The Department of Czech Studies in Olomouc is one of the oldest university Czech studies programs and is among the top research and educational institutions in the Czech Republic.

It offers complete education in the area of Czech philology, in both its classic form, and also with focus on textological and editorial practice. Studies are implemented as either a bachelor’s or master’s degree and are complemented by didactic and pedagogical programs, which enable students to obtain pedagogical qualifications. Students of the department are in contact with leading researchers in the area of literary science and linguistics.

The department is a centre of many trans-university research projects and maintains contacts with leading domestic and foreign university and research institutes. In the form of regular colloquiums and conferences, which are organized and co-organized at the Philosophical Faculty of Palacky University in Olomouc, it participates in their professional conference life and in this way shapes the up-to-date scientific research in the area.

The Department of Czech Studies publishes its own reviewed periodical ‘Bohemica Olomucensia’, where leading figures of literary science and linguistics, both from the Czech Republic and other countries, publish their contributions. The department is involved in international educational programs. See the official website.

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Božena Bednaříková, PhD.

Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Božena Bednaříková, PhD., an expert in Czech morphology and contemporary grammar, leads the PhD program  in Czech Language at Palacký University, with research focusing on word structure, inflectional and derivational morphology, and cognitive linguistics. She has authored two monographs, numerous publications, and a key study on derivational networks in Europe, while also teaching Czech as a foreign language, studying bias in TV news, delivering international lectures and supporting young researchers. She also serves in the Ministry of Education’s committee for foreign lectorates and is part of the scientific board of Zeitschrift für Slawistik. See more here.  

Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Erik Gilk, Ph.D.

doc. Mgr. Erik Gilk, Ph.D. Associate professor of Czech literature and head of the Department of Czech Studies at Palacký University in Olomouc. He specializes in 20th and 21st century Czech prose, particularly the interwar and post-1989 periods. He has published studies on interwar literature, a monograph on Karel Poláček, and collaborates with the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences. His research also focuses on the small-town literary setting in Central Europe and the evolution of the historical novel since 1945. See more here.

Supervisor: Miroslav Vepřek Ph.D.

Miroslav Vepřek Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Palacký University Olomouc with research focused on Diachronic Slavistics, especially on Old Church Slavonic, Old Czech, Etymology. His scholar methodology stems from basic philological research but also includes applications of new methods and approaches (frequency research, stylometric analyses, the grammaticalization theory). With his experience from international academic stays, conferences, invited lectures (such as University of Vienna or The Old Church Slavonic Institute in Zagreb), and cooperation with colleagues through Europe, dr. Vepřek has an extensive knowledge and network to offer. See more here. 

Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Richard Změlík,Ph.D.

doc. Mgr. Richard Změlík,Ph.D. Associate professor of literary theory at the Department of Czech Studies, Palacký University in Olomouc. His expertise includes literary formalism, structuralism, semiotics, spatial studies, and computational literary studies. In 2024, he completed a HORIZON EUROPE internship at the University of Trier with Prof. Christopher Schoch, working on literary cartographic and quantitative models of Czech novels. He developed the digital corpus Korpus Prózy and its analytical tools. He has presented his research at international conferences, including in Italy, Spain, France, and the USA. See more here.

The Department is as old as the re-established university. It started its educational and research activities in 1946 as one of the topmost institutions pursuing the classical model of modern philology, comprising language, literature and cultural studies. This profile has been maintained to the present. In the current European educational context the scope of its interest has been broadened by the offer of applied and theoretically less rigorous programmes, such as English for Translation and Interpreting. See the official website.

Supervisor: Dr. Ema Jelínková

Dr. Jelínková is a research assistant at Palacký University Olomouc. Her research interests include Scottish literature, women’s writing and satire. She is the author of the survey British Literary Satire in Historical Perspective (2010) and the monograph Ambivalence v románech Muriel Sparkové (2006). She has co-authored a series of collective monographs on aspects of Scottish fiction, including Scottish Gothic Fiction (2012) and Scottish Women Writers of Hybrid Identity (2014). See more here.

The Department of German Studies, founded in 1946, ranks among the oldest philological German Philology departments in the country, teaching both German Language and Literature. The graduate study programme teaches the students to think about functions and forms of the language, literature and values of art and culture in general, taking into account the distinctive features of the German and Austrian culture (and the German culture of Bohemia and Moravia), history, thought and politics. See the official website.

The Department of Dutch Studies was established in 1946 already thanks to the first post-war Rector of the University, the philosopher dr. Josef Ludvík Fischer (1894-1973) who was hiding in the Netherlands during the World War II. While the studies were interrupted due to political reasons between 1951-1991, the department started to grow rapidly during the 1990’s. Today, students come to our departments for BA, MA and PhD studies as well as for obtaining a teacher’s certificate on secondary education. Our focus is on Dutch philology, language, literature and culture in a Central European context. See the official website.

The mission of the Department of General Linguistics is scientific and research activity within the field of general linguistics, semiotics and linguistic theory with an interdisciplinary approach linked with the natural sciences. More specifically, the department focuses on grammar theory and possibilities of text modelling, semiotic aspects of communication, the relationship between linguistics and the cognitive sciences, mathematical linguistics, the history of linguistics and discourse analyses in particular.

The studies of general linguistics aim both at theoretical questions in linguistics and at a practical application of the output when analysing texts. With the respect to the detailed attention to language and communication in general, the studies are highly suitable as a continuing field of study for students of philology who wish to deepen their knowledge concerning the structure and functioning of a particular language. General linguistics can, due to its focus on issues of communication and on the pragmatic dimension of language, also be useful for graduates of bachelor’s degree programmes in other fields focused on the humanities. Natural science graduates might also find the degree of interest, for example, with a focus on mathematical linguistics and biosemiotics. See the official website.

Supervisor: Dr. Lukáš Hadwiger Zámečník

Focuses on the philosophy of science in the tradition of analytic philosophy – he has published a book on the topic, Outline of the Philosophy of Science: Empirical Foundations of Science in the Analytic Tradition (Brno, Host 2015) and a number of research papers. Among his central research themes is the philosophy of scientific explanations, explored comparatively in the natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities – linguistic explanations are the subject of his book Investigations of Explanatory Strategies in Linguistics (Berlin, De Gruyter Mouton 2023). Another key topic that he is working on together with colleagues associated in the ScioPolisCZ project is the relationship between philosophy and sociology of science in the context of science studies – he has published an introduction to scientific reflections entitled Theory of the Humanities (Olomouc, VUP 2023). See more here.

Since its foundation in 1947, the Department of Romance Studies has been one of the leading Czech university departments in its field. In recent years, the Department has transformed into a dynamic and prestigious scientific workplace with broad international contacts, where both domestic and foreign students are drawn. The Department offers philological studies in the main Romance languages at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral levels.

We conceive of philological studies not only as the teaching of a foreign language, but also as the mediation of the history and culture of the Romance countries (literature, film, etc.). Professional and practical aspects of language study, such as professional translation and interpreting, are not left out. Students seeking employment in foreign companies choose to study a foreign language in combination with economics.

Currently, the department offers the study programmes of BA and MA levels in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese philology. PhD studies then focus on Romance Literature and Languages. See the official website.

The department is divided into three sections – Polish philology, Russian philology and Ukrainian philology. The staff consists of 16 people (4 in the Polish studies section, 9 in the Russian studies section and 3 in the Ukrainian studies section): including 2 professors (for Russian literature and Ukrainian language); 3 associate professors (for comparative Slavonic philology and Slavonic literature), 9 assistant professors and 2 lecturers.

The department has enrolled 146 students in the academic year 2023–2024, including 36 students in the Polish section, 114  in the Russian section and 47 in the Ukrainian section.

The department provides its students with lectures on Polish, Russian and Ukrainian philology within accredited two-field and one-field study programmes in the form of bachelor’s and follow-up master’s full-time studies.
The department of Slavonic studies has accredited doctoral study programmes in the area of Russian linguistics, Russian literature and Comparative Slavonic philology. There are 6 doctoral students in Comparative Slavonic philology and 1 doctoral student in Russian linguistics. See the official website.

The study of philosophy is suitable for students who take interest in the issues related to the history and the contemporary state of the Western philosophical thought. Philosophy forms the core of the European and global intellectual heritage; not only that all the special sciences emerged from it, but it also laid the foundations of moral and political values ​​of mankind. The graduates of philosophy should gain respect for this intellectual heritage, but at the same time seek to continually expand it. They should also respect the virtues that were an inherent part of the previous philosophical development. These include above all respect for knowledge and truth, the ability to think critically and argue, tolerance for the opinions of others and a sense of responsibility for the values ​​that are essential to a free and democratic society. See the official website.

Supervisor: Dr. Jan Halák

Dr. Jan Halák specializes in classical and contemporary phenomenology, with a particular focus on Merleau-Pont and 4E cognition, especially regarding the embodiment and its relation to cognition in general. His research bridges continental philosophy, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and empirical fields such as neuroscience and physiology. He is also interested in philosophical applications in medicine, physiotherapy, and other practical domains. See more here.

Department of History at Palacký University, Olomouc offers an intellectually challenging comparative and multi-disciplinary graduate and postgraduate academic training (Bc, MA, Ph.D) on all aspects of the history and culture since prehistoric times to the 21st century. It provides an excellent academic gateway to the comparative history and culture of Central and Western Europe in general and to a variety of specific issues and research themes in particular.

With a strong track record especially in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Urban History, Cultural Anthropology and/or Modern Exile Studies the department prides itself with being an elite research and academic institution in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. With almost six hundred undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students and together with history institutions in Prague (Charles University) and Brno (Masaryk University) our department ranks among the most sought after academic units providing training in history.

Strong in research and commited to the idea of interdisciplinary and comparative approach towards historical issues the department is formed by a cluster of (semi)autonomous academic units, including History, Archeology and Archival Studies. Currently, the department is the only institute of history in the Czech Republic running (together with 7 leading European universities) a transnational English-language Master program Euroculture which is open to all applicants worldwide. This testifies to the department recruitment policy which increasingly relies upon the international and cultural diversity of its student body. Students from several European countries, including Germany, Austria, Serbia and/ or Slovakia, are currently enrolled in our PhD program while undergraduate and graduate students are being recruited from many geographical areas across the globe. See the official website.

Supervisor: Dr. Lukáš Perutka

Is an assistant professor at the Palacký University in Olomouc. He has teaching experience at the Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico, the University of California, Berkeley, and Charles University in Prague. His research interests include triangular relations between the United States, Europe, and Latin America, or Czechoslovak diplomacy mostly during the Cold War. He is one of the leading scholars on Czechoslovak foreign relations in contemporary era. He has published numerous articles and several monographs: Checoslovaquia, Guatemala y México en el período de la Revolución guatemalteca (Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, and Mexico in the Times of Guatemalan Revolution), and La sociedad checa y México, 1821-1939 (The Czech Society and Mexico, 1821-1939). See more here. 

Supervisor: Dr. Florin Leonte

Dr. Florin Leonte is an Associate Professor at Palacký University Olomouc where he teaches on Late Byzantine and medieval history, literature, and society. Over the past decade, he conducted research on Byzantine rhetorical communication, epistolography, imperial ideology, education, and the reception of the classics. With extensive experience from previous research and teaching at institutions in the US and Europe, like Harvard University and Villa I Tatti, Research Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence, Dr. Leonte holds extensive experience and knowledge in the field of Byzantine studies. 

Supervisor: PhDr. Tomáš Somer, Ph.D.

PhDr. Tomáš Somer, Ph.D. works as an assistant professor at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc. He deals with the history of the Middle Ages in Central Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, especially economic and social history, and the history of the Church. It also deals with the Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century. 

The Department of Media and Cultural Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Arts, Palacky University was established as an independent department in 1995 and has since provided a bachelor’s degree in journalism in full-time (full-time) and part-time (distance) form. Since 2007, in addition to the full-time bachelor’s study in the field of Journalism, it has also implemented a theoretical and analytical master’s study program in the field of Media Studies, to which the related Cultural Studies was added in 2009 and Communication Studies in 2010. In 2014, a doctoral study program in Media and Cultural Studies was added.

Since 2018, after the change in the study system in the Czech Republic, the department has been offering four study programs within the field of Media Studies, specializing in media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, and journalism studies.

The department also has three research centres: the Centre for Cultural, Media and Communication Studies, the Centre for Comic Studies and the Centre for Research of the Moravian Press. See the official website.

Department of Politics and European Studies (“DPES”) is currently the only educational institution in its field conducting intense contact lecturing of the Anglo-Saxon type, which is common at prestigious American and European universities. In addition to traditional lectures, seminars based on discussions, individual engagement and in-depth interaction have an important place here.

DPES trains experts who then work in state administration at all levels (including diplomatic services and European structures), non-governmental organizations, advertisement and research agencies, mass media or in private businesses focusing on cooperation with foreign countries, or in foreign companies operating in our territory. Some graduates decided to stay in the academic world, working at Czech and foreign universities.

The Department is housed in the former canon’s residence, which is part of a unique set of palace buildings on the former fortified Olomouc Forecourt surrounding the historic center of Olomouc. The entrance to the building opens to Křížkovského Street, the opposite side of the building provides access to the reconstructed parkland gardens and comfortable pedestrian access directly from Křížkovského Street, across the walls to Bezručovy sady. The neighborhood of other university buildings, Theresian Armoury as the seat of the University Library, and the Archbishop’s Palace, creates an original “genius loci” with the Department’s building being a part of it as a natural educational and cultural campus right in the historical heart of the city. See the official website.

The Department of Psychology, with its nearly 70-year tradition, is one of 21 departments of the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University in Olomouc. We have been among the top-ranked Departments of Psychology in the Czech Republic for a long time. Our Mission is to educate and develop students in accordance with current scientific knowledge and the needs of practice and to perform high-quality scientific and research activities with the aim of contributing to the enrichment of psychological science. See the official website.

The Department of Sociology, Andragogy and Cultural Anthropology at Palacký University in Olomouc is one of the largest social science departments in the Czech Republic. The department divided its work into four sections with separate scientific focus.

The section of Andragogy deals with adult education. We helpt students to learn what other adults need to learn and how to fulfil that desire or need. As an interdisciplinary field, it mobilizes human potential in the broad sense of the word, not only in the field of adult education. With our lecture, students also learn to care for adults at problematic junctures in their life trajectory, and to advise and assist with the personal development of the individual, not only in the area of learning and education.

The section of Cultural Anthropology offers a diverse education in the field of cultural anthropology. Our lecturers work on interesting national and international research projects – you will have a unique opportunity to work with them and gain invaluable experience. We collaborate with a number of international experts and bring to the classroom the most current topics that are being addressed by cultural anthropologists at leading institutions around the world right now. We also work with non-profit organizations, as well as with town halls and municipalities, regional and other state authorities. Our teachers and staff have studied, researched and lectured in the United States, in India, but also in Papua New Guinea, Benin or Japan: our experience and knowledge are a natural part of the teaching experience!

The section of Religious Studies focuses on secular science of religion. It studies various religions using modern scientific methods. It examines not just one religion but various religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism or new religious movements), including the phenomenon of witchcraft and traditional healing. It even deals with atheism and faithlessness.

The section of Sociology offers its students versatile humanities education an education and an excellent understanding of the analytical approach to problem solving. Leading students to become experts on the society we live in, the section helps its students to learn grounding in survey design, data processing and the production of analytical outputs. Our section also offers a great interdisciplinary potential as sociology is interwoven into almost all humanities disciplines. See the official website.

The Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies at the Faculty of Arts at Palacký University in Olomouc constitutes institution, which in 2006 beginning the accreditation for a follow-up Master’s program – Jewish Studies: History and Culture of the Jews – as a first in the Czech Republic filled a gap in the field of scientific discussion about the research of Jewish topics which has a strong and rich tradition in Bohemia and Moravia. In 2013 also BA studies Jewish and Israeli Studies were accredited.

The major has one unique characteristic – narrower focus on regional topics – Jews in Moravia. It forms CJS a regional research and educational center and at the same time a place stimulating interest in Israel which contributes to formation of unbiased attitudes towards the Near East problematics.

Both programs offer interdisciplinary educational model of Jewish Studies. Jewish Studies: History and Culture of the Jews (graduate programme) or Jewish and Israeli Studies (undergraduate programme) represent a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the history, cultural benefits, current development and functioning of the Jewish society not only in our country but also on a global scale and offers versatile academic education, including the most important aspects of Jewish culture, religion, history, sociology, literature and arts. The model system of instruction allows students great flexibility in choosing their subjects and their focus in the field they choose. See the official website.

The department offers courses and study programmes at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels in Film, TV and Radio, and Theatre and Performance Studies, presenting audiovisual media and performance as a dynamic field with a variety of engaging cultural, aesthetic, and social issues to explore. Besides the rudiments of the theory and history of each medium, the curriculum focuses especially on their overlaps, providing an opportunity for the investigation of various forms of mediality and arts in film, television, theatre, and the internet. See the official website.

Currently, it is a department that offers Bachelor, Master and Doctoral degree programmes in the fields of music theory and history, as well as Bachelor of Arts studies. At the same time, it profiles as a research centre. The main areas of interest here are 19th and 20th century music, especially research on important figures of Czech musical culture (Zdeněk Fibich, Leoš Janáček, Vítězslav Novák, Josef Suk, etc.), and musical theatre. Another specialisation is Czech Baroque music (the music of Pavel Josef Vejvanovský, Adam Michna of Otradovice, Italian opera in Bohemia and Moravia, music at the court of the Olomouc archbishops, etc.). Special attention is also paid to organology and ethnoorganology, editions of musical sources, music regional studies, music aesthetics, as well as research and teaching of popular music. See the official website.