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Orientalism and Enlightenment in East Central Europe of the Eighteenth century

The research is focused on the analysis of Enlightenment works produced in the Habsburg Monarchy in the eighteenth century, primarily during the reigns of Maria Theresa (1740–1780) and Joseph II (1765–1790), to highlight the importance of orientalist inspirations in Central European intellectual production. By employing discursive, contextual, and network analysis, the research focuses on the development and circulation of orientalist frameworks within the intellectual circles of Central Europe, with particular emphasis on the environment of the Kingdom of Hungary. In order to achieve the research objectives, the study analyses source material comprising linguistic, translational, memoir, and literary works by selected authors, such as Kelemen Mikes, Adam František Kollár, Károly Reviczky, and Jozef Ignác Bajza. This material will be supplemented by other available sources, including private correspondence and catalogues of personal book collections. The study aims to interpret how these authors received, articulated, and shaped images of the non-European “Other”, i.e. the “Oriental”, and in doing so contributed to the Enlightenment tradition that formed the foundation of the modern political and social order, not only in the region of Central Europe. The conclusions of the research also allow Central European manifestations of orientalism to be perceived as a local phenomenon existing within the broader pan-European Enlightenment movement. Beyond its historiographical contribution, the study helps to provide a more thorough understanding of contemporary Central European conceptual frameworks for perceiving the “Other”, i.e. Muslim, Asian, or African.

Plague, Fear, and Everyday Life in Seventeenth Century England: Society as Reflected in the Diary of Samuel Pepys

The project will focus on examining the plague epidemic in seventeenth-century England as a complex historical phenomenon that profoundly affected social structures, everyday life, and the emotional experience of society. The aim of the study is to analyse how the epidemic was reflected in daily practices, social relationships, and collective emotions—particularly fear—and what role mechanisms of power and social regulation played in this process. The theoretical framework combines a macrohistorical approach with microhistorical analysis and draws on concepts from the history of everyday life and the history of emotions. A key primary source for the research is the diary of Samuel Pepys, which is analysed in comparison with contemporary official regulations, statistical data, and printed sources. The project is based on the hypothesis that individual experience, as recorded in personal diaries, makes it possible to identify broader patterns of behaviour and perceptions of the epidemic in seventeenth-century London society and contributes to a deeper understanding of how society functioned under conditions of extreme threat. 

The proposed dissertation focuses on the Avar and Slavic incursions into the Balkans between 567 and 626, viewed primarily from the perspective of Constantinople. It examines how the Byzantine Empire—at a time when it controlled more territory than it was able to defend—perceived, experienced, and responded to these invasions, not as marginal disorder but as a fundamental test of its power, identity, and survival. The aim of the study is to analyse Byzantine military responses, available strategic options, decision-making processes, and defensive mechanisms within the context of a shifting geopolitical environment, concurrent wars with Persia, and internal economic pressures and political change. The candidate is expected to trace how these attacks, invasions and other external threats affected the development of the Byzantine army, the financing of warfare, provincial administration, and diplomatic strategies, and how these crises translated into long-term transformations of Byzantine power in the Balkans and Asia. The dissertation should integrate military history, economic foundations, and foreign policy into a single coherent portrait of an empire striving to preserve itself and a world that was coming apart.
The candidate / PhD student is expected to have solid basic knowledge of Byzantine history in the period in question and within its broader geographical context. A good command of English is required; at least passive knowledge of German and another Slavic language (such as Serbian, Russian, or Bulgarian) is welcome. The research will also require work with written sources in Latin and Classical Greek.

Franz Wagner (1675–1748), a Jesuit of German origin, after a brief period of activity in Krems, Bratislava, and Trnava, spent almost his entire professional life in Vienna, at the center of the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus, which also included the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. The bibliographer J. N. Stöger wrote of him in the mid-19th century that he brought the Latin spirit back into the Austrian Province (“Latium in provinciam revexit”). Wagner began his literary career in Trnava, where, as a teacher of rhetoric, he wrote his first work entitled De vera eruditione (On True Education, 1701), which he himself later characterized as an “appetizer” (promulsio) to all his subsequent literary activity. Already in this first work, the young Wagner revealed himself as a talented educator, offering a constructive critique of the state of education of his time. Three decades later, again in Trnava, he published an instructional guide for teaching in the six humanities classes of Jesuit schools. As a philologist, Wagner distinguished himself chiefly through two works, Syntaxis ornata and Phraseologiae Latinae corpus, both of which went through numerous editions, attesting to their wide popularity. As a historiographer, he treated the histories of the reigns of Leopold I and Joseph I and prepared a series of history textbooks for the needs of Jesuit schools. In addition, Wagner devoted considerable attention to geography. The aim of the dissertation will be, for the first time, to map the life and work of this important figure, who left a lasting mark on the intellectual history of Central Europe and to whom scholars have so far devoted insufficient attention. Applicants are expected above all to have an excellent command of Latin, as well as the ability and willingness to work with Latin literature from the first half of the eighteenth century, and a passive knowledge of German.

Marginal people in the cities in 19th and 20th centuries between social integration and exclusion

The aim of the dissertation is a research on the social status and social incslusion problems of  selected marginal groups (e. g. beggars, homelesses,  disabled, findlings or other) in cities in the 19th (and the first half of 20th) century. Gender differences in status and limits of integration will be an important research question. In addition to socio-historical and socio-cultural approaches, the emphasis will be on comparison. The case studies of selected institutions (e.g. poorhouse, workhouse, social care institution) in different towns/regions of the Habsburg Monarchy/Europe will be the basis for comparison focusing also on the issue of social policy transfer and social inclusion practices. The topic will be refined during the PhD study on the basis of the chosen social group, regions and institutions, taking into account the available research sources. The candidate is expected to have a basic overview of political and social developments in the selected countries/regions and adequate language skills: in addition to Slovak/Czech and English, other language(s) of the countries/regions selected for comparison.

The aim of the dissertation is to research the care of orphaned and abandoned children in towns of the Kingdom of Hungary in the first half of the nineteenth century. Children who, for various reasons, were left without parents were divided in the period under study into two groups. The first consisted of orphans who had tutors and property inherited from their parents; the second comprised orphaned and abandoned children without property and usually without tutors as well. Under existing laws, towns were obliged to supervise the administration of orphans’ property and to provide care for all categories of dependent persons, including poor orphans and foundlings. However, legislation defined only the duties of towns; the scope and manner of fulfilling these duties were determined by the towns themselves. In their research, the candidate should focus on compliance with laws regulating the administration of orphans’ property—that is, on how towns applied these laws in practice and what mechanisms they developed to supervise tutors managing the property of orphaned children. An important question is whether such supervision, in accordance with existing legislation, concerned only the management of estates or also the provision and care of the children themselves. Another level of research should address foster care and institutional care for poor orphans and foundlings. The confessional dimension of this issue will also be significant—namely, whether laws on the religious upbringing of children were respected and whether institutional or foster care became part of confessional conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. The candidate may choose a specific town for the research, or a suitably defined group of towns. Candidates are expected to have a basic overview of the political, religious, and social development of the Kingdom of Hungary in the “long” nineteenth century, as well as appropriate language skills: Slovak, German, and Latin. 

The reforms of Joseph II represented a fundamental turning point for religious orders in his monarchy, and their consequences persisted long after his death. Even more than the suppression of certain orders or individual monasteries (convents), his decrees affected religious life through measures that weakened monastic discipline - such as the interruption of contacts with order superiors abroad, the compulsory study of theology in general seminaries, and interventions in the internal hierarchy of orders and monasteries.
This topic offers several research possibilities. At the level of the kingdom, one may examine the attitude of the state and church authorities to the restoration of suppressed orders and monasteries, the establishment of new religious houses, and the employment of members of suppressed orders in pastoral care or education. The candidate may also examine the ways in which religious orders came to terms with Josephinist reforms and renewal of religious life through a case study of a selected order (or a larger monastic house), or within the framework of a specific archdiocese or diocese. Geographically, the research is delimited to the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary; chronologically, it covers the period from the death of Joseph II to the signing of the concordat with the Holy See in 1855.
Applicants are expected to have a basic overview of the political, religious, and social development of the Kingdom of Hungary in the “long” nineteenth century, as well as appropriate language skills, with an emphasis on Slovak, Latin, and German.

This dissertation project focuses on analysing the transformations of Rusyn society in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on the processes of reconfessionalization in the Eastern rite environment. The research examines the position of the Rusyn population, and especially the Rusyn Greek Catholic clergy, within the context of modern nationalist ideologies, particularly the Magyarization policy of the Hungarian elites and various forms of Pan-Slavism and Russophilia. Greek Catholic priests played an important role in the Rusyn environment as mediators between state power, the church hierarchy, and local communities, while also being bearers, adapters, or opponents of modern political, national, and confessional ideas. The work, therefore, focuses on analysing the consequences of the Magyarization policy in the Greek Catholic church environment and its impact on the Rusyn (and partly also Slovak) Greek Catholic population. Special attention will be paid to the attitudes of the lower clergy, their activities within church structures, as well as their public activities and reception by higher church authorities and state bodies. An important part of the research will be the issue of the Orthodox and Russophile movement, the first manifestations of which appeared in the Rusyn environment as early as the mid-19th century, but which acquired a more significant social and political dimension especially at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The work will attempt to answer the question of whether these movements represented primarily an ideological-national alternative, a confessional reaction to Magyarization pressures, or whether they were an expression of social protest and local conflicts within the church and social order. In this context, the possibility of applying the concept of reconfessionalization to the Rusyn environment will be examined through an analysis of the role of the Greek Catholic clergy, committed lay people, and parish communities in the Orthodox and Russophile movements. At the same time, the research will focus on the reactions of state and church authorities, as well as on the repressive and disciplinary mechanisms they used to control or suppress these processes.<w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr>
The dissertation project is part of a broader research project on the confessionalization of society in the long 19th century within the APVV project carried out at the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
Requirements: knowledge of the Slovak language, Russian language (reading texts in Cyrillic), at least passive knowledge of Hungarian, English language level min. B2.

The aim of the doctoral dissertation is to analyse cultural interactions between France and Czechoslovakia, since France did not discontinue cultural cooperation with the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War period and is moreover often perceived as a major cultural and civilisational power. Cultural interaction will be understood in a broad sense as cultural encounters and mutual influences. Although the doctoral candidate will need to have a solid understanding of political developments and the changing objectives of cultural diplomacy, the core of the dissertation will focus on research into specific cultural interactions, such as study, academic, linguistic or creative stays, artistic inspirations, translations of fiction and scholarly literature, adaptations of theatrical plays, the reception of works in individual national contexts, and similar phenomena. On the basis of several case studies, the candidate will formulate their conclusions.
The applicant is expected to have a basic overview of European cultural development, with particular attention to France and Czechoslovakia, as well as to cultural diplomacy in the period under study; proficiency in Slovak/Czech and English is required; knowledge of French is necessary at least for working with primary sources.

The aim of the dissertation is to investigate the cross-border and international contacts and inspirations of the so-called grey zone, which, compared to open dissent, has long remained outside the interest of scholars. Chronologically, the research is defined by the existence of socialist dictatorships in the second half of the 20th century. The emphasis is on the period of so-called real socialism, with consideration given also to exploring longer continuities. Territorially, the topic is anchored on the territory of Czechoslovakia, with overlap to selected Soviet satellites and also to the states where the active foreign contacts of the actors under study extended.<w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr>
The research mainly focuses on discourses and informal practices related to ambivalently used social spaces (grey zones) that did not cross the boundaries of legality, outlined by governmental power. There, communities with their own etiquette, rituals and norms were formed, able to appropriate and adapt regime spaces, structures, funds and rhetoric. Through various strategies, they have expanded specific spaces, enabling the creation and connection of civic, expert and other networks. A deeper interest in social and cultural history, historical anthropology, the history of media and political censorship, the political history of Central Europe, and a preliminary orientation to the topic are expected. The prerequisite is knowledge of English (min. B2), Slovak/Czech language reading proficiency in another European language.

The aim of the dissertation is to examine changes, adaptations, and persistence of social practices linked to the period of the 1980s and 90s. Applicants are expected to submit a research project focused on a specified sphere of social practices. Priority is given to projects dealing with the area of Central Europe or proposing a wider European comparative framework. A deeper interest in social history, historical anthropology, discourse analysis, and also preliminary orientation in the selected topic is expected. 
Requirements: Knowledge of English (min. B2), Slovak/Czech, and reading proficiency in another European language.

The modern architecture of the second half of the 20th century is a significant part of the existing building stock, both in Slovakia and in Europe as a whole. In the four decades following the Second World War, thousands of healthcare, educational, cultural, recreational, sporting and commercial buildings were constructed which still form the basis of public infrastructure today. The construction of such public institutions in European countries was guided by two fundamental objectives. The first was the efforts of social democratic governments in Western European countries to establish a welfare state. The second objective was to build a socialist state, pursued by countries in Central and Eastern Europe. These two objectives had similar starting points, including post-war reconstruction, the modernisation of city centres, and providing access to healthcare, education, culture and recreation for large sections of the population, as well as eliminating differences between social classes. State or municipal management, planning and public financing played an important role in this. However, while this infrastructure was intended to strengthen civil society in Western European countries, its purpose in communist bloc countries was to reinforce the authoritarian position of the state. Despite these differences, post-war modernist architecture is an important part of Europe's shared identity and cultural heritage. Understanding and adapting this heritage for contemporary use is one of today's key social challenges.
The dissertation will examine the architecture of public buildings from the second half of the 20th century. It will focus on selected personalities, works and typologies that have not yet been explored, as well as the broader social context in which these works were created and the potential for their adaptive reuse.

The aim of the dissertation is to collect and evaluate archaeological sources from a given chronological period in the central Ponitrie region and the adjacent mountain ranges – Vtáčnik, Strážovské Vrchy, Považský Inovec, and Tribeč. The work will include the documentation and processing of finds deposited in several institutions, as well as work in a GIS environment, including the use of LiDAR data. The applicant is expected to have knowledge of the Slovak or Czech language, which is essential for working with archival sources and for communication with museums. Familiarity with statistical methods in archaeology and experience working in a GIS environment are considered an advantage. The PhD candidate will be actively involved in the implementation of a VEGA research project (and, if awarded, additional research projects), which will enable the systematic application of advanced technological, scientific, and chronological analyses of selected categories of finds and features (e.g. material analyses, archaeometric methods, and absolute dating).

The topic includes the analysis of the development of the use and the interpretation of the importance of the dominant site of the Liptovská Basin – the hill Havránok in Liptovská Sielnica- Liptovská Mara – in the Protohistoric Period based on the rich materials from the long-term excavations conducted by the Institute of Archaeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV). The hill was fortified and used as an important sacrificial place from the Middle La Téne to the beginning of the Roman Period. The topic will also include the reconsideration of the reconstructions of selected archaeological features and the use of the site for cultural tourism.

The definition of the development of trade and exchange relations in the specified area in the Protohistoric and Early Medieval Periods. The interpretation of the minting and use/non-use of coins and other instruments of exchange and their various functions in different periods and communities, focused on the local coin production and relevant raw material resources in Slovakia

This doctoral dissertation focuses on the systematic investigation of rotary millstones as a key yet insufficiently synthesised source for understanding the medieval economy in the territory of present-day Slovakia. A large assemblage of archaeological finds, recovered from settlement excavations, surface surveys, and, in exceptional cases, funerary contexts, offers a unique opportunity for a comprehensive evaluation of these artefacts within both regional and supra-regional frameworks.
The primary objective of the project is a detailed archaeological, typological, and material analysis of rotary millstones, embedded within the broader context of the Middle Danube region. The research aims to identify raw material sources, production and processing technologies, and to reconstruct networks of distribution and exchange that shaped their circulation. These data will provide new insights into economic strategies, dietary practices, and everyday life in medieval society.
A major strength of the project lies in its interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeological evidence with historical and art-historical sources and supported by close collaboration with geologists, particularly in provenance studies of raw materials. The results are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the functioning of the medieval economy in Central Europe and to establish a transferable methodological framework applicable to the study of similar artefacts across Europe..

Elite manorial courts represent a distinctive category of Early Medieval settlement structures, characterised by the coexistence of residential buildings, a sacral structure, and an associated burial ground. These sites are generally unfortified or protected only by simple defensive features, such as palisades. Their highest concentration is documented in southern Moravia, while a smaller yet significant number is known from present-day Slovakia and the Czech lands. Despite their prominent position within Early Medieval settlement systems, the function, genesis, and socio-political role of elite manorial courts remain insufficiently understood.
The primary objective of this doctoral project is a comprehensive analysis of two key sites—Ducové and Nitrianska Blatnica—excavated by A. Ruttkay, and their interpretation within the broader Central European context. The research aims to identify the factors influencing the emergence, development, and decline of elite manorial courts, as well as to examine evidence for their possible continuity beyond the Great Moravian period. Particular attention will be paid to their role within the Early Medieval economy and settlement hierarchy, alongside a critical reassessment of theories concerning Frankish influence on their formation.
Through a detailed analysis of spatial organisation, architectural features, and material culture, the dissertation seeks to develop new interpretative models of elite manorial courts as centres of power, economic activity, and ideological representation. A key component of the project will be the application of scientific methods, including radiocarbon dating and isotopic and genetic analyses of human remains, enabling refined chronological frameworks and insights into social structure and population mobility. The results are expected to contribute significantly to our understanding of Early Medieval socio-political organisation in Central Europe and to reassess existing interpretative paradigms.

The objective of the planned research project is to determine the character of Stone Age hunter-gatherer settlements in the Middle Kraków-Częstochowa Upland region. The study will involve technological and typological analyses of lithic artefacts, utilizing both collections from previous research and those gathered during this project.
A crucial component of the project will be field surveys and excavations, during which the implementation of flotation and wet-sieving techniques will facilitate the recovery of botanical and faunal remains that have previously been lacking. These materials are expected to provide significant environmental data. Of particular importance are samples of charcoal, which will be subjected to carbon dating, if to attempt to establish a chronological framework for the investigated area. If lack of carbon will be observed, OSL analyses of sediments will be provided instead of carbon dating.
Additional studies will include morphometric analyses, comparative studies and geomorphological research. A comprehensive terrain analysis will be performed to assess its influence on the mobility patterns of the hunter-gatherers in the region. Another important aspect of the project will be raw material studies, as the area in question is rich in siliceous rock outcrops. A key issue to be addressed is the extraction and use of Jurassic type G flint, which, although typically associated with Eneolithic communities, may have been exploited locally by other cultural groups during the Stone Age.
The findings of the project will enable the verification of several hypotheses, including the continuity of the end of Early and Middle Stone Age occupation in the middle part of  the Polish Jura, the cultural affiliations of the region’s inhabitants during this period and the acquisition of precise chronological data for settlement activity in the study area.

The first privately printed Arabic newspapers and journals in Palestine were established during the Second Ottoman Constitutional Era. In the years following the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, a large number of periodicals were founded. Arabic newspapers and journals constitute an exceptionally rich yet underresearched source for the study of this crucial period. The aim of the dissertation is to examine selected topics discussed in the periodical press of late Ottoman Palestine. 

Polish-Slovak research at the Egyptian site of Tell el-Retaba has discovered several components of the 19th and 20th Dynasties' defensive capabilities since 2007. The research should focus on placing them in the context of defence capabilities explored in the north-eastern Nile Delta and northern Sinai and verify hypotheses related to the strategic importance of drinking water sources and their control in desert, semi-desert, and saline sea and lake water environments. It should also verify the methods of controlling drinking water sources by military garrisons, compare the construction of fortresses, their ramparts and moats, as well as defensive and logistical usage, based on archaeological, written and iconographic sources. 

Some roots of ancient Egyptian religious ideas might be found in the territory of today's Sahara in the 6th millennium BC. Climatic changes and migrations of the following millennia contributed to the emergence of a unique mosaic of ancient Egyptian society, professing a wide range of divine beings and cosmogonic myths. These beings and myths were also reflected in the formation of royal ideology, mythology and the state. Despite millennia of development of Egyptian society and the state, religious ideas remained decentralized and the pharaoh, as the high priest of all the gods of Egypt, delegated his powers to the priests of local and regional cults. The research should focus on the above mentioned elements of religious and social development and their influence on the eventual creation of a canon in ancient Egyptian religion. 

The aim of this project is to collect, analyze, and evaluate original written, pictorial, and 3D source material from the period 1843–1945 with the theme of ancient Egypt, mainly from Slovak authors who lived during that period in what is now Slovakia, in the former Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. This source material containing information relating in any way to ancient Egypt or its study may concern history, art, architecture, correspondence, travel, collections, education, etc., and has been publicly published/made available/exhibited (magazines, newspapers, letters, literature, postcards, exhibitions), or came from personal archives/collections/property. Such material and its evaluation should document the existence, diversity, and extent of individual and social interest in this ancient civilization in Slovak culture in the territory of present-day Slovakia during the historical period in question. 

Reports concerning indigenous populations that reached Europe from the regions of Oceania during the 18th and 19th centuries helped to establish the intellectual and ideological foundations for the development of colonial policies, as well as for commercial and missionary enterprises. The aim of the thesis is to analyse selected cultural phenomena as documented in contemporary written sources, with particular emphasis on the cultures of pre-Christian indigenous communities of Oceania and their influence on the commercial, missionary, and colonial policies pursued by European imperial powers.