Professional characteristics

Professor Eva Sollárová, CSc., has been working at the Psychology Department, Pedagogical Faculty of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica since 2017, where she guarantees the master study programme in Psychology. Main courses she is being conducting are Counselling Psychology, Psychotherapeutic Systems, Designing and Evaluating Intervention Programmes, Applications of the Person-Centered Approach, Social-Psychological Trainings (1. & IV.). She also teaches the course of Autonomy training for doctoral study programs at the Pedagogical Faculty UMB. On the level of the faculty she is involved in its Scientific Board and the Commission for Science, as a member.

In her research, pedagogical and publication activities prof. Sollárová has focused on the topics of leadership in education, designing and evaluating intervention programmes and trainings, mainly those of humanistic approaches.

She is internationally accepted mainly in the theme of applying the Person-centered approach (PCA) in organizations and adult education.

Her original theoretical and conceptual approach to conceptualization of manager/leader competences and their development from the perspective of the PCA approach was applied in various fields, among all on the national level in education of state government employees (NPXII: Modernization of employment services through education of employess at the State work offices (depts. IPSS and EURES/ 01/2008 – 11/2008/N=400/, principal investigator) and (NPXIV: Coping with stressful situations at work, 2008-2009/N=88/principal investigator) and, in business companies education in various fields.

Another field of her professional interests is related to education and trainings focused on personal growth and development of competencies for various professional groups, mainly university students, helping professionals and managers (social skills trainings, intervention programmes, coaching), where she evaluated effects of experiential approaches, mainly encounter groups, PCA skills training and PCA coaching (VEGA 1/2516/05: Process of learning in groups from the perspective of various approaches, principal investigator). The results have been applied in dizajning education of helping professionals on undergraduate and lifelong learning level on the national level.

Activities and outputs of prof. Sollárová in developing Psychology as a university study field have received a wholenational impact – as a national representative of the Psychology Chamber for Europsy and principal investigator of the ŠF project aimed at improving quality of Psychology as a university study programme in accordance with the Europsy standards (2012 – 2014), she initiated and asserted the change of Psychology standards to be compatible with the EU standards, since 2016 they are obligatory for accrediting study programmes in Psychology in the Slovak Republic.