IRTIS: Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society is a research department at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, whose main scope of research is the use of information and communications technology and its impact on individuals and society. To cover the topic in all its breadth and complexity, people from many disciplines are involved in the research. We mainly use the perspectives of psychology, sociology, communication, media studies, and informatics.

The main research fields of IRTIS include:

• ICT and well-being
• Online aggression and cyberbullying
• Social interaction with new people online
• Parental mediation
• ICT and health
• Excessive use of the Internet
• Internet safety

Although IRTIS, as a separate department, was established in 2021, its history is far longer. In 2011, an official team was established thanks to the “VITOVIN” project within The Institute for Research on Children, Youth, and Family and became an important research team with international cooperation. During its existence, IRTIS has been conducting quality research projects funded within prestigious grant schemes. For example, we are currently working on the HORIZON2020 project “ySkills,” where we cooperate with 14 European universities. We are also intensively working on the “FUTURE” project, where we are aiming to further expand the knowledge on the impact of digital technologies on adolescents’ well-being, using a combination of robust scientific methods and innovative ways of research.

International cooperation is highly important to us. For instance, we are long-term active members of the EU Kids Online research network, which is focused on research on children and adolescents using the Internet. In this project, we have recently collected data and published an extensive research report on children’s Internet usage in 19 European countries. This research report received the MUNI Scientist award. You can learn more about our international here.

IRTIS places a high value on communicating its findings not only to the scientific community but also to the wider public. You can find our outputs on our website in News and Publications, and you can follow us on Facebook (CZ) and Bluesky (EN), where you can learn about our other outputs and interesting events.

The members of IRTIS are experienced researchers as well as starting young scientists. The complete list and profiles, including the contacts and main research interests, and scientific outputs, can be found here.

The majority of IRTIS members are IRTIS employees, however, they also work at other facilities of the Masaryk University, in particular:

• Department of Media Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Studies
• Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies
• Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing, Faculty of Informatics

IRTIS is also associated with the peer-reviewed journal Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, which received an impact factor as the first journal published by the Masaryk University, and has a firm place among internationally recognized scientific journals in the field of communication studies and psychology. You can learn more about the Cyberpsychology journal and its association with IRTIS here.

We are also members of DigiKoalice (i.e., Czech National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs). It is an association of representatives of state institutions, IT companies, the ICT sector, educational institutions, the academic community, non-profit organizations, founders of schools and school facilities, and many other subjects which want to contribute to better digital literacy and skills of Czech citizens.