Ms Klara Jurstakova

I completed my PhD at Canterbury Christ Church University in 2024, following an MA in Psychology from the University of St Andrews. My doctoral thesis focused on the role of leadership in repressive regimes, specifically in the context of ‘communist’ Czechoslovakia. During my PhD, I first worked as an Instructor, then as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Life Sciences.

As a social psychologist, I am mainly interested in crowd events, leadership, and resistance. I have collaborated on multiple research projects, including a project assessing the feasibility of re-opening large events during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and a research project studying the collective mourning events after HM the Queen's passing in 2022 and the ceremonial crowds during the 2023 Coronation of King Charles III.

I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education (AFHEA). My current teaching is in social psychology and research methods. I teach and lead modules across levels 1 to 7 (e.g., Social and Developing Self, Classic Studies and Practicals in Psychology, Applied Psychology, Crowd Psychology, and Research Methods), and supervise a variety of final year projects/dissertations at BSc and MSc levels.

My expertise is in qualitative research methods, and typically, my research projects will involve the studying of people’s behaviour in groups by using hands-on, interactive methods such as interviewing and focus groups.

I am interested in leadership, repressive regimes, and resistance. During my PhD, I used a wide range of qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with the leaders of the Velvet Revolution (1989), a process of major social change in Eastern Europe which helped the respective countries to transition towards democracy. I also conducted archival research, collaborating with various archives and historical instituts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where I developed strong bonds for future collaborations.

I am also interested in applying knowledge from crowd psychology and collective behaviour to improve public safety. I research how group dynamics influence people's behaviour and how that impacts crowd safety and security.