Research at the Faculty is distinguished by a strong interdisciplinary orientation, integrating linguistics, historical studies, philosophy, media studies, social sciences, and the arts to provide a comprehensive understanding of human beings, culture, and society. The Faculty of Arts at Palacký University Olomouc ranks among the leading humanities institutions in the Czech Republic, as evidenced by national research evaluation outcomes. It brings together top research units publishing in international journals and produces a range of indexed academic periodicals. Through its wide portfolio of doctoral programmes, the Faculty educates a new generation of scholars across 20 departments.
Its strong interdisciplinary profile fosters innovative, societally relevant research, addressing topics such as electoral behaviour, applied psychology, and artificial intelligence. The Faculty actively advances internationalisation, research culture, and grant support, with a particular emphasis on European funding schemes. It maintains extensive international partnerships and actively engages with global research networks.
As part of a historically significant university located in Olomouc, the Faculty connects research on regional history with global perspectives. Its research agenda thus balances top-down, challenge-driven projects with a bottom-up approach that empowers its scholars as leading authorities in specialised and distinctive fields.
Below are selected examples of both research addressing global challenges and independent scholarly inquiry conducted at the Faculty:
Language, Culture and Communication in a Global Context
One of the Faculty's key research pillars is the study of language, literature, and cultural transfer. Scholars engage with both European linguistic and literary traditions and non-European areas, including Asian and postcolonial contexts. Particular emphasis is placed on projects addressing intercultural communication and cultural translation, the historical development of languages and literatures, language as a tool of identity and power, and digital linguistics and language data analysis.
An illustrative example is research on the Sinophone borderlands, which integrates linguistics, history, and geopolitics to examine cultural interactions across the broader Chinese sphere and its neighbouring regions.
The Faculty also hosts specialised research centres (e.g. for Old Czech, Dutch culture, and German-language Moravian literature) that systematically advance the study of linguistic and cultural heritage. Given that linguistics and area studies departments constitute approximately one-third of the Faculty's units, research in this domain represents a defining feature of its profile.
Selected Projects and Activities
In addition to the Sinophone-focused research centre, major projects and activities include TransArch (Horizon 2020), the Olomouc Linguistics Colloquium (Olinco), ReConnect China: Generating Independent Knowledge for a Resilient Future with China for Europe and Its Citizens (Horizon Europe), The EU in the Volatile Indo-Pacific Region (WIDERA Twinning), Digital Humanities for European Korean Studies: Equipping Future Koreanists with DH Tools (Academy of Korean Studies), the Centre for Research on Travel Writing and the History of Written Representations of Intercultural Contacts, and the GA ČR project How to Become a Good Citizen: The Educational Impact of Czech Youth Literature during the National Revival. The Faculty has also developed proprietary AI software patented with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, among many other initiatives.
History, Memory and Cultural Heritage
Historical research represents another major strength of the Faculty, spanning a broad temporal and thematic range—from the Middle Ages to the present. This is supported not only by the largest Department of History in the Czech Republic, but also by a strongly interdisciplinary approach that engages nearly all departments across the Faculty. Research focuses in particular on political, social, and cultural history, the history of everyday life and memory studies, migration, exile, and transnational relations, and regional as well as global historical processes.
Specialised research units, such as centres for exile studies and regional history, play an important role in advancing these agendas.
Research on cultural heritage also has a strong applied dimension. Projects bridge the humanities with natural sciences and engineering—for example, in the analysis of materials of historical artefacts and the development of methods for their conservation and restoration (e.g., the Arteca project, Operational Programme Research, Development and Education).
Selected Projects and Activities
Further key projects and activities include musicological research, Urbanity: Inequality, Adaptation and Public Space in Cities from a Historical Perspective (Operational Programme Jan Amos Komenský), Reconfiguring Czech Regionality: Power, Resources, Consequences, c. 1300–1500 (GA ČR Junior Star), extensive archaeological and rescue research in the Middle East (e.g. Monuments of Mosul in Danger), and the Kurt and Ursula Schubert Centre for Jewish Studies (e.g. Transhistory: Promoting Civil Society and Jewish History in the Visegrad Countries, Moldova and Ukraine, Visegrad Fund), among others.
Society, Politics and Contemporary Challenges
Research at the Faculty of Arts reflects pressing societal issues and transformations, both within the Czech Republic and in the broader international context. Key areas of focus include the functioning of democracy and political systems, European integration and international relations, social inequalities, identity, and cultural diversity, and organisations, economics, and management in both public and private sectors.
A defining feature of this research is the integration of theoretical inquiry with empirical analysis and practical application—for example, in the fields of public policy, education, and media regulation.
The interdisciplinary nature of these activities enables the combination of perspectives from political science, sociology, economics, and cultural studies. A representative example is the TechScale – Technologies Beyond the Nanoscale project, led by the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN UP) with participation from the Department of Political Science, addressing societal implications of emerging technologies.
Selected Projects and Activities
Other major projects and research areas include Science Communication for Religious Studies (MSCA, Horizon 2020), Housing Pathways of Millennials: Growing Tensions between the Normalisation of Homeownership and Decreasing Housing Affordability in the Czech Republic (GA ČR), MEGASKILLS: Skills that Open Doors to Better Jobs (Horizon Europe), Social Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development and Implementation of Crisis Management (TA ČR), Electoral Fraud and Malpractice at the Level of Polling Stations in the Czech Republic (TA ČR), and Social and Legal Aspects of the Lives of Intersex People in the Czech Republic (TA ČR), among others.
Media, Communication and the Digital Society
Research in media and communication is one of the Faculty's most dynamic and rapidly developing areas. It focuses in particular on transformations of the media landscape in the digital age and their impact on audiences, journalism, disinformation, and media literacy, the relationship between media, politics, and society, and the production and reception of media content.
Research activities typically combine quantitative and qualitative methods and respond to contemporary challenges associated with digitalisation, platformisation, and the transformation of the public sphere. The Faculty's infrastructure also includes specialised documentation and research centres focusing on media and performing arts.
Selected Projects and Activities
Notable projects and activities include The Impact of Election Campaigns on Party Polarisation in the Czech Republic (GA ČR), The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Catalyst for Change in the Distribution, Presentation and Monetisation of Cultural Content Online (TA ČR), Czech Exile Periodicals in Western Europe (GA ČR), Opportunities for Online Psychosocial Care in Situations of Limited Direct Contact, The Aesthetic and Political Practices of East-Central European Music Videos after 2000 (GA ČR), the Media Literacy Study of the Czech Population (Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting), research on Online Risk Behaviour among Adolescents and Related Psychological Aspects, and Barriers to Accessing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age (Operational Programme Jan Amos Komenský), among others.
Art, Aesthetics and Performance Studies
Art-related disciplines at the Faculty of Arts cover a broad spectrum of research and art-performing areas, including art history, theatre and film studies, and musicology and performance studies. Research encompasses both historical analysis and contemporary artistic forms, with a strong emphasis on their social functions. Collaboration with cultural institutions and participation in international projects constitute an important dimension of these activities.
A distinctive area of expertise lies in the study of the materiality of artworks and their conservation and restoration, combining approaches from the humanities and natural sciences.
Selected Projects and Activities
This field is represented by projects and initiatives such as Arteca (Operational Programme Research, Development and Education – Pre-application Research for ITI), Narrative Space in Comics and Graphic Novels (GA ČR), Olomouc in 3D – A New Dimension of the City's Cultural Heritage: Past, Present, Future (NAKI), Stucco Decoration across Europe (Erasmus+), Composers' Unions and Cultural Policy in Socialist Countries in the 1950s and 1960s (GA ČR), and the Centre for Research on Performativity, among others.
Philosophy, Ethics and the Reflection of Science and Society
As a faculty grounded in philosophical inquiry, research in philosophy has a long-standing tradition, ranging from the history of philosophy to contemporary theoretical debates. It encompasses ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy, ethics and applied philosophy, philosophy of science and technology, and critical reflection on social and cultural processes.
Specialised research units focus on areas such as medieval and Renaissance philosophy, as well as broader humanistic conceptions of the individual and society. The Department of Philosophy plays a leading role in this domain, alongside contributions from other units across the Faculty.
Selected Projects and Activities
Key projects and activities include Pantheism and Panpsychism in the Renaissance and the Emergence of Secularism (GA ČR), Between the Renaissance and the Baroque: Philosophy and Knowledge in the Czech Lands in Their Wider European Context (GA ČR), The Averroean Paradigm in Biological Thought (GA ČR), Hebrew Science in a European Context (Rothschild Foundation), and "Leben – Leib – Liebe": Modalities of Love in Nietzsche's Thought (GA ČR), among others.
Interdisciplinary and International Research Environment
A defining feature of research at the Faculty of Arts is its strong interdisciplinary orientation and international engagement: the Faculty implements projects funded through internal, national, and European grant schemes, collaborates with leading Czech and international universities and research institutions, establishes partnerships with entities from the commercial and applied sectors, such as companies, local and public institutions, nonprofit organizations, cultural institutions, and government and international organizations, and actively involves doctoral candidates in international research teams and projects.
Research centres and projects frequently integrate humanities and social science perspectives with technological and data-driven approaches, including the use of digital tools and large-scale data analysis.
Launch Your Research at the Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc
The Faculty of Arts at Palacký University Olomouc is an established research institution of European relevance. Building on a rich academic tradition and contributing to both research and the preservation of regional cultural heritage, it offers a modern, dynamic, and interdisciplinary research environment with a strong international profile.
The Faculty actively promotes internationalisation, particularly through mobility programmes. Its strategic objective is to further strengthen research excellence and prestige by engaging both established and early-career international researchers, including senior scholars, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral candidates.
At present, the Faculty employs approximately 50 international academic staff members, representing around 10% of its workforce.
While the Faculty considers university rankings to be only a supplementary indicator of quality, all major global rankings consistently place Palacký University among the top three multidisciplinary universities in the Czech Republic and within the broader European academic elite (approximately top 500 in QS and ARWU, and top 1000 in THE).
The Faculty is firmly committed to the principles of academic freedom, research autonomy, and methodological pluralism as the foundation of an open and critical university. Freedom of inquiry, responsibility towards society, and the promotion of diverse approaches and perspectives are regarded as essential values. Regardless of whether your research is large-scale or highly specialised, the Faculty strives to identify suitable funding opportunities and collaborative frameworks to ensure mutual benefit for all partners involved.
At the same time, the Faculty recognises areas for further development and actively seeks to involve international colleagues—regardless of country of origin, continent, gender, or religious background—in all aspects of academic life.
Olomouc, located in the very heart of Europe, offers excellent accessibility to Prague, Vienna, and Bratislava (within approximately two hours by train or car). The city is easily reachable and consistently highly rated by both short-term and long-term academic visitors.
Why Collaborate with Us?
A Research-Active Faculty
The Faculty covers a broad spectrum of social sciences and humanities, encompassing virtually all relevant FORD classifications in these fields. It hosts internationally recognised research teams and delivers projects funded by Czech, European, and other international agencies (e.g. GA ČR, Horizon Europe, ERC, MSCA, Visegrad Fund, Fulbright).
An Open Academic Culture
We promote interdisciplinary dialogue, open science, and responsible research practices. Our scholars are actively involved in international research networks and bring extensive experience in both institutional and cross-border collaboration.
Support for Visiting Scholars
We provide comprehensive administrative and academic support to researchers joining us through fellowships, sabbaticals, or other mobility schemes, which the Faculty actively develops and expands.
A University with Tradition, a City with Character
Founded in 1573, Palacký University is the second-oldest university in the Czech Republic and a major centre of intellectual and cultural life. Olomouc is a historic university city offering a high quality of life and excellent accessibility within Central Europe.
Opportunities for Collaboration
Joint Research Projects
We welcome researchers interested in preparing and submitting grant applications in collaboration with our teams.
Visiting Fellowships and Sabbaticals
We offer short- and medium-term research stays with access to academic resources and professional networks.
Academic Positions
Calls for academic positions are regularly open to international applicants.
Academic Journals Published at the Faculty of Arts
The Faculty of Arts (FA UP) publishes a range of peer-reviewed academic journals covering diverse fields across the humanities and social sciences. These journals contribute to the Faculty’s strong international research profile and support the dissemination of high-quality scholarly outputs across disciplines regardless if domestic or internationally.
Aither
A journal dedicated to the study of Greek and Latin traditions.
A journal focusing on psychology, with an emphasis on bridging research and practice. It also provides space for high-quality student research and early-career scholars.
A journal for Central European history, covering periods from antiquity to the present, with an interdisciplinary perspective on social, religious, cultural, economic, and political history.
A journal exploring interdisciplinary connections between linguistics and fields such as natural sciences, mathematics, and social sciences, with a focus on formal and experimental approaches (e.g., quantitative linguistics, psycholinguistics, biosemiotics, sociolinguistics).
A scientific journal publishing original research in Romance linguistics, literature, culture, and translation studies, with a strong international scope.
Indexed in: Scopus, Web of Science, CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, ERIH Plus
ISSN: 1803-4136 | e-ISSN: 2571-0966
Editor-in-Chief: Enrique Gutiérrez Rubio
Transactions on Transport Sciences
A multidisciplinary journal focusing on behavioural and social aspects of mobility, road safety, and sustainable transport, including engineering, economic, and environmental perspectives.
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