Štepán Jurajda is Professor and a member of the Executive and Supervisory Committee at CERGE-EI, Prague, where served as Director during 2009-2013. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. During 1999-2000, he was Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University, Department of Economics. Between 2005 and 2010, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Labour Economists. He has been a member of the National Economic Council of the Government of the Czech Republic, and also served as Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation of the Czech Republic and as Vice-Chairman of the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in July 2000.