The Institute of Roma Studies of the University of Prešov is a workplace with university-wide scope, which from a formal point of view is one of the youngest at PU. It was officially established on January 1, 2011, but the so-called on the "green meadow". This workplace underwent certain organizational changes that date back to the 1990s, when the Institute of National Studies and Foreign Languages (director Prof. Ivan Bernasovský and later Prof. Š. Šutaj) was established on the grounds of the PU, which later transformed into the Research Center (director Prof. Jarmila Bernasovská). However, the research on Roma issues in the Prešov university environment goes much deeper. It mainly concerns the anthropological research of Prof. Ivan Bernasovký and his team, the andragogical work of the late Dr. Mária Dubayová, the pedagogical research of the Pedagogical of the Faculty of PU led by Prof. Milan Portík, the cultural anthropological work of Dr. Alexander Mušinka, the geographical work of Prof. René Matlovič, Roma topics are also addressed by staff from the Department of Social Work, the Department of History, or from the Faculty of Health Sciences of the PU, or from the Faculty PU sports, etc. The overview of all works of PU workers related to this topic includes more than a hundred separate books and monographs and almost a thousand articles and studies. Among the most significant in this direction are without a doubt the monographs of Ivan Bernasovský and Jarmila Bernasovská Anthropology of Romanies (Gypsies) (Brno, 1999), Mária Dubayová's Roma in Processes of Cultural Change (Prešov, 2001), Milan Portík's Determinants of Roma Pupils' Education (Prešov, 2003) and René Matlovič's Geography of the population of Slovakia with regard to the Roma minority (Prešov, 2005) and many others.

The aim of this workplace is to ensure and coordinate scientific research (and not only at the University of Prešov), focusing on a wide range of multidisciplinary scientific and professional topics related to the Roma ethnicity. Thematically, it is research focused on questions of anthropology, history, geography, language, culture, political science, social issues, etc. of this ethnicity. Territorially, it is primarily oriented towards the research of Roma in (Eastern) Slovakia, but in a wider (Central) European context. In the future, the ambition of URŠ, and of course the entire University of Prešov, is to establish a separate Roma museum, library and archive with at least nationwide scope on its land.

An integral part of this workplace is also pedagogical activity, which in the near future is oriented towards providing teaching of Romani and anthropological subjects for already accredited study fields at the University of Prešov. In the future, the accreditation of a separate study field of Romani studies is also planned.

Due to the short period of its existence, the Institute of Roma Studies is only being built and currently has five employees. The director of the institute is anthropologist Prof. RNDr. Ivan Bernasovský, DrSc. and the scientific workers are cultural anthropologist Mgr. Alexander Mušinka, PhD. , ethicist PaedDr. Mária Berezovská, social economist RNDr. Miroslav Pollák, historian and ethnologist Mgr. Lucia Segľová, PhD.

During its short existence, the Institute of Roma Studies presented itself with several successful activities. In the days 10.-11. In June 2011, in cooperation with the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy and the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic, within the framework of the National Convention on the European Union, he organized the international conference Post-Recovery of the Slovak Republic: Increasing Employment and Inclusion of the Roma, from which a collection of the same name was published (ed. A. Mušinka). More than thirty experts from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the USA spoke at this conference, representing both the academic community and the state and public administration.

Due to the topicality of the topic, the last two publications published by the Institute of Roma Studies in 2012 also received a great response. They were Alexander Mušinka's monograph entitled Podarilo se: Examples of successful activities at the level of municipalities aimed at improving the situation of Roma and the collection of (Illegal) settlements: Possibilities of local governments and land settlement mechanisms in the environment of Roma settlements (ed. A. Mušinka).

On December 3, 2012, the Institute of Roma Studies, again in cooperation with the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy, the National Democratic Institute from Bratislava and the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic, organized the second conference with international participation, Theoretical and practical issues of political participation of Roma at the local level. At this conference, almost twenty representatives of the academic community (from abroad and Slovakia) as well as representatives of the local government (primarily from the ranks of the Roma) and non-governmental organizations spoke, who discussed negative and positive examples from practice and extracted common factors determining successful or, on the contrary, unsuccessful solutions participation of Roma in local self-government. A collection of materials from this conference is also being prepared, which will be published in 2013.

An important activity in the life of the ÚRŠ was the awarding of the title Doctor honoris causa (Dr. h. c.) to the professor of cultural anthropology from Thomson Rivers University (Canada) dr. To David Z. Scheffle. This highest academic award was awarded to him by the scientific council of the University of Prešov on the proposal of the Institute of Roma Studies, for his scientific and organizational merits in the field of Roma research in Slovakia. The ceremonial act took place on December 3, 2012, on the occasion of the ceremonial meeting of the Scientific Council of PU on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the founding of PU.

The latest publishing activity of the URŠ is participation in the publication of the book by Michal Smetanka and Jozef Schmiedl Multinational Medzev: Memories of the coexistence of Germans and Roma. As the name itself suggests, it is a unique attempt to look at the issue of inter-ethnic relations in a specific location from the point of view of two national minorities, not the majority and minority as we have been used to.

ÚRŠ continuously conducts field research in Roma communities almost throughout Slovakia, which has resulted, among other things, in the fact that it actively participates in their mapping. Currently, URŠ staff are coordinating the implementation of one of the most extensive researches in Slovakia, which is the updating of the Atlas of Roma communities in Slovakia, which was implemented by UNDP in 2012-2013.

URŠ employees also actively participate in scientific and academic events, both domestic and foreign - conferences, workshops, lectures, etc. Since its inception, the workplace has been continuously monitoring the media and creating an archive of documents related to the Roma issue.

The institute is also building a network of cooperating and partner institutions, not only in Slovakia, but also abroad. During its short existence, it established active cooperation with the Comenius University in Bratislava, the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, the Charles University in Prague, the Masaryk University in Brno, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops (Canada) and others.