[1] Potůček studied philosophy, mathematics, political science, and sociology at Masaryk University in Brno.

He worked as a researcher at the Department of Complex Modelling, Sportpropag, and later in the Institute of Social Medicine and Organisation of Health Services in Prague, until 1989.

Potůček was elected chairman of the Masaryk Czech Sociological Association in 1995 (vice-chairman, 1994 and 1996) and member of the steering committee of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee) in 1997.

Since 2008 and from 2004 to 2005 he was a member of Committee for Social Sciences and Humanities, Research and Development Council of the Czech Government.

[7] His work focuses on the teleonomic qualities of differentiated social actors, processes of cultivating and utilising human potential, and factors influencing health and health policy, as well as the processes of public policy formulation and implementation in the Czech Republic.