Research Focus Areas

• Intergenerational relations and family practices
• Great-grandparenthood and four-generation families
• Care practices in families
• Qualitative and mixed-methods research
• Narrative approaches in ageing and family studies

PhD project: Great-Grandparenthood in Four-Generation Families: Family Roles, Care, and Narratives

This doctoral project examines the role of great-grandparents in contemporary four-generation families, focusing on how family roles and intergenerational relationships are constructed, negotiated, and maintained in everyday family life. The research explores how great-grandparenthood is experienced and narrated within families and how these narratives relate to practices of care, responsibility, and belonging.

Methodologically, the project is based on qualitative family interviews and visual timeline methods, which enable an analysis of intergenerational dynamics over time. By combining narrative perspectives with family-based qualitative research, the project contributes to sociological and anthropological debates on family, ageing, and intergenerational relations, highlighting great-grandparenthood as a distinctive late-life family role.

Selected publications

• Talašová, Z. (2025). Childcare in Four-Generation Families in the Czech Republic: Two Case Studies. Families, Relationships and Societies, 1–19. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1332/20467435Y2025D000000077.

• Talašová, Z., & Souralová, A. (2025). Meanings and Roles of Great-Grandparenthood: A Scoping Review. The Gerontologist, 65(4), 1–14.  Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae181.

Research projects

• On Our Own: Opportunities and Risks of the Individualisation of Society (PRINS)
  2025–2028
  Project lead: doc. Mgr. Anna Ševčíková, Ph.D.
  Focus on intergenerational care and family solidarity in the context of rising individualisation, using international longitudinal datasets (SHARE, GGP).
• Robots, Programming the Human, and Autism / Cultural Imaginaries of Autism and Emotional Artificial Intelligence
  2023–2027
  Project lead: doc. Mgr. Eva Šlesingerová, Ph.D.
  Research on technologies, emotional AI, and cultural understandings of autism.
• Grandparent–Grandchild Ties: Intergenerational Relationships and Everyday Negotiations of Care Commitments
  2024–2025
  Project lead: doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Adéla Souralová, Ph.D.
  Qualitative research on intergenerational relationships and everyday family care practices.
• Digitalisation, Quality of Life, and Social Inclusion of Older Adults (DIGOLD)
  2023–2025
  Project lead: Mgr. Lucie Vidovićová, Ph.D.
  Research on digitalisation, ageing, and quality of life of older adults.

Conference presentations

• Gender Norms and the Value of Great-Grandparenthood: A Perspective in Contemporary Families
  British Sociological Association Annual Conference – Social Transformations, 2025.
• Rethinking Great-Grandparenthood: Gender and Expectations in Four-Generation Families
  12th Biennial Conference of the European Society on Family Relations (ESFR), University of Madeira, 2025.
• Intergenerational Care in a Four-Generation Family in the Czech Republic
  Researching Care and Care Policy in Europe: Challenges for Care Resilience in Turbulent Times, Polytechnic University of Milan, 2024.
• Family Practices in a Four-Generation Family
  PROMĚNY RODINY XIII: Intergenerational Coexistence, Opava, 2024.
• Social Dynamics of a Four-Generation Family: The Role of Great-Grandparents
  Sixth Joint Doctoral Conference, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, 2024.
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Sociological Research Methodology
  13th Olomouc Autumn Sociological Conference, 2024.