National Projects
Researchers from the Faculty of Arts often succeed with their applications for funding by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, the largest grant agency in Slovakia. Below, we list ongoing as well as finished projects.
2023–2027: NLS: Private aristocratic libraries of the 18th and 19th centuries in western and central Slovakia (assoc. prof. Lucia Lichnerová, Dept. of Library and Information Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-22-0130
The presented research project folows the librarianship research initiatives, which emphasize the social dimension of the history of book culture and the social impact of the history of libraries in the cultural, literary, and national history of Slovakia. The project has the ambition to comprehensively research private aristocratic libraries built in Slovakia during the 18th and 19th centuries, which have not yet been discovered and/or explored, with an emphasis on the territory of central and western Slovakia.The project's contribution lies in its focus on the period of the 18th and 19th centuries as a crucial stage of Slovak history, including the Slovak national revival. The emphasis is also put on a geographical area that has not yet been covered by systematic research. The uniqueness of the project lies in the interdisciplinary and complex research in cooperation with workers of academic/research and memory institutions from various scientific disciplines. The research will focus on the composition of private aristocratic libraries, which have either been preserved or dispersed into custodial memory institutions. It focuses on various research questions related to the construction, nature and composition, use, functions, social influences and operation of aristocratic libraries in the context of Slovakia and Slovaks' cultural, literary and social history. We will analyse the opinions of the nobility and aristocracy based on the reception of literature captured in library documents and examine the role of the nobility and aristocracy in the transmission of social and cultural changes during essential stages of social and cultural development in Slovak territory in the 18th and 19th centuries.
2023 – 2027: INCLUS: Inclusive stylistics (prof. Juraj Dolník, Dept. of Slovak Language and Theory of Communication)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-22-0275
The research project is aimed at processing an empirically grounded theory of inclusive stylistics, understood as a component of the theory of interactional stylistics, which, by means of a set of corresponding concepts, depicts the stylistic aspect of linguistic interaction in terms of the question of which stylistic behaviours and actions of interactants are consistent with inclusive communication. The researchers directly build on the results of their own research within the project Social Inclusion through the Cultivation of Language Use and the monograph Interactional Stylistics and focus on the following activities: specification of the concepts of inclusive communication and inclusive comprehensibility in terms of interactional stylistics, clarification of the stylistic potential of mediatization with respect to inclusive comprehensibility, description and explanation of anti-inclusive factors with consideration of the stylistic aspect, elaboration of the concept of inclusive stylistic competence. The research is directed towards systematizing the concepts for developing a theory of inclusive stylistics and drawing conclusions for possible applications of this theory in formal and informal educational practice, with an explanation of the importance of interactional stylistics for the communicative cultivation of members of a society that follows the ideology of social inclusion. The project is a response to the societal demand in the field of cultivation of social relations, guided by the idea of an inclusive society and implemented by the promotion of this ideology in social life. Inclusive stylistics is understood as one of the tools to promote the "inclusive movement" in our society.
2023–2027: ARTSLOVNAZROPA: History of Art in the Slovak State and Nazi Europe. Institutions and reception between centre and periphery (dr. Miloslav Szabó, Dept. of German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Studies)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-22-0301
The present project examines the history of art in the period of the Slovak state in the context of the cultural policy of Nazi Germany. In contrast to earlier studies, which examined the subject within the narrow framework of its own discipline, the project is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and offers for the first time a synthetic view of the field, taking inspiration from recent research on the institutionalization of European cultural policy under Nazi Germany. Adhering to theories of centre and periphery, the project examines the cultural interactions between Nazi Germany and its “model” Slovak satellite, or the German minority in Slovakia. It is based on the hypothesis that these relations and interactions were not linear in the sense of propagandistic indoctrination of the periphery by the centre, but were rather analogous to the “semiosphere” (Juri Lotman), where the centre simultaneously receives stimuli from the periphery and canonizes them. The periphery, on the other hand, seeks the favour of the centre. From this perspective, the project examines cultural interactions in the fields of literature, intellectual history, film and the visual arts, or their institutionalisation in the areas of state coordination of art, the formation of cultural-political networks, education and university education, not least through the mediating functions of the semi-sphere of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In addition to the interactions between the centre and the periphery, the project emphasises the moment of reception of art, the so-called horizon of expectations, and thus shed new light on the different reactions of the individual actors, ranging from active collaboration or at least affirmation to criticism or even subversion. The main output of the project will be a collective monograph in English, which will place the issue in the European context and in which the knowledge of the research team will be complemented by external experts.
2023–2027: NATCON: Naturalism and constructivism as competing or complementary programs (prof. Michal Chabada a kol., Dept. of Philosophy and the History of Philosophy)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-22-0397
Naturalism and constructivism are the most discussed currents of thought in contemporary philosophy. In previous decades, they have become the dominant approaches to philosophy, as well as within most philosophical disciplines. The adoption of a naturalistic or constructivist approach in philosophy brings several serious consequences, to which the project has the ambition to respond. Research will be focused on defining the core of naturalism and constructivism, accurate and systematic distinction of their main types, identifying and evaluating their boundaries and conflicts in a wide range of philosophical topics. Part of the project will be taking into account the relevant results of special sciences, as well as providing a new historical-philosophical perspective on naturalism and constructivism by means of analyzes of their historical sources and the most significant criticisms. The main importance of the project will be to determine the possibilities and limits of naturalism and constructivism as metaphilosophical programs, and especially to examine their possible compatibility within a broader theoretical perspective.
2022–2026: PRIVMILIEU: Private Military and Security Companies and the dynamics of change in the European Union's security policy (prof. Jozef Bátora, Dept. of Political Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-21-0404
This project analyzes the role of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in the European Union (EU). It seeks to answer the following research question: "What is the role of PMSCs in the EU’s security policy?" The project offers several original contributions and scholarly innovations. First, it maps the nature, roles and functions of the private military and security industry in the EU. Such an empirical mapping is currently missing. Second, the project conceptualizes the PMSCs as an organizational phenomenon – an approach that - despite of its analytical potential – has not been extensively applied in the analyses of the PMSCs thus far (but see Kinsey 2005, Baum and McGahan 2013). In the proposed project, the research team will apply organization theory and the associated methodological toolbox to develop an innovative analytical approach that conceptualizes PMSCs as interstitial organizations – organizations tapping into resources, rules, norms and practices from multiple institutional domains and recombining these into innovative patterns (Batora 2013, 2021, Korff et al. 2015). With this approach, the project team offers significant added value well beyond the state-of-the-art in the literature including innovative insights on the nature of the PMSCs in the EU as well as on the nature of change brought about by the rise of interstitial organizational forms. Third, the project team will study the roles and functions of PMSCs in the security and defense policy of the EU and its member states. The proposed project will focus on regulatory challenges related to the interstitial nature of the PMSCs as well as on coordination challenges related to differences in regulatory frameworks and practices in EU member states. Such an analysis is currently not available in the political science and international relations literature.
2022–2026: CONDITIO: Semantics of Conditionals (prof. Frantšiek Gahér, Dept. of Logic and the Methodology of Sciences)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-21-0405
The project pursues two crucial research objectives: 1. To test the main theories of indicative and subjunctive conditionals using an enriched and diversified database of instances of conditionals and inferences from different domains of science and philosophy in order to attain a more complex assessment of those theories; and 2. To propose an adequate and consistent semantic theory of conditional imperatives that will distinguish between the propositional nature of their antecedents and the conative nature of their consequents and that will allow for their use in practical inferences. The proposed project is expected to arrive at robust evidence pertaining to areas such as law, ethics, science, philosophy of science, philosophy and aesthetics which would enable a more comprehensive evaluation of the theories of conditionals based on their predictive (hypothetico-deductive model) and explanatory (abductive model) power. The project’s goal is also to propose a hybrid theory of conditional imperatives that relies on an expressively rich logico-semantic theory: Transparent intensional logic. The project’s main hypothesis is the claim that testing the pre-selected theories by twelve types of data coming from different domains will help evaluate the theories in a more complex and comprehensive manner than using standard counterexamples or traditional arguments in their favor. Thus, the project enhances the current state of the art of the semantics of indicative, subjunctive and normative conditionals.
2022–2026: REDEMP: Resisting Democratic Backsliding: Slovakia's Preparedness for Defense Against Attacks on Democracy (dr. Samuel Spáč, Dept. of Political Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-21-0484
Democracy has recently faced numerous challenges all around the world. Some sort of democratic backsliding has taken place in long-established democracies as well as in new democracies, both in the EU, and elsewhere across the globe. In the EU, democratic backsliding has mainly affected Hungary and Poland, both Slovakia’s neighbors and both sharing considerable portion of their historical trajectory with Slovakia. Slovakia is not an exemplary student of democracy and democratic consolidation, yet it does not generally occur in the literature concerned with democratic backsliding in the region. This is certainly puzzling. As of now, we seem to know quite a lot about democratic backsliding, who are its drivers, what factors are conducive to it, perhaps even about the sequence of steps and their consequences for the quality of democracy. Yet, we know very little about what can be done about it and how, and under what circumstances, can actors of vertical (public), diagonal (political parties, media, civil society), and horizontal (judiciary and bureaucratic institutions) accountability exercise their resistance to the executives’ backsliding efforts and on what is their success dependent. The main objectives of REDEMP are: a) to assess Slovakia’s preparedness to face systematic democratic backsliding efforts, b) with the use of the Slovak case to better understand the role of context and historical experience with authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes in democratic backsliding observable in Central European region, and c) to contribute to a theory of democratic resistance and resilience to democratic backsliding. This will be done using a proposed novel model which perceives stability of democracy as a consequence of an interplay between elected politicians’ capacity and willingness to threaten democracy and the ability of actors of horizontal, diagonal and vertical accountability to remain resilient and exercise resistance against such attempts.
2021–2024: GREENREC: EU Green Recovery in the post-Covid-19 Period (doc. Matúš Mišík, Department of Political Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-20-0012
The beginning of 2020 was marked by spread of Covid-19, a new virus with at that time unknown properties, mortality, and long-term health consequences. Measures employed to slow spread of the virus seemed to have a positive effect on the fight against the pandemic, however, there have been also economic and social consequences as these measures impacted economic activities. The Covid-19 pandemic has thus had negative impact not only on population’s health, but also on virtually all aspects of society and economy. Energy sector has been influenced in two main ways. First, it was impacted similarly to other sectors of economy – by slowing down the economic activities, there was less requirement for many products including energy sources (and fuels). Second, the pandemic influenced long-term energy transition that was at the time of its outbreak on the way in several world regions, including the European Union. The EU has developed a set of tools to fight the economic and social consequences of the pandemic (the Next Generation EU fund and adjusted multiannual financial framework 2021-2027). To support its green priorities, the Union assigned 30% of these recovery funds to programmes that will contribute to its 2050 goal of climate neutrality. The main objective of the proposed research is to examine challenges connected to green post -pandemic recovery from several perspectives (European, regional, national) and in several areas (political, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic in energy sector including coal phase out, the role of nuclear and renewables, etc.) described in individual working packages. The project team comprising of 17 members coming from five research institutions (including three faculties from the Comenius University) will study these issues via interdisciplinary lens thus contributing to our understanding of post-pandemic recovery and providing policy recommendation to the decision-makers.
2021–2024: SPAS: Social Processes in Autism and Schizophrenia (doc. Michal Hajdúk, Department of Psychology)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-20-0185
The SPAS research project focuses on the study of social processes (affiliation, communication, and social cognition) and their dysfunction in autism and schizophrenia. The project is based on of Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and has a strong interdisciplinary character, connecting and using research tools of clinical psychology, psychiatry, molecular biology, and neurophysiology. The aim is to identify the psychological and biological mechanisms responsible for sociability dysfunctions in autism and schizophrenia through a series of research studies and experiments. We will collect data using self-report measures, assessment of behavior in social situations, eye-tracking, experience sampling, physiological indicators of sympathetic activity (heart rate and skin conductance) and analysis of salivary hormones (testosterone, oxytocin, cortisol, and estradiol). The innovativeness of the project lies in the combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal monitoring, as well as in the parallel collection of data in humans and laboratory animals. The planned animal models are analogous to studies on humans and these studies will make possible to evaluate causal relationships in neuroendocrine regulation of social behavior. The project will bring original results revealing, through innovative approaches, common and unique mechanisms of social dysfunction in disorders with a different phenotypes, but probably by shared etiopathogenesis. The project can thus also contribute to the identification of possible new therapeutic targets
2021–2025: Educational pathways of young people - factors and mechanisms of their choice (prof. Ján Sopóci, Department of Sociology)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-20-0449
Project focuses on educational pathways of primary and secondary schools students and formation of educational inequalities, with the aim to examine factors and mechanisms of students’ choices of different paths within the educational system. Relying on socio-psychological model of educational inequalities, theories of social and cultural capital, as well as relative risk aversion theory, the research team will pay attention to several factors, including family’s socio-economic status and its socio-cultural resources, parenting styles, judgements of costs and benefits related to choice of educational pathway, activities of teachers, impact of a broader circle of relatives and peers. Further, attention will be also paid to the role of the educational system in Slovakia and changes in perception of value and function of education among the general public. In order to test the roles of the factors and examine mechanisms of their operation, two representative empirical surveys are planned. The first survey will focus on primary schools pupils and their parents, the second one on secondary students and their parents at the moments of choices of further educational paths. The quantitative empirical surveys will be supplemented by series of qualitative studies, which are expected to provide more details about the factors, their interactions and related mechanisms.
2021–2025: RSVEMH: Roles of Slovak vernacular in early modern Hungary (prof. Martin Homza, Department of Slovak History)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-20-0598
A project of basic historical research, focusing on social and cultural contexts in which different varieties of Slovak vernacular were used in the early modern period. The research respects the specifics of individual regions and social environments but, at the same time, it aims at providing a broader picture of the usage of Slovak vernacular in the supra-regional context, Thus we will be able to formulate more general conclusions about the trends in the use of the Slovak language in early modern Hungarian society. The research will focus on source material in state, and church archives both in modern Slovakia, and also in archival institutions in the neighboring countries (Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Romania), respecting the early modern contexts and interconnectedness within Hungarian kingdom, and Habsburg Monarchy. The research is understood primarily from historical perspective, posessing at the same time a multi-genre character of researched material (wills, oaths, sermons, occasional literature, legal and administrative texts, correspondence). An important aspect of the project is represented by use of current technological trends from the sphere of digital humanities. The researched sources will be made available both as digitized documents as well as in the form of digital editions to general public online.
2020–2023: INLOGOB: Innovations in Local Government Budgeting in Slovakia (doc. Daniel Klimovský, Department of Political Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-19-0108
Budgeting of local governments is a field which attracted huge attention recently. This fact is linked not only to decentralization trends (e.g. implementation of various tools of fiscal decentralization), but also to recent experience with impacts of global financial crisis that was a serious challenge for both central governments and local governments at municipal as well as regional level. However, local budgets cannot be understood as purely economic tools. On contrary, they are also programs that show values and priorities of relevant local governments. On this matter it is no surprise that in this field one can identify various innovations of both economic and broader socio-political nature. Our research intention is associated with three clear innovations that has affected budgeting of local governments in all economically developed countries, namely performance budgeting, gender (sensitive) budgeting, and participatory budgeting. Although reasons of their implementation as well as their economic-political nature are different, each of them aims to improve budgeting processes, and they should bring some certain positive effects in the field of public service delivery. Unfortunately, no comprehensive analysis aimed at these innovations as well as their impacts has been done in Slovakia. Therefore, our main research objective is to fill in this research gap. On one hand, we want to find out how much they are being used, on the other hand, we want to analyse models of their use, drivers and barriers of their implementation, as well as both intended and unintended outcomes. For this purposes interdisciplinary research team will use research tools of desk research and also field research. The research team expects to bring no only new knowledge in regard to use of these budgeting innovations in practice of the local governments, but it has also an ambition to contribute significantly to present international scientific discourse in this field.
2020–2024: ERRKORP19: Language Errors in Slovak as a Foreign Language Based on Learner Corpus (doc. Jana Pekarovičová, Studia Academica Slovaca)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-19-0155
Research into and the teaching of Slovak as a foreign language (SFL) are among the priorities of Slovak applied linguistics. Their topical character in new social and economic conditions is confirmed by the integration of foreigners in Slovakia. Methodological processes in SFL teaching must be, therefore, up to date with the latest scientific approaches, including corpus-based and computational linguistics, which have made research in different linguistic disciplines more efficient over the last decades. The objective of the presented project is to describe the language error types observed in process of the learning of SFL and to explore the correlations between types of language errors and various factors influencing the learning of SFL, upon the basis of the corpus of the written texts of the non-native speakers. The theoretical background of our understanding of the language errors is based on the theory of interlanguage, according to which language errors represent some natural part of foreign language learning. Particularly the research of language errors and interlanguage will enable the complex view both on the process and methodology of the learning of SFL and it will improve the preparation of the teachers of SFL. The acquisition corpus is being created by Studia Academica Slovaca – a centre for SFL at the Faculty of Arts of CU and the Department of Slovak National Corpus at Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Except for SAS centre, since 2017, there has been included the lectorates of Slovak language abroad, which are run by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. In the research itself, there take part also the professionals from the leading Slovak studies institutions: the Institute of Slovak and media studies at the Faculty of Arts at PU in Prešov and the Department of Slovak language and communication of the Faculty of Arts at UMB in Banská Bystrica.
2019–2023: MAN: Paradigmatic changes in the understanding of Universe and Man from philosophical, theological, and physical perspectives (prof. Zlatica Plašienková et al., Department of Philosophy and the History of Philosophy)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-18-0103
Understanding of the Universe and Man, which we encounter in the current science, is characterized by high degree of detail, disciplinary partiality and fragmentation resulting from narrow specialization of natural sciences and humanities. The presented project aims to provide a comprehensive view of evolution of the Universe and Man within it in the context of interdisciplinary overlaps of philosophical, theological, and physical perspectives. Solution of the main research objective will be based on the definition of paradigmatic changes in the evolutionary process and the position of the human being within it that can be identified within the structure "from… to…" as following: from Cosmogony to Cosmology; from Point to Spacetime; from Biological to Cultural; from Human to Transhuman; from Offline Being to Online Being; from God Creator to “Playing God”. Investigation into these paradigmatic changes will result in the synthesis of knowledge that will prove whether each level of evolution is based by previous one. Nevertheless, it had not been determined absolutely since each new level of evolution has got some degree of autonomy and creativity.
2019–2023: SILU: Social inclusion through the cultivation of language use (prof. Juraj Dolník et al., Department of Slovak Language)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-18-0176
The project is directly connected with the document of the government of the Slovak Republic entitled “Through knowledge towards prosperity – Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation of the Slovak Republic“ from the year 2013, which originated in connection with the international documents devoted to social development. The project has been designed with the intention to innovatively contribute to carrying out this strategy. Its aim is to work out an empirically grounded and theoretically reasoned model of communicative cultivation of the society in which the strategy of inclusion, integration and strengthening of cohesion is fostered. The model will be created on the basis of the analysis of the Slovak socio-cultural reality, but the possibility of its application also in other socio-cultural environments is also presupposed. The idea of the model has arisen from the conviction that the cultivation of communication in the society constitutes an important means of social inclusion, as well as of the formation of inclusive society. At the core of constructing the model is the idea that the basis of communicative culture is an optimally transparent language by which the individuals get adapted to the changeability of their social life. The degree of the transparency depends on the degree of the development of the interpretation competence of the actors of communication, hence, supporting the development of this competency means the fundamental precondition of the cultivation of the society. The model is to represent a knowledge-based support and guidance within processing educational programmes, methodologies and teaching materials directed at supporting the inclusive linguistic activities. However, it is also to be a source of knowledge and stimuli for the educational elite within supporting the optimization of inclusive society, as well as contribution to specialized discourse about the cultivation of language usage as means of inclusion.
2019–2023: NAUPHIP: Naturalism as Universal Philosophical Program (prof. Michal Chabada et al., Department of Philosophy and the History of Philosophy
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-18-0178
Naturalism is one of the most discussed topics in contemporary philosophy. In the recent decades, it has become a dominant approach to philosophy as well as to most philosophical disciplines (epistemology, ethics, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of mind, social philosophy, and philosophy of science). Adoption of a naturalistic approach in philosophy amounts to several serious implications to which responds this research project. The research will focus on the general definition of the core of naturalization, the precise and systematic distinction of its main types, the identification and evaluation of the benefits and boundaries of the naturalization of a wide range of philosophical issues. The project will take into account the relevant results of special sciences and it also will provide a new historical perspective on naturalization in philospohy by analyzing various historical concepctions as well as their most important criticisms.
2019–2023: DHTCE: Database of historical terminology to the history of Central Europe (doc. Martin Hurbanič et al., Department of General History)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-18-0333
The project consists of two main goals which are intertwined in their solutions and concurrently complement each other. The first goal resides in creating and an open access accessibility of the basic body of entries to the “Database of historical terminology to the history of Central Europe” which will explain the most instrumental phenomena of the Central Europe’s development, including Slovakia, from the late ancient times to the end of 20th century. This explanation will be based on multidisciplinary attitudes. A freely accessible database will attempt to provide a wide range of users from the academia, through teachers, to public services’ employees and mass media, with a comfort access to scholarly knowledge and information on instrumental characteristics of our region’s historical development.
At the very compilation of the group of entries, a particular emphasis will be put on such our region’s historical development phenomena which appear to be crucial from the current perspective. Among others, undoubtedly questions of both collective and individual identities emerge. These have been formed and changed under the influence of a multitude of features, such as migration, changes of both form and structure of power, social and religious changes, in which is the Central Europe’s history particularly rich. Heretofore a rather omitted interdisciplinary research on this extraordinarily complex phenomenon that has basically impacted all of the social history’s fields, as well as the history of ideas, constitutes the second main goal of our project. The expected research outcomes we plan to achieve through engaging of political scientists, sociologists, ethnologists, linguists, to name a few from our faculty, will emerge as both extensively innovative and
instrumental that we will not only put them on to the database’s entries or a planned handbook but to a number of scholarly papers and a comprehensive monograph.
2018–2022: ARENA: Analysis, Reconstruction, and Evaluation of Arguments (prof. František Gahér et al., Department of Logic and the Methodology of Sciences)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development agency, APVV-17-0057
The project focuses on the analysis, reconstruction and evaluation of arguments, of both deductive and nondeductive form, whose evaluation (as valid, plausible, defeasible, probabilistically valid, etc.) is inconclusive either a) within a given communication context; or b) with respect to different theoretical frameworks of argument reconstruction and evaluation. The project presupposes a specific definition of argument as an inferential relation between a set of premises and a conclusion such that it may be used to attain some methodological aim. The object of our reconstruction and evaluation will be arguments which i) pertain to expert public discourse (e.g., law, ethics, sociology, economics, political science, environmental sciences, etc.); and are either ii) evaluated inconclusively within a given expert discourse; or iii) evaluated non-equivalently when reconstructed in different theoretical frameworks (including deductive and inductive logics, argumentation theory, or formal epistemology). Our basic hypothesis is as follows: “There is a (minimal) classification system for the identification, reconstruction, and evaluation of arguments which provides a set of parameters that are sufficient for the conclusive selection of and preference for an argument from among a tuple (n-tuple) of competing arguments (reconstructions). In cases where no such selection and preference is possible, the classification system provides a testable account of why none of the arguments can be preferred.” The project takes up a hotly debated issue of competing arguments (and their reconstructions) and their analysis from the point of view of logic, argumentation theory and formal epistemology.
2018–2022: JAKOPROS: Language and Communication Problems in Slovakia and Their Management (prof. István Lanstyák et al., Department of Hungarian Language and Literature)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development agency, APVV-17-0254
The project aims at disclosing various types of language problems as well as concomitant communication problems which speech communities in Slovakia face, with a special regard to the Slovak community as the majority community, then to the Hungarian and the Roma communities, which are minority communities with a substantial number of speakers, finally the community of the Carpathian Germans as a small community. Within the Slovak community the problems which the researchers intend to deal with include the problems of the use of standard Slovak and Slovak dialects, language problems related to teaching Slovak in the minority communities. As to the minority communities the project intends to investigate various kinds of language and communication problems in these communities as well as to propose ways of their management. The proposed project also includes theoretical and methodological questions concerning the investigation and management of language problems and their ideological determinants, building mainly on the Language Management Theory and other theories of problem management.
2018–2022: PSYSOMSTRESS: Identification of psychological and somatic markers in relation to vulnerability to stress and analysis of the effectiveness of psychological interventions
(doc. Igor Brezina et al., Department of Psychology)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development agency, APVV-17-0451
The project is aimed to establish the most comprehensive model of stress vulnerability based on a broad analysis of all relevant psychological along with somatic stress indicators and to identify maladaptive stress reactivity that is manifested by alostatic overload in the form of hyper-reactivity or hypo-reactivity to stress stimuli. On of the goal is to reveal optimal assessment of the cumulative risk of alostatic overload by evaluating biomarkers (cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, metabolic, inflammatory) and psychological parameters (emotional, personal, cognitive). Research is oriented toward subjects with increased stress vulnerability, both in the healthy population and in risk somatic states, with perspective of deep understanding of individual processes in the context of a changed stress response. The focus of the project is given on complexity and integration of knowledge to establish a stress-vulnerability model. The original benefit of the project is the creation of a precise group stress task, examination of sleep quality through ECG monitoring, or the development of new methods of hormone analysis in hair and saliva for detection a chronic stress. Besides the interdisciplinary approach to this
2018–2022: IMCODED: Improving Communication on Democracy and EU Deficits (dr. Pavol Baboš et al., Department of Political Science)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development agency, APVV-17-464
Slovakia is facing a considerable challenge in a form of constant undermining of country’s geopolitical orientation and the political regime’s values and democratic principles. This phenomenon is present also in neighboring countries, with an increase in populism based on the criticism democracy and the EU. Based on the Euroscepticism research the project’s ambition is to create a targeted communication campaign by employing innovative, customized approaches to individual types of citizens. This approach stems from the evidence-based policy-making philosophy. To reach the main goal, we will first identify the sources and mechanisms of the formation of negative attitudes towards democratic political system (anti-system attitudes) and the EU. The project will apply the data collection method that is rather unique in this area of research, including in the broader Central European area: longitudinal representative public opinion research, with additional focus groups and experimental methods. This way the IMCODED project aims to fulfil the following partial goals: 1) to analyze the sources of anti-democratic and anti-European attitudes, 2) to identify factors that contribute to changing these attitudes over time in both directions (positive or negative), and 3) to identify communication channels and forms through which the values of democracy and the European Union are most effectively communicated. Panel data allows us to capture the change of attitudes over time, which will contribute to a very specific data with added value. Thus, the project will bring a customized communication campaign with focus on specific target groups. The project findings should also increase the efficiency of already used or planned communication strategies. The outputs will enhance the focus on communication in the area of democratic governance and foreign policy, but also contribute to combating the political extremism.
2018–2022: AGROMAYA: In the Realm of Maize God. Breaking Research in the Field of Pre-Columbian Maya Agriculture (prof. Milan Kováč et al., Department of Comparative Religion)
Donor: Slovak Research and Development agency, APVV-17-0648
The research team whose core works at the Centre for Mesoamerican Studies (CMS) at Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Arts, has decided to join forces in solving oen of the greatest mysteris of contemporary Mayan studies: the nature of pre-Colombian Mayan agriculture and its environmental sustainability. The current state of knowledge in this area is alarmingly low, despite the important cultural and historical connotations generated by the topic. The CMS has at its disposal data from an extensive radar scanning (LiDAR) of the rainforest, which are groundbreaking and completely novel. However, the data require extensive processing, fieldwork (excavation as well as anthropological research), scientific analyses, and a rigorous interpretation. The latter should merge hypotheses from LiDAR with the verification provided by fieldwork. The excavations will serve to verify and correct predictions and statistics that, using Geographuc Information Systems (GIS), will lead to final data. These data will be linked with anthropological data emerging from fieldwork. The resulting theses will be compared with the historical context provided by epigraphy and iconography. We aim at a qualified interpretation of the primary LiDAR data. "Hard data" will be systematically related to "soft data" to generate a new level of information. Due to its extent and nature, this will necessarily lead to a rethinking and redefining of one of the most advanced ancient civilizations – at a point where there is a tremendous gap in research in the worldwide context.
2017–2020: PODATA: Politics of Personal Data: Transparency, Accountability and Legitimacy in Digital Era
Project Director: Doc. Erik Láštic, PhD., Department of Political Science
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-16-0389)
In an age of increased speed of turnover of information between a variety of actors and institutions within the society and economy, personal data has become a valuable commodity. Drawing from theoretical concept of surveillance societies, to which attention to personal data is endemic, the project explores ways how personal data is collected in order to influence, manage, entitle or control people. Through series of in-depth case studies that use mixed method research design, the PODATA project analyzes how, by whom and for what purposes are the surveillance mechanisms introduced, implemented and communicated (transparency); identifies and evaluates available instruments available for their control and oversight (accountability) and investigates to what extent they are recognized and accepted by the people (legitimacy). Based on this, the project aims to develop a better understanding of constraining and enabling effects of surveillance and to contribute to theoretical debates on the watchers and the watched in post-communist countries. At the same time, the project will provide practical insights useful in the formulation of public policies and awareness campaigns.
2017–2021: PamMap: Comprehensive memory portal and historic towns atlas of Slovakia (Bratislava a Košice)
Project Director: doc. Juraj Šedivý, PhD., Department of Archiving and Auxiliary Sciences in history
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-16-0383
The aim of this interdisciplinary team of historians, archaeologists, monument preservationists, and human geographers is the creation of a new platform for urban history – an online accessible and multilingual COMPREHENSIVE MEMORY PORTAL on town history (in first phase dealing with Bratislava and Košice). This applied digital output innovatively connects three approaches: (1) cartography, (2) encyclopaedia, and (3) database (a test version has already been created by the principal investigator: www.PamMap.sk). However, without the support of APVV funding it cannot be technically completed and filled with a supercritical amount of sources (in 2021 we guarantee GIS-located digital items with metadata for 100.000 memory units!) Two research sub-teams will work also on creating classical HISTORICAL ATLASES of Bratislava and Košice. These are among the principal outputs of European urban historiography (e.g. Germany nearly 300 such atlases, Austria nearly 100, there are such atlases in all of Slovakia’s neighbouring countries). Despite its traditions, Slovak urban historiography has become a “lonely island”. But we can make up for lost time by using digitization and a unique innovative approach – we will incorporate the results of historical topography into the form of classical atlases (in a modern digitized form in Slovak/English/German), and create a comprehensive memory portal (CMP) and significantly fill it with content. This joint objective will require 2 research teams (in Bratislava and in Košice); each team will create the materials for an online accessible historical town atlas with maps and 3D visualizations, which have been prepared by a joint technical team, who will also add this material to the PamMap application. In addition to the PORTAL with incorporated historical ATLASES, the project outputs will include a methodological handbook, several monographs (on historical topography), and scientific studies published both domestically and abroad.
2017–2021: SUHKPHU: Slovacikal documents from the former Hungarian kingdom : the example of the Upper Hungary(1500 - 1780)
Project Director: Prof. Martin Homza,PhD., Department of Slovak History
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-16-0374)
A unique research project aimed at written Slovacikal documents located in archival institutions in Slovakia and both in Budapest, centre of the former Hungarian Kingdom, and Vienna, centre of the Habsburg Monarchy. The research is intertwined with publishing of the analysed written sources both in the form of academic editions and unified electronic database available to general public on the Internet. It continues a similar older project that concentrated on the analysis of the linguistically Slovak documents from the 15th century. However, that initiative ended in 1960s and was carried out mainly on the basis of towns in the western parts of modern Slovakia. Main emphasis of current research is put on the written sources of the ensuing period, i.e. Early Modern Period (according to the traditional Hungarian chronology), starting with the 16th century. Geographically, the emphasis will be placed on the historical area of Upper Hungary that is understood in its early modern administrative meaning, i.e. comprising mostly the eastern part of modern Slovakia. The region provides a very good field for a research of this type - especially thanks to its heterogeneity (ethnical, confessional, rich urban traditions). The project is conceived as a comprehensive scientific undertaking on interdisciplinary basis (historical, archival, linguistic, literary) that does not exclude any genre of written sources from its scope (e.g. testaments, oaths, sermons, legal and administrative texts, correspondence, occasional literature). It represents a valuable opportunity to deepen our knowledge of spiritual, cultural, legal as well as everyday aspects of our ancestors' lives. Thanks to modern technology, the findings will be accessible on the Internet to anyone interested in the topic.
2017-2021: ENERGIES: Priorities of the Central and Eastern European Countries in the Context of the Energy Union
Project Director: Mgr. Matúš Mišík, PhD., Department of Political Science
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-16-0062)
Project ENERGIES (Energy Priorities) studies positions of Central and Eastern European EU member states toward the Energy Union proposal, the European Commission's project aiming to unite currently fragmented EU energy policy. Member countries have a key position when it comes to further development of energy policy at the EU level as they decide about support of individual proposals presented within the Energy Union. The main research question studies the determinants of member states´ support of the Energy Union. ENERGIES project has three main aims: a) to analyse the development of integration in energy policy area at the EU level in connection to Energy Union proposal; b) to examine positions of Central and Eastern European countries in this area and c) to study the sources of these countries’ preferences (support or opposition) towards Energy Union.
The project will analyse issues connected to the Energy Union that are crucial for the Central and Eastern European countries. In order to fulfil the objectives of the project primary empirical research will be conducted. Semi-structured expert interviews will be conducted with representatives of member states at the domestic level as well as at the level of permanent representations in Brussels and with the representatives of EU institutions,
especially the European Commission, but also the Council of the EU and the European Parliament). The project will aim to publish its result in high-impact peer review international journals, but will also focus on policy-relevant outputs. The knowledge in energy policy area gained during the execution of the project will be used in the mid-term period as the EU faces several energy-related challenges connected to changes in supply of energy sources to the EU (termination of transit through Ukraine and Brotherhood pipeline, building of Nord Stream 2 and/or Turkish stream pipeline) as well as in connection with further development of renewable sources of energy and so-called smart grid.
2016 – 2020: EURECOR European Union´s Recognition Order and the Small Member States
Project Director: Prof. Jozef Bátora, PhD., Department of Political Science
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-15-0732)
The EU is a community sharing norms, values and rules facilitating cooperation across societies of the member states. As such the EU operates as a specific form of recognition order – a system of norms and expectations characterizing relations among member states, forming their identities and differentiating them from non-members. Yet, we know relatively little about what provides recognition, under what circumstances and how the EU member states gain recognition within the EU framework. The aim of the current project is to analyse the nature of the EU´s recognition order and establish its characteristics, especially with a view to analyse the role of small member states like Slovakia. We seek to figure out what, how and under what circumstances is likely to generate recognition to member states by fellow member states. We do this by empirically exploring two interconnected dimensions:
a) - public and media discourses on member states´ behaviour in relation to particular EU policies
b) - formation of “thought communities” sharing understandings of the EU as a political project in and across member state boundaries.
These two dimensions are explored using a combination of methods anchored in critical discourse analysis and relation class analysis. Based on this, we seek to develop a thicker understanding of the EU´s recognition order and thereby contribute to the development of theoretical debates on recognition processes and identity formation as well as on the character of the EU as a political entity. At the same time, the project will provide practical insights useful in the formulation of public diplomacy and branding strategies of Slovakia and other small EU member states.
2016 – 2019: NEUROPSY Standardization of neuropsychological battery NEUROPSY in Slovak population
Project Director: Prof. Anton Heretik, CSc., Department of Psychology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-15-0686)
Project NEUROPSY contributes to a development of neuropsychological diagnostics in Slovakia, where standardized and unified neuropsychological test battery is missing. Project creates and verifies the neuropsychological battery focused on diagnostics of wide range of cognitive function impairment, with specific emphasis on diagnostics of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Main contribution is the improved quality of diagnostic process and enabling early diagnostics of diseases with cognitive symptomatics, with the usability of results in interdisciplinary cooperation. Thanks to detailed mapping of cognitive profile it enables more specific intervention targeting and also identification of changes in cognitive functions, what makes it usable in further research projects. It provides also other specific outcomes for research and practice – publications and manuals with recommendations for diagnostic process in dementia, database of anonymous data for researchers to develop control tests and an electronic application of chosen tests.
2015–2019: Music in Bratislava
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Jana Bartová, Ph.D., Department of Musicology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project is focused on research of music and musical life in Bratislava from the Middle Ages until today. It is based on assumption, that Bratislava as a music-cultural centre occupied within the network of Central-European urban communities unique position, which had arisen from its specific geographical location, special social and political position and multi-ethnic and multi-religious population. The main objective of this project is to contribute to knowledge about the musical history of Bratislava through new information acquired by source research in those thematic areas which have not yet been sufficiently researched, and to provide a picture of the city’s musical past in an integral, systematically outlined and updated form in terms of knowledge and methodology.
2015–2019: Natura et cultura. The coevolution of mankind and nature between 6th and 2nd millennium BC in the area north of the middle Danube studied on the basis of archaeological and environmental sources
Project Director: Prof. Jozef Bátora, DrSc., Department of Archaeology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: Projects focuses on technological and environmental changes, which took place in the area of middle Danube from the transition to agriculture till the influence of Mediterranean urban civilizations on Early Bronze Age cultures. A key point of the project is the area of northern tributaries of middle Danube, which offers not only exceptional archaeological record but also many sites suitable for paleo-environmental research. Landscape of Central Europe is an outcome of long coevolution of nature and human activities. It is almost impossible to follow the evolution of environment and landscape without previous understanding of history of human activities. Events in the evolution of environment in Pleistocene and older Holocene are made of natural factors such as climatic oscillations, paedogenesis. During the Holocene, impact of human on landscape is more notable. An important part of the project is the realization of archaeological excavations and prospections on selected sites from the Neolithic till the Early Bronze Age. Special stress is placed on fortified settlements and their economical hinterland to see changes of settlement structure. An important part is the usage of non-destructive methods, such as aerial survey, prospection and geophysical measurements. Very important will be paleo-ecological research, which will bring another methods and opportunities to identify the impact of humans on landscape. The overall goal is to understand the complex changes which led to shaping of modern landscape.
2015–2019: Social Stratification and Social Mobility in Slovak Society
Project Director: Prof. Ján Sopóci, Ph.D., Department of Sociology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project analyses the recent development and current state of social stratification and mobility, as well as the context and consequences of social inequalities existing in Slovak society. This analysis is based on the findings of empirical research and on the latest theoretical knowledge and methodological approaches applied in the current sociology. The research team investigates more closely following topics and issues: the current state of social inequality and social stratification; the economic, social and cultural characteristics of the main social classes and status groups as essential components of stratification system; the life chances of members of the classes and status groups; intergenerational social mobility and mechanisms of mobility; opinions and action of individual members of social classes and status groups and their mutual relations; the most important social implications of social inequality, opinions of the population on social inequality, social cohesion and trust, social tensions and social anomie; the latest developments related to social stratification, mobility and social inequality in Slovakia in the context of development of these phenomena in neighbouring countries.
2015–2019: Science, Society, Values: A Philosophical Analysis of their Mutual Interconnectedness and Interactions
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Mariana Szapuová, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The research project builds on a number of current initiatives developed in contemporary philosophy of science that emphasize the social and value dimension of scientific knowledge as well as the issues related to the development of science and its social importance and impact. The project has the ambition to respond to a number of current issues, which can be identified in the mutual interactions between science and its social environment. The project consists in a multidimensional philosophical research on current dynamics of relations between scientific knowledge and its value-laden social context, social and ethical implications of certain areas of scientific investigation, in particular biomedicine and biotechnology, power techniques operating on science and in science, and the role of science in determining social values. This complex of interrelated issues are analysed in the research project with the help of epistemological, the social-philosophical as well as the ethical perspective.
2013–2017: Cognitive, personal and psychophysiological factors of the stress in the context of the relationship between anxiety and allergies and their optimalisation
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Igor Brezina, Ph.D., Department of Psychology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project solves actual extraordinary interdisciplinary issues. We plan to do analyses and confront psychological and psychophysiological factors of stress reaction in allergic and anxious individuals in relation to their similarities in the change of stress reactivity and particular parallels in cognitive processes, personality dispositions and emotional states. An important goal of the research is to describe biomarkers, which will reflect the intensity of psychoneuroendocrinological responses of allergic and highly anxious individuals induced stress situations. The project is designed in collaboration with the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology SAV and the Department of Electronics and Photonics FEI STU. More information about the project is published on the website: www.dlhodobymonitoring.sk
Preliminary results of the project have been made public in many forms of mass media (television, radio, newspapers).
2013–2017: The Slovak Language in the Context of Multilingual Communities in Slovakia
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Jozef Tancer, Ph.D., Department of German, Dutch and Scandinavian Studies
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: Communication needs connected with development of culture and knowledge and heterogeneity as a reflection of differentiation of the language society and communication, which is based on the coexistence of varieties of the national language as well as the existence of differentiated bilingualism/ multilingualism, are generally considered to be the basic sources of language dynamics. The interest of the project team is focused on the problem of language contacts as one of the significant sources of language dynamics- the dynamics of the Slovak language as a dominant language as well as the dynamics of other languages creating a language situation in Slovakia with some historical tradition. The goal of the project is to acquire a complex sociolinguistic picture about interference phenomena and structural changes as well as about motivations of change in the languages functioning in the range of mutual language contacts. Therefore the research will include these particular topics: problem of relationship between the Slovak and Czech languages; the question of minority languages in Slovakia and study of multi-language areas; the question of how the studied problems could be analysed using a range of language management theories for the later development of strategies aimed at their solution, and the role of language ideologies.
2013–2017: TransIus – From Conventions to NOrms of the Translation in the Legal Discourse
Project Director: Prof. Jana Rakšányiová, Ph.D., Department of German, Dutch and Scandinavian Studies
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project is directed at forming a previously absent complex theory of legal translation aimed at legal translation from and into less frequent languages with respect to Slovak as source and target language as well as translation in multilingual legal systems and the function of language in various legal systems. At the same time, it´s aimed at establishing a scientific team of experts from reputed translatology departments in the field of legal translation in European and global context. The team prepares the bibliography of book and electronic sources of legal translation in European and relevant language technology, applicable in the process of legal translation, subsequently analyzing some selected translatological aspects of legal translation such as application of language technology in language translation, stabilizing standards and conventions, professionalization of legal translation, interpretation and translation of legal terminology without equivalents and legal terminology in specific contexts. The above indicates an interdisciplinary character of research combining knowledge from the field of legal linguistics, theory of legal translation and ethical and pragmatic aspects of legal translation process which offers concrete stimuli for making the work of experts in teaching translation and translators more effective and professional.
2013–2017: Analytical Methods in Social Sciences and Humanities
Project Director: Prof. Marián Zouhar, Ph.D., Department of Logic and the Methodology of Sciences
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: Many scientists and philosophers of science take for granted the thesis that there is a vast difference between the natural sciences on the one hand, and the social sciences and humanities (SSHs) on the other. Sometimes it is even claimed that SSHs are not sciences proper, as their subject-matter, methods and procedures are not as strictly defined as those of the natural-scientific disciplines. The project shall test the thesis that SSHs are in some respects just as scientific as the natural sciences, because they use the same or very similar analytical (conceptual) methods. The objective is to find out whether the manner, the extent and the form of application of analytical methods in SSHs are similar to the manner, extent and form of their application in the natural-scientific disciplines.
2013–2017: Historical Atlas of the population of Slovakia (18th – 1st half of 20th century)
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Pavol Tišliar, Ph.D., Department of Ethnology and Museology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: Project aims to dispose repository work focused on special structures of population and particular issues of population development of Slovakia in the period of 18th until first half of 20th century. This work includes three components: atlas, lexicon and scientific monograph.
2012–2015: Medieval Inscriptions from the Territory of Slovakia
Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Juraj Šedivý, Ph.D., M.A., Department of Archiving and Auxiliary Sciences in History
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project is focused on currently marginalized body of historical repositories – inscriptions from Slovak territory (from 9th/12th till 16th century). The aim of the project is to compile edition based on historical regions and to publish analytical studies on epigraphic culture of given regions (focusing at purchasers’ structure, use of national languages, development of calligraphy aiming to find out which are the decisive characteristics for dating of chronologically unknown relics and others).
2012–2015: Institutional Performance in the New Europe
Project Director: Prof. Darina Malová, Ph.D., Department of Political Science
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: Research focuses on the analysis of institutional performance in democratic countries. Currently, there is no agreement on the ways and results of interactions between state institutions and political actors. This ambiguity can be caused not only by different data and samples of countries but also – and perhaps mostly – by shortcomings in theoretical perception of detailed interactions among institutions, actors and specific characteristics of individual countries. The INPERNE research project has several empirical, theoretical and conceptual objectives with the potential to contribute to better understanding of institutional performance of different democratic institutions and different political actors. Project combines quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand, which configurations of institutions and political actors cause expected systematic consequences.
2011–2014: Archeological Chronometry in Slovakia
Project Director: Peter Barta, Ph.D., Department of Archeology
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The aim of the project is to promote application of novel chronometric methods in Slovakian and Czech archaeology by means of research, lecturing programs, and dissemination of knowledge through internet and printed media. These activities are to support the cross-border scholarly cooperation in Visegrad countries and strengthen interdisciplinarity of the regional archaeology. The project has three intertwined research areas:
1. Systematic collection of published radiocarbon dates measured on archaeological samples from Slovakia, Czech Republic, and the neighboring regions of Austria, Poland, and Hungary.
2. Mapping, collection, storage, and chronometric research of endangered archaeological and historic-architectural wood from Slovakian sites.
3. Radiocarbon dating of exceptional archaeological finds with high information potential from Slovakian sites. Web: www.c14.sk
2011–2014: Changing Patterns of the EU Foreign Policy Making System and the Small Member States (EUFORPOL)
Project Directors: Assoc. Prof. Jozef Bátora, Ph.D., Vladimír Bilčík, Ph.D., Department of Political Science
Donor: Slovak Research and Development Agency
Project abstract: The project EUFROPOL explores the emerging EU foreign policy making system and the role of small EU Member States in this system based on the combination of methodological approaches from political science, international relations, organization studies, law and social anthropology.