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CENTER FOR PREVENTION OF RISKY VIRTUAL COMMUNICATION

Faculty of Education, Palacký University in Olomouc


Our mission

Welcome to the website of Centre for the prevention of risky virtual communication Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc. Centre for the prevention of risky virtual communication (the Centre) focuses on prevention of hazardous behaviour associated with the use of information and communication technologies by children, especially cyber bullying, cyber grooming, cyber stalking, hoax and spam, sexting, sextortion, social engineering methods, the issue of sharing of personal information through social networks (sharenting), internet frauds, dangers connected with using of artificial intelligence and other dangerous communication techniques. It implements an educational, research, prevention and intervention activities. Our Centre also focusing on positive using of modern IT technologies by children and adults.

About us

The Centre for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication of the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc (CPRVC) is a certified university workplace dealing with risky forms of online communication of children and adults and effective use. It focuses on cyberbullying, cyberstalking, hoax and spamming, sexting, social engineering in the online community, risks of sharing personal data on social networks and other risky communication phenomena. Research conducted at the CPRVC is both basic and applied (including contract research). It focuses on risky communication between children and sexual abusers, the risks of sharing personal data across communication platforms, specific forms of cyber-attacks through webcams (webcam trolling), how to detect fake profiles, identify fraudulent e-shops and commercial offers, identify aggressors, support victims, etc.

In recent years, he has also been working intensively on the issue of strengthening media literacy - through education. In this area, it cooperates, for example, with CEDMO - Central European Digital Media Observatory. New research topics include, for example, the risks and opportunities associated with artificial intelligence.

In addition to research, the Centre also runs a national project on prevention and education in relation to risky behaviour on the Internet called E-Safety (www.e-bezpeci.cz), an online counselling service for victims of Internet attacks (www.napisnam.cz) linked to the national Safety Line, the Police of the Czech Republic, the Authority for Social and Legal Protection of Children and other professional institutions.

History of Centre

Centre for the Prevention of risky virtual communication (the Centre) Pedagogical Faculty of Palacký University in Olomouc was founded as a logical successor to the project Prevention of dangerous communication practices related to electronic communication for teachers and non-teachers (called E-Bezpečí), which was implemented in 2008-2009 thanks to the GACR grant. Thanks to this project basic functional structure focused on the prevention of socio-pathological phenomena in online virtual environments was created.

In 2009, the initial project was followed by other sub-regional projects such as Safe Internet (City of Lipník nad Bečvou, Department of Social Services) project Patron of Safety Net (Olomouc region), the E-Bezpečí project for Olomouc, etc., which were focused on prevention of cyber crime with emphasis on pupils and adults (parents, teachers, police). The project was also supported by the Statutory City of Olomouc (see grants).

Specialized departments of key ministries - trade unions of crime prevention of Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports noticed activities and knowhow of the project. A close cooperation with the two instituions have been established - with the Ministry of the Interior a project of training police officers PIS throughout the Czech Republic has been launched, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education a project of training students and teachers has been launched. The Centre has also begun to participate in dozens of other local and national projects. Vodafone and Czech Radio Olomouc has become strong partners of the Centre.

Since 2010 the Centre have begun to implement a series of regional educational, intervention and research projects aimed at supporting education in the region of Ostrava and Olomouc. These regions have also included the project activities in its urban crime prevention programs.

In 2011, thanks to grants from the European social funds the Centre extended the activities of students education - future teachers. The result was establishing of the E-Synergy project, which centralizes the activities associated with the development of knowledge and skills just for this target group.

In 2012, the Centre connected the activities of the E-Bezpečí project with activities of Seznam se bezpečně! project and agreed on mutual cooperation. Partner network has been extended by one of the most successful Czech companies operating in the field of online technologies - Seznam.cz. The Centre has also begun to cooperate with the Czech subsidiary of Google - Google Czech Republic.

In 2013-2015 Centre has cooperated with various commercial and non-commercial institutions - Czech Police, Ministry of Interior CZ, Ministry of Education, Vodafone Czech Republic, O2 Czech Republic, IBM, Linka bezpečí, Google, Seznam.cz etc. Since 2016 Centre cooperates with O2 Czech Republic, Avast, Microsoft and other companies.

Currently the Centre realizes complex of virtual communication activities in the field of education, prevention, intervention and research, affecting the whole territory of the Czech Republic.

Awards

The Centre for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication has received numerous awards for its activities, both nationally and internationally.

Bronze Medal of the Deputy President of the Police 2023
Cyberprize Best Project 2023 (1st place)
Best Project of Crime Prevention 2023 (1st place)
European Crime Prevention Award 2015 (1st place, national round)
European Crime Prevention Award 2015 (4st place, European round)
European Crime Prevention Award 2009 (3rd place, national round)
Important project of Olomouc Region 2015
Honorable Recognition of Rector of Palacký University 2016


Digidoupě - laboratory of educational technologies

In recent years, our center began to focus also on positive forms of use of modern information and communication technology in education for children and adults. Modern communication technologies allow us especially effective way to motivate students and stimulate their interest in various disciplines of science. At the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc, we have created a separate laboratory of of modern information and communication technologies called Digidoupě (Digiden), which is available to students, teachers and others interested in education with the support of digital technologies. You can visit our YouTube Channel.

Laboratory Digidoupě has several objectives:
A. To improve the digital literacy among future teachers – students
(through teaching, own projects, innovation, research, etc.).
B. To improve the digital literacy among teachers who, for example, seek to increase their qualification or are simply interested in this area.
C. To improve the digital literacy among undergraduate students who want to set up their business in the future based on digital technology (start-up, technology-oriented company, etc.).
D. To increase children's interest in the meaningful use of technology (for example, as part of thematic projects, content development, prototyping, etc.).
E. To design tools that can be used in teaching and in students' home preparation

Download brochure about our laboratory.




RESEARCH

Centre for the Prevention of risky virtual communications (Centre PRVoK) at Faculty of Education, Palacký University in Olomouc implements research focused on various topics connected with digital media.

Specifically, the research activities of the Centre monitored following dangerous phenomena:
Cyberbullying (hating, online aggression).
Establishing of virtual contacts (communication with strangers and personal meetings with them; basis for cyber grooming).
Sexting (in the form of public sharing of intimate materials on the Internet and in the form of providing intimate material on request of another person).
Sharing of personal data on the Internet (with a focus on sharing photos of face).
Risky using of social networks (especially Facebook, ASK.fm).
Primary prevention of risky behaviour aimed on online environments.
Media literacy, media education (disinformation, hoax, fake news).
Internet frauds
Artificial intelligence (oportunities and risks)
• Other related phenomena.

Research list

Title of research Year Target group, sample Reports
Czech Students and Artificial Intelligence 2024 students,
n=20000
work in progress
Czech Schools and Artificial Intelligence 2023 teachers,
n=2175
[cz] [eng]
Sharenting with Czech parents 2022 parents,
n=2481
[cz]
Children and the cult of beauty in the online world 2022 children 10-17,
n=9441
[cz] [eng]
Online world of child's homes 2022 child clients and workers,
n=197 (child clients), n=166 (workers)
[cz] [eng]
Czech teachers in the world of media 2021 teachers, age 21-78,
n=2155
[cz] [eng]
Risk phenomena in the online environment of children of the Czech-Polish borderland 2020 [cz]
Czech Children in cyberspace 2019 children, age 7-17,
n=27177
[cz] [eng]
Parents and parenting in the digital era 2018 parents,
n=1093
[cz]
Elders on the internet 2017 adults 35+,
n=1072
[cz]
Sexting and Risky Acquaintances Made by Czech Children in Cyberspace 2017 children, age 7-17,
n=4878
[eng]
Risky behavior of Minecraft players 2016 players of Minecraft (children, adults),
n=2331
[eng]
Cyberbullying of teachers 2016 teachers of primary and secondary schools,
n=5136
[cz]
Czech Children and Facebook 2015 children, age 9-17,
n=1248
[cz]
Specifics of Children Communication and Online Aggressors within the Online Assaults on Children 2015 children x attackers, 267 records
Danger of internet communication 5 (Czech Children) 2014 children, age 11-1,
n=28232
Risky behaviour of Slovak children 2014 children, age 11-17,
n=1488
Danger of internet communication 4 (Czech Children) 2013 children, age 11-17 years,
n=21372
Risky Behaviour of Students of Faculty of Education of Palacký University Olomouc within the Internet Environment 2013 students, age 20-25 years,
n=386
Research of formal and semantic analysis of computer passwords of young users 2013 people, age 18-67,
n=3743
Danger of internet communication 3 (Czech Children) 2012 children, age 11-17,
n=10830
Danger of electronical communication 2 2011 children, age 11-17,
n=12533
Danger of electronical communication 1 2010 children, age 11-17,
n=1925

International research projects (participation)
  • CrossNational Research Project on Personality Traits in the Relationship between Sexting and Dating Violence among Adolescents and Young Adults (2016, Sapienza University of Rome)
  • Making Czech-Polish cooperation in the fight against cybercrime more effective (2020-2022, Czech and Poland Police Departments)

    The results of the research are published both in professional monographs and professional journals indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Many of our results are highly ranked and placed in the 1st quartile of WoS. In addition to scientific articles, we also publish popular texts for the general public.




  • EDUCATION

    The key activity of the PRVoK Centre is the implementation of educational activities for various target groups, especially for primary and secondary school pupils and university students, parents, teachers, police officers, psychologists and OSPOD workers, but also for the elderly. Educational activities are focused on the dangers associated with the use of the Internet and mobile phones, in particular the risks of social networks, cyberbullying, cyberbullying, sexting and the protection of personal data on the Internet, but also, for example, on the issue of media literacy (misinformation, misinformation, hoaxes), online fraud or the risks associated with artificial intelligence. Educational activities take place all over the Czech Republic.

    So far, the Centre has carried out educational events for more than 170,000 primary school pupils, more than 2,000 police officers, more than 15,000 student teachers, 10,000 primary and secondary school teachers and more than 5,000 university teachers. We have also trained thousands of parents, psychologists, crime managers, etc.


    Map of trained organisations

    E-Bezpečí operates throughout the Czech Republic, however, our headquarters is located in Olomouc, directly in the building of the Faculty of Education of Palacký University in Olomouc. The following map shows the organisations where our educational events have been or are being held.






    LEGISLATION

    The Center for the Prevention of Risk Virtual Communication of the Pedagogical Faculty of the Palacký University for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the National Institute of Education prepared an updated version of the Legislative Document of the Methodical Recommendation on the Primary Prevention of Risk Behavior (in area of cyberbullying). The document is now complemented by a whole range of new information, for example on how to deal with risk situations on the school side, on the part of the victim of aggression and also on her parents. The sub-section also deals with the risk and protective factors associated with cyberbullying, its origin and development. We have supplemented the legislative framework (in line with the revised School Act), expanded the network of cooperating institutions, and also focused on the possibilities of solving kybešikany out of school (in cooperation with other institutions).

    The innovated material is available on the Ministry of Education website (Czech only).


    OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION

    The Center offers cooperation to foreign research organizations - universities, research laboratories, as well as private entities, especially in the areas of research, development and innovation. Our center has experience in implementing a large number of national and international research projects.

    It is also possible to carry out an internship in our workplace (eg in PhD studies or other types of research internships). We have experience from the Erasmus + program, etc. We are actively engaged in our trainees, providing them with the opportunity to attend lectures, seminars and workshops in the field and at our workplace.

    Language for communication: English, Czech, Slovak.

    Certificates for visitors: Internship certificate, Erasmus+ certificates, Certificate of Implementation of the results (according to the research topic).

    Details of the possibilities will be provided by prof. Kamil Kopecký, PhD (kamil.kopecky@upol.cz), head of the center.


    Internship, visitors

    Visitors - PhD internships (Erasmus+ and other)

    José María Romero Rodríguez (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Gerardo Gómez García (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Blanca Berral-Ortiz (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Zuzana Vagaská (University in Prešov, Slovakia)
    Malgorzata Klimasz (University of Katowice, Poland)
    Kristína Bielčikova (University of Constantinus the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovakia)
    Kateryna Hordiienko (National Aviation University: Kyiv, Ukraine)
    Monika Židová (University of Constantinus the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovakia)

    Visitors - research internship (Erasmus+ and other)

    Juan Manuel Trujillo Torres (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    José Antonio Marín (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Francisco Javier Hinojo Lucena (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Gerardo Gómez García (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    José María Romero Rodríguez (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    María del Pilar Cáceres Reche (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Fernando Lara Lara (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)
    Magdalena Ramos Navas-Parejo (Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar, University of Granada, Spain)

    Visitors - Groups (scientists, students)

    University of Granada, Spain
    Bar-Illan University, Israel
    Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Netherland
    Neijiang Normal University, China
    Youngstown State University, USA
    Trunojoyo Univerzity, Indonesia




    Employees of the Center



    prof. Mgr. Kamil Kopecký, Ph.D.
    (head of Centre)
    E-mail


    Mgr. Martina Křížová
    (head of administration)
    E-mail


    doc. PhDr. René Szotkowski, Ph.D.
    (deputy head of Centre)
    E-mail


    Mgr. Dominik Voráč, Ph.D.
    (junior researcher)
    E-mail


    Bc. Pavel Schweiner
    (head of educational unit)
    E-mail


    Bc. Lukáš Kubala
    (head of Digiden lab)
    E-mail


    Hana Dosedla Pratesi
    (coordinator of regional grants)
    E-mail


    Mgr. Karolína Ziburová
    (PhD candidate)
    E-mail


    Mgr. Lucie Bihellerová
    (PhD candidate)
    E-mail


    Mgr. Petra Hrdinová
    (PhD candidate)
    E-mail


    CONTACT

    CENTER FOR PREVENTION OF RISKY VIRTUAL COMMUNICATION
    (E-BEZPEČÍ / DIGIDOUPĚ)
    Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci
    Žižkovo náměstí 5, Olomouc, 779 00
    Czech Republic

    prvok@upol.cz