Iva Šmídová is a sociologist, an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. She has worked in the field of gender studies since the early 1990s in both research and teaching. She is a founding member of the gender studies community at the department. Her long-term research interests include critical studies on men and masculinities, gender relations in the family, sociology of health, illness and medicine, and bereavement studies. Her current research project is on Institutions of Ageing Men, and previous studies included topics such as alternative life courses of men (in environmental protection), men on parental leave, men at childbirth, professional men in positions of power, or masculinities offside. Other research projects include Perinatal Loss – A Case Study. Sociological Analysis of Death at Birth in the Czech Republic (2017-2019), Childbirth, Assisted Reproduction, and Embryo Manipulation. A Sociological Analysis of Current Reproductive Medicine in the CR” (2011 – 2014), and also international cooperation. She is MU delegate in RINGS - The International Research Association of Institutions of Advanced Gender Studies and holds an Open Scholar Position at the Center of Gender Excellence, Linköping University (Sweden). She is a member of the Czech Government Council for Gender Equality and its working gropus. She is also a member of journal editorial boards of Gender and Research and NORMA, the International Journal for Masculinity Studies.