Professional characteristics

Prof. PaedDr. Peter Jusko, PhD. has been working at the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica since September 1998. In the years 1998–2004, he worked at the Department of Pedagogy and Social Work of the Faculty of Education. During this period, his teaching activities focused primarily on social policy, employment policy, social pathology, social security, sociology of education, and administrative procedures in social practice. He supervised bachelor’s theses in the fields of social work and education, mainly focusing on social-pathological phenomena among children and youth, unemployment, social policy, and the personality of the social worker. He was a member of state examination committees in bachelor’s study programmes in social work and education. Between 1998 and 2001, he organized a series of discussion clubs with practitioners for students of social work, focusing on the prevention of social-pathological phenomena. In 1998, he began his rigorous postgraduate studies, which he completed in 1999 by passing the rigorous examinations and defending his rigorous thesis entitled The Personality of the Social Worker. In 1999, he was admitted to doctoral studies in social pedagogy, which he completed in 2004 by defending his doctoral dissertation entitled Prevention of Drug Addiction with a Focus on University Students. In 2008, he completed his habilitation procedure at the Faculty of Arts, University of Prešov, and in 2017, he completed his inaugural procedure at the Faculty of Health and Social Work, Trnava University. In the years 2000–2002, in cooperation with the Centre for Counselling and Psychological Services – Addiction Prevention Unit in Banská Bystrica, he implemented a series of training modules for students of social work, social pedagogy, and psychology entitled Preparation of PF UMB Students in the Field of Addiction Prevention, funded by the Anti-Drug Fund of the Slovak Republic. Between 2002 and 2004, he was a co-investigator in a state-commissioned project of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic entitled Increasing the Level of Socialization of the Roma Community through Systems of Education of Social and Mission Workers and Teaching Assistants. In the same period, he served as the departmental coordinator of the credit system of study. In 2004, the Department of Pedagogy and Social Work was divided into the Department of Pedagogy and the Department of Social Work, and PaedDr. Peter Jusko, PhD. became one of the founding members of the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University. From its establishment until 2009, he served as Secretary of the Department, and between 2004–2008, he was a member and between 2007–2008 the Chair of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Education. From 2008 to 2017, he held the position of Vice-Dean for International Cooperation and Public Relations. Between 2017 and 2022, he was Head of the Department of Social Work, and since 2022, he has been the principal responsible person for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral study programmes in social work at the Faculty of Education in Banská Bystrica. He supervises bachelor’s, master’s, rigorous, and doctoral theses in social work and is a member of state examination committees at all three levels of study. He completed educational and research stays in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Hungary, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and other countries. Since 2003, Prof. Jusko has been actively involved in organizing Student Scientific, Professional and Artistic Activities (ŠVOUČ) in social work. He has served as chair and member of expert evaluation committees of national student scientific conferences in social work held in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Košice, Trnava, Prešov, and Ružomberok. In the years 2004–2005, he was Deputy Project Leader of an international project entitled Social-Pathological Phenomena in the University Education of Social Workers and Social Pedagogues, implemented within the framework of Slovak–Czech intergovernmental scientific and technical cooperation. Between 2006–2007, he was a co-investigator of a faculty grant Evaluation of the Quality of Study and Employability of Graduates of Social Work at the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University. In 2007–2008, he co-participated in the research project Local Government Policy of Regions and Cities towards Youth in the Slovak Republic. Between 2008–2010, he participated as Deputy Project Leader in the VEGA project Professional Competencies of Social Workers in the Context of Institutional, Intentional, and Interprofessional Reflections and as co-investigator in the VEGA project Theoretical and Methodological Framework for the Analysis of Adult Educational Needs. From 2009–2012, he was Project Leader of the VEGA project Spectator Violence and Its Social Prevention. Between 2012–2014, he co-investigated the VEGA project Possibilities of Accompanying the Dying and the Bereaved in the Slovak Republic. From 2012–2015, he was a co-investigator of the APVV project Inclusive Growth in the Europe 2020 Strategy – Naivety or Genius? Between 2013–2015, he worked as an expert staff member within the project Development of Innovative Forms of Education at Matej Bel University (Operational Programme Education). From 2014–2016, he was Project Leader of the KEGA project Probation and Mediation as Part of Higher Education Training of Helping Professions. In 2015–2016, he was a co-investigator of the EEA Scholarship Programme project Social Services in the Education of Social Workers in Slovakia and Norway. Between 2018–2019, he served as National Coordinator of the Erasmus+ project Cook for Future: New VET Horizons for Social Inclusion in Food Service. From 2018–2020, he co-investigated the VEGA project Internet Addiction among Primary School Pupils in the Slovak and Czech Republics. Between 2019–2021, he was a co-investigator of the national project Better Public Policies through Better Knowledge of Civil Society. From 2018–2022, he was National Coordinator of the international project Decisions and Justifications in Child Protection Services. Between 2021–2023, he co-investigated the ESF project Support of Internal Quality Assurance Systems of Higher Education at Matej Bel University. From 2022–2026, he has been a co-investigator in the COST project Connecting Theory and Practical Issues of Migration and Religious Diversity. Between 2023–2025, he was a co-investigator of the VEGA project Volunteering in Slovakia in Times of Crisis. In 2024–2025, he was a member of the research team of the project Regional Analysis of Young People at Risk of NEET Situation and in NEET. From 2024–2026, he was Project Leader of the Erasmus+ project Toolbox for Working with Young People at Risk of Depression and Emotional Problems. From 2025–2027, he has been Project Leader of the Erasmus+ project Mindfulness and Emotional Resilience in Schools, and from 2025–2027, Project Leader of the International Visegrad Fund project Welfare State Transformation in the V4 Region. In his publication activities, Prof. Jusko focuses primarily on social policy, employment policy, youth social work, youth subcultures, social-pathological phenomena, football hooliganism, methods of social work, target groups of social work, probation and mediation, social pedagogy, and related areas. He is the author or co-author of over 200 publications, including more than 20 books, over 60 articles in domestic and international journals, and more than 120 studies in conference proceedings. He has actively participated in over 40 international conferences and seminars and more than 80 domestic conferences. His works have received over 400 citations in domestic and international publications. Prof. Jusko is a reviewer of monographs, scientific proceedings, university textbooks, and articles in domestic and international journals. In 2005, he received the “Doctoral Student of the Year 2004” award from the Academy of Education of the Slovak Republic for the outstanding monograph Social Policy for Social and Mission Workers. He was a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Social Work, University of Hradec Králové (2014–2016) and has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University since 2008. He is a member of editorial boards of the journals Fórum sociální práce (Prague, Czech Republic), Praca Socjalna (Warsaw, Poland), Scientific Bulletin of Uzhhorod National University. Series: Pedagogy. Social Work (Uzhhorod, Ukraine), and Revue sociálnych služieb (Trnava, Slovak Republic). He is a long-standing member of the Association of Educators in Social Work in the Slovak Republic and the Section of Social Pedagogy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and served as a member of the Association’s Governing Board in 2009–2015 and 2024–2027. He is a member of expert groups on science and research in crime prevention and youth crime prevention at the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Crime Prevention, a member of the Accreditation Commission of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family for education in social work, and since 2023, he has been Chair and member of working groups of the Slovak Accreditation Agency for Higher Education. Between 2013–2014, he was a member of the working group of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family that prepared Act No. 219/2014 Coll. on Social Work.

Professional characteristics