in gender equality policy research at PPMI – a leading European research and policy analysis centre. She helps EU public sector leaders to deal with contemporary gender equality issues by providing actionable evidence and tools, and facilitating shared understanding among stakeholders. As a team and project leader, she aligns, builds and grows large teams of experts in cross-country settings and is responsible for project delivery and quality control.
Hedvika is proud to work with a number of EU institutions and bodies, such as the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the European Commission and the European Parliament. She has led two large studies informing EIGE’s support for the Council of the European Union’s follow-up on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action in the EU. These studies examined gender equality and gender mainstreaming in the COVID-19 recovery in the EU and Member States, and the opportunities for and challenges to gender equality in labour markets transformed by artificial intelligence and platform work in the EU. She is also one of the authors of the educational toolkits developed for the European Commission to help fight gender stereotypes. Since 2019, she has contributed to EIGE’s annual EU Gender Equality Index by providing country and additional thematic analyses.
Prior to joining PPMI, Hedvika worked as a project coordinator and researcher in the non-profit sector in the Czech Republic, focusing on issues in the areas of labour migration, working conditions and social inclusion. She gained additional professional experience at EIGE as a trainee in Research and Statistics. During her studies at CEU, she also interned in the areas of Conditions of Work and Employment and Gender Equality with the International Labour Organization’s Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Hungary.
Since her graduation, Hedvika has drawn extensively on the valuable experience and knowledge she gained during her studies at CEU. During this time, she was a student representative at the CEU Academic Senate and the Senate Equal Opportunity Committee. The CEU community remains an important ongoing resource and support for Hedvika.