Projects and Grants

Grant Department FF UP
handles grant and subsidy applications and administration for projects funded by foreign and domestic providers and offers a wide range of services and project support.

Below is a selection of some of the notable projects that the Faculty of Arts at Palacký University and its researchers have secured and carried out. This selection illustrates the breadth and depth of the grant programs for which the Faculty is able to successfully apply.

NEWXUAR – A New Normal After the Camps? State–Kinship Dynamics in Minoritised Communities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Rune Steenberg)

The NEWXUAR project places kinship relations at the centre of analysis as a key to understanding societal transformation under state influence. It systematically employs “remote ethnography” alongside other hybrid research methods that account for ethical constraints and security risks associated with conventional fieldwork.

ReConnect China: Generating Independent Knowledge for a Resilient Future with China for Europe and Its Citizens (Richard Turcsányi)

EU–China relations are continuously evolving, with economic and diplomatic dimensions playing a central role. The project explores opportunities for cooperation in science and technology, economy and trade, domestic governance, and foreign policy. It also develops a database of new information sources and establishes the Europe–China Knowledge Forum, aimed at enhancing public understanding of contemporary China and strengthening ties for a sustainable future.

EDU-MM – Implications and Prospects of Non-State Post-Secondary Education Initiatives in Post-2021-Coup Myanmar (Kristína Kironská)

FOUFCCURL – Franciscan Observants and the Union of Florence: Crafting Church Unity in Ruthenia and Lithuania in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century

MASKED – Motor Health and Semiotic Function in the Kinesthetic Expressivity of Neurodegenerative Disease (Ludmila Lacková)

The MASKED project integrates nonverbal behaviour coding systems, AI-driven analytical tools, computational statistics, and applied biosemiotics. By comparing facial expressions of healthy individuals and patients with Parkinson’s disease across time and contexts, it aims to develop non-invasive techniques for early detection, improving patient outcomes and reducing socio-economic burdens.

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Sinophone Borderlands – Interactions at the Margins (Ondřej Kučera)

The SINOFON project examines interactions between the Sinophone world and Turkic, Persian, Slavic, Tibetan, Hispanophone, and Austroasiatic regions. It brings together senior and early-career researchers across humanities, social sciences, and political science, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and intercultural comparison. The project advances current debates beyond disciplinary and national boundaries, with outputs including conferences, books, and scholarly articles. It is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and coordinated by the Department of Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc.

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Barriers to Accessing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age (Pavel Zahrádka)

This project pursues four complementary research objectives addressing challenges in the curation, presentation, and accessibility of cultural heritage for educational purposes. It also organises an ongoing conference series, strengthens collaboration with national institutions in digital curation and education, and expands international cooperation in areas such as media platformisation, museum education, digital curation, ethnography of media and cultural organisations, and the ethical and legal dimensions of access to cultural heritage.

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Rethinking Compliance: Uses and Abuses of Reform (Individuals, Institutions, Society) (Antonín Kalous)

The project highlights contrasts and parallels between Catholic reform and early phases of the European Reformation. It focuses on editing and analysing previously unpublished sources from the Czech lands and neighbouring regions, providing a basis for interpretative studies on urban communities and local receptions of reform. Drawing on these materials, the project sheds light on diverse and often conflicting developments that led to the early modern division of Western Christianity.

Reconfiguring Czech Regionality: Power, Resources, Consequences, c. 1300–1500 (Patrik Paštrnák)

While medieval society was formally patriarchal, royal women played significant roles as agents of power—from political influence to cultural patronage. This project examines the position of Bohemian queens in the late Middle Ages, analysing their agency within male-dominated structures through the lenses of queenship and gender studies. It explores the economic, legal, and ritual frameworks shaping their influence, as well as manifestations of their power in material and written culture, architecture, and art across Central Europe and beyond.