Supervisor: Prof. PhDr. Zuzana Beňušková, CSc.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: Previous professional treatises on folklore and folklorism treat folklore as an artistic system. However, there is a growing body of work that analyses manifestations of folklorism as complex phenomena of contemporary living culture, considered among the many alternatives for the self-realisation of an individual or group. This is related to the relatively new concept of intangible cultural/living heritage. The dynamic development of understanding of living heritage has reshaped paradigms for viewing traditional folk culture, including folklorism, which were used in practice until the beginning of the 21st century. The work should identify these changes, reassess and update the current contents of new or even old established concepts (bearers of traditions, communities, participation, commodification, traditional folk culture versus living heritage), the expansion of the social and political range of living heritage and the shifts in meaning of contemporary phenomena in the defined part of culture under study.

Supervisor: Mgr. Andrej Gogora, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: The development of digital research collections has profoundly shaped how scholarly knowledge is curated, accessed, and utilised across academic disciplines. We invite proposals for a doctoral project to analyse the conceptual and methodological foundations of digital research collections and their role in contemporary research infrastructures in the humanities.

The doctoral candidate will examine the principles of digital collections and assess how curatorial strategies influence data connectivity, interpretive quality, and epistemic innovation. The successful candidate will contribute to the development of digital curation strategies that prioritise long-term usability, sustainability, and technological adaptability.

This topic is suitable for candidates interested in the intersections of digital humanities, knowledge management, and archival science. We seek motivated applicants with a strong academic background in the humanities or social sciences (particularly Ethnology and Social Anthropology), a keen interest in digital research infrastructures, and an ambition to engage in contemporary discourse regarding scholarly ecosystems. The selected candidate will work in an interdisciplinary environment and contribute to theoretical and applied innovation.

Supervisor: Mgr. Juraj Majo, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: Scandals regarding sexual abuse in churches are a regularly occurring theme in media coverage. In the past few decades, numerous cases have come to light, leading to public discourse, investigations, and a historic high in the number of people leaving churches.

The handling of these crimes by the state and the system of enablement and cover-up within the churches are important issues in secular activism. Points of criticism include the lack of legal and political action and the inadequate interaction with victims. Moreover, the accounting of the situation is objectionable because it is entrusted to church institutions.

A qualitative study on this matter can examine public discourse, individual perspectives on churches and religion, the role of secular activism, and the legal context.

Supervisor: Mgr. Juraj Majo, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: One of the significant civilizational transformations of the present era is the changing position of religion in society and in the life of the individual. To a much greater extent, we are witnessing not only a departure from traditional forms of religiosity but also an increase in diversification and non-religiosity. A key characteristic of contemporary society is the acceleration of these transformations, which occur not only across generations but often also within the course of an individual’s lifetime. The doctoral dissertation would examine this transformation in both vertical and horizontal dimensions. It would explore the various contexts of these changes (regional, denominational, educational, and professional) and identify patterns and interconnections underlying these transformations. Specifically, the dissertation would also examine generational differences and differences across life stages, particularly concerning adolescence and ageing, as well as the various aspects of change in relation to-or non-relation to-religion.

Supervisor: prof. Elena Maruschiakova – Popova, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: Based on historical and ethnographic research, the dissertation will trace the processes of transformation of the different identities of the Roma (or other communities under this umbrella term) living in mixed or border regions, from the point of view of the existence of these identities in two dimensions – at the ethnic and at the national level. Research can focus on specific parameters and aspects of these processes, e.g., ethnic mimicry, publicly declared identity, preferred ethnic identity, national civic identity, and European Roma identity.

Supervisor: Mgr. MgA. Jaroslava Panáková, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: This PhD project examines sensory and affective forms of ecological knowledge in multispecies grassland environments, focusing on how farmers and other rural actors perceive, evaluate, and act upon relationships among diverse human and non-human actors under conditions of ecological change and uncertainty. Rather than presupposing a single focal species or scale, the project allows students to explore how ecological processes become intelligible through sensory perception and affective judgement, including smell, sight, touch, taste, rhythm, trust, concern, pleasure, or unease.

The project investigates how such sensory–affective evaluations function as practical epistemic tools in everyday decision-making related to animal husbandry, plant management, soil care, hygiene, feeding practices, or landscape stewardship. Students may choose to focus on microbial processes, animal relations, plant ecologies, or other forms of more-than-human interaction, examining how invisible, ambiguous, or emergent ecological dynamics are recognised and categorised through sensorially mediated distinctions such as good or bad, safe or risky, healthy or disturbed. Empirically, the research is grounded in long-term ethnographic fieldwork in grassland landscapes, preferably in the Carpathians, combining participant observation with interviews, sensory elicitation, and experimental methods drawn from sensory anthropology and cognitive studies. An ethnohistorical perspective based on archival materials may complement contemporary fieldwork. The project contributes to anthropological debates on sensory knowledge, multispecies relations, and ecological expertise. It may include an applied strand exploring how locally grounded sensory knowledge can inform grassland restoration and biodiversity enhancement.

Supervisor: Mgr. MgA. Jaroslava Panáková, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: This PhD project examines archival visual documents as sources of anthropological knowledge of social and environmental change. It proceeds from the assumption that photographs and films are not merely documentary records, but media of visual and ethnological memory that mediate historically situated ways of seeing, sensing, and conceptualising relationships between humans, landscapes, and non-human actors.

The project allows students to work with photographic archives, ethnological and anthropological film collections, or both, depending on their empirical interests and archival availability. Research may focus on landscapes, everyday labour, subsistence practices, rituals, or forms of landscape care, with particular attention to Slovakia and the Carpathian region. Central to the analysis is an epistemological approach to the archive, examining what visual materials render visible, which forms of knowledge and expertise they legitimise, and which social or environmental processes remain marginalised or invisible.

Methodologically, the research is based on systematic archival work and visual analysis, contextualised within the history of ethnological and anthropological research and documentary practice. The project contributes to debates in visual and sensory anthropology, archival studies, and environmental anthropology. It demonstrates the value of visual archives for understanding long-term social and environmental change beyond textual sources.

Supervisor: Mgr. Zuzana Panczová, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: Legends, rumours, and conspiracy theories have always been significant factors in public affairs. They are studied in the social sciences as expressions of social anxieties and desires, as instruments of political power that influence intergroup relations, and as means of group identification. They are also part of contemporary mass culture, which significantly impacts the repertoire and forms of these narratives. Research may focus on face-to-face or online communication, narrative structure, historical development, social impact, or argumentative strategies of these communication genres. Research methods are expected to draw primarily on folkloristic or ethnological approaches, though other interdisciplinary analyses are also relevant.

Supervisor: PhDr. Monika Vrzgulová, CSc.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: After the end of World War II and the Holocaust, a difficult period began for the Jewish community. It was marked by the reconstruction of Jewish life (both family and community) and the creation of relationships between the community and the non-Jewish majority. How are the Holocaust, the war, the subsequent post-war experiences, and coming to terms with the new political and social situation recorded in the memory of the current Jewish community and/or the local community? Using the example of a selected location (Nitra), the work should capture the main contents of the group memory of current members of the Jewish community, questions of Jewish identity after the Holocaust, during the communist regime, and in the present, and the perception of the relationship and place of Jewish people in the local community.

Supervisor: Mgr. Martina Wilsch, PhD.

Study Program: World Cultures and Religion 

Annotation: Families and family structures have been evolving and adapting to new societal challenges. With increased mobility and modern technologies, many families live apart in different, often multiple, countries over the long term, yet maintain strong relationships, familyhood, and a sense of belonging (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002; Cienfuegos-Illanes & Brandhorst, 2023). Research within this topic will focus on these families’ transnational practices, including (but not limited to) care and social support, economic participation, the transmission of cultural practices, communication, and the broader context of the transnational circulation of care (including paid care), as well as the overall situation and vulnerability of these families. Depending on the researcher’s interests and chosen approach, the research project may encompass diverse types of families, such as Slovak families with members working abroad (e.g., care workers), families fleeing the war in Ukraine, or families of economic migrants who are increasingly settling in Slovakia. A multi-sited ethnographic approach (Marcus, 1995), participatory research methods, and reflexive approaches are encouraged, alongside the application of theoretical perspectives from the anthropology of care, migration studies, gender perspectives, and feminist theories.