
PhD. Programme
The Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences as an external educational institution conducts doctoral study programmes in the field of “World Cultures and Religions” and “Social Anthropology” on a full-time basis.
Doctoral study
As an external educational institution, the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences has a contract in place with the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava on conducting doctoral studies in the study programme “World Cultures and Religions” (four-year study, full-time), and with the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava for the study programme “Social Anthropology” (three-year study, full-time or in external form).The guarantor of the doctoral studies at the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS is prof. PhDr. Zuzana Beňušková, CSc.
PhD students carry out their studies at the IESA SAS, while being enrolled at the doctoral study desks of the respective faculties. Doctoral studies are conducted based on individual study plans under the leadership of a tutor from the IESA SAS, and consist of scientific, educational, and pedagogical activities. The scientific activities have the form of individual or team research work of the PhD student and are tied to the topic of the dissertation thesis. The educational part consists of attending lectures and seminars, and individual study of expert literature. PhD students complete mandatory and optional courses offered by the respective faculties, and the IESA SAS provides doctoral seminars for the 1st and 2nd year of the studies. The studies include pedagogical activities or other pedagogy-related specialised activities. The studies run based on a credit system of the given faculty, and PhD students must obtain credits from all (scientific, educational, and pedagogical) parts of their studies.
Currently educated PhD theses
- Topic: Self-presentation of people with anti-vaccination convictions with regard to the social representations of conspiracy theorists
Tutor: Zuzana Panczová
PhD student: Natália Slivková
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: The impacts of allocated workplaces of vocational schools on the social integration, social mobility, and employment of the Roma
Tutor: Tomáš Hrustič
PhD student: Edita Rigová
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Job opportunities and barriers to access to the labour market for inhabitants of marginalised Roma groups from the socio-anthropological perspective
Tutor: Daniel Škobla
PhD student: Korina Mitrová
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Ageing (old age) with assistance – Design for all and modern technology as an opportunity?
Tutor: Daniel Škobla
PhD student: Miroslava Kinczer
Educational institution: Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Cultural heritage in practice
Tutor: Alexandra Bitušíková
Consultant: Daniel Luther
PhD student: Baračková Katarína
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Social and cultural aspects of ethnic health inequalities: the case of health status of Roma in Slovakia
Tutor: Andrej Belák
PhD student: Kristína Cichová
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Post-modern forms of Marian devotion in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe
Tutor: Tatiana Zachar Podolinská
PhD student: Bahdan Serdziuk
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: Digital scientific collections in ethnology and anthropology: their creation, usability in research and sustainability
Tutor: Juraj Zajonc
Consultant: Andrej Gogora
PhD student: Barbora Siváčková
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
Graduates (2021/2022)
- Topics: Tramping sub-culture and the Communist regime during the normalisation period (Czechoslovakia / CSSR 1968–1989)
Tutor: Monika Vrzgulová
PhD student: Radoslava Semanová
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
- Topic: The movement of Slavic-Aryan vedas as an expression of new types of spirituality in Slovakia
Tutor: Tatiana Zachar Podolinská
PhD student: Tomáš Kubisa
Educational institution: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
Information for applicants
- Applications must be submitted in May of the respective year;
- The application should indicate one of the topics announced by the IESA SAS;
- Please, indicate in your application that you apply for the IESA SAS;
- All topics are opened for full-time study (D);
- Information – Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava: https://fphil.uniba.sk/studium/pk/doktorandske-studium/prijimacie-konanie
- Information – Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava: https://fses.uniba.sk/en/studies/admission-procedure/phd-studies/
- Information on PhD studies at the Slovak Academy of Sciences: https://www.sav.sk/?lang=sk&doc=educ-phdstudy
Topics of PhD theses (2023/2024)
Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Zuzana Beňušková, CSc.
Program: The topic is open for study programs:
- World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
- Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: The basis of the work will be research and analysis of a selected element (family or annual customs), which are perceived as traditional and are currently growing in popularity. Traditional phenomena will be examined against the background of social, economic and political contexts. The subject of research can be e.g. commodification of wedding rituals, Bethlehem rounds, ritual fires, competitive events based on traditional skills, etc.
Supervisor: Mgr., Ing. Daniel Škobla, PhD.
Program: The topic is open for study programs:
- World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
- Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: The project examines the structural and institutional factors that can enable or prevent Roma or ethnic minorities from accessing jobs. These can be power asymmetries, the dominant position of actors such as employers, municipalities and the like. Factors that facilitate can also be social networks and the social, cultural capital of minority groups. The research is based on empirical data, obtained in fieldwork, observations and interviews.
Supervisor: Mgr. Soňa Gyárfáš Lutherová, PhD
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: In demanding times, people have different strategies to cope with uncertainty and vulnerability in their everydayness. Many depend on family relationships or turn to people in their broader social circle. The idea of safety connects to the notion of home – be it a specific place or being part of a community (family, neighbourhood, particular social group). Belonging relates to identity-making as an ongoing process of (re)shaping selves.
Supervisor: Mgr. Soňa Gyárfáš Lutherová, PhD.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: Photographs or videos, as a part of our family archives, shape memories of individuals and social groups (from families to societies). The project focuses on the relationship between the “small” and “great” narratives through research on audio-visual sources concerning individual and collective memories. Besides the obligatory textual part, other forms of creative output might be included in the project (video, photographs, comix).
Supervisor: PhDr. Katarína Popelková, CSc.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: In contemporary society, holiday culture is affected by a dynamic process of transformation. Holidays in both the public and private spheres are losing their identity-forming, symbolic and commemorative relationship. The subject of an empirical study is monitoring the functions of a growing number of professionally produced events oriented towards offering a complex cultural experience.
Supervisor: PhDr. Monika Vrzgulová, CSc.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: Family memory represents a specific field within memory studies, a concept of primary importance. It focuses attention on the intimate space of the family. Family memory is characterized by interaction and communication across generations. It is defined by the dynamics of its formative, value-oriented, and identity-forming functions. What are the contents of family memory, how are they communicated, and what influences them in the 21st century?
Supervisor: PhDr. Monika Vrzgulová, CSc.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: We are 78 years removed from the events connected with the Holocaust. How does contemporary society commemorate them? What forms and contents can we find in the communicative/group, collective/national or cultural memory in the territories where the Holocaust took place? Who, how and what is remembered? (Using the example of 1 or 2 countries).
Supervisor: Mgr. Zuzana Panczová, PhD.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: Rumours and conspiracy theories are explored in social sciences as expressions of social anxieties and desires, and as specific forms of description of social representations of power, intergroup relations or group (self-) identification. They also became a part of contemporary mass culture, which shapes the repertoire and narrative structures of rumours and conspiracy theories. The research can be focused on face-to-face or internet-mediated forms of communication. Methods primarily draw on folkloristic or ethnological approaches.
Supervisor: Mgr. Bahna Vladimír, PhD.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: This research focuses on the transmission and acquisition of social conservatism, understood broadly as any sociocultural system of values that promotes strict adherence to social norms, adherence to conventions and is characterized by group conformity and collectivism. Thus it includes also related concepts of traditionalism, religious fundamentalism, ethnocentrism, etc. Multidisciplinary approaches are welcomed.
Supervisor: PhDr. Juraj Zajonc, CSc.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: The dissertation will problematize the opportunities and challenges that inscriptions bring, on the basis of empirical research. These may relate to the participation and development of ICH conservation against the backdrop of the uncertainties of the transformation of rural communities, the conflicts that may arise in the community of ICH holders after inscription, issues of ‘ownership’ of ICH elements, the economic impacts of inscriptions etc.
Supervisor: Mgr. Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, PhD.
Program: World Cultures and Religions, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University
Form of study: Full-time
Annotation: In current societies we face the diversity of secular worldviews and religious and spiritual standpoints. In the field of religious studies, more attention should be paid to the adjusting of approaches how to grasp and label modern forms of religiosity, spirituality, and irreligiosity. The reflexive post-paradigmatic turn can shed light on the shadowy places of current research and elevate knowledge on what religion is and what roles it plays in modern societies.