Professor of neurology and, since 2019, rector of Masaryk University, where he has worked for many years. Upon taking office, he defined the university's social impact as one of the key areas of his mandate. His research focuses on movement disorders, Parkinson's disease, dystonia, essential tremor, and spasticity. He has been collaborating with the University of Minnesota for over twenty years.
Performers
Masaryk Days 2026: Safety in a Dangerous World
Professor of General History at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, specializing in the religious and cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is currently researching the roots of modern European culture and education from a historical, philosophical, and anthropological perspective. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Brno-based magazine Kontexty and currently serves as vice-rector of Masaryk University.
Nicholas Winton jr.
Son of Sir Nicholas Winton, a British humanitarian who saved 669 mostly Jewish children from Nazi-threatened Czechoslovakia in 1939 as part of the Kindertransports. Sir Nicholas Winton served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II and later in the British Army, where he contributed to the United Kingdom's war effort.
Nicholas Winton Jr. has long been dedicated to preserving and spreading his father's legacy. In his work, he emphasizes the importance of personal courage, solidarity, and the ability of individuals to stand up to injustice — values that shaped his father's outlook on life.
Historian at Masaryk University specializing in modern history, particularly World War II and Czechoslovak squadrons in the RAF. His academic work focuses on the history of armies, defense policy, and international conflicts, with an emphasis on the Czechoslovak resistance during both world wars. He works as a teacher, expert consultant, and commentator, popularizing historical knowledge and its connection to current security issues.
PhDr. Tomáš Klvaňa
He is an expert on the United States and foreign policy. He lectures at New York University Prague and serves as executive director of the Aspen Institute Central Europe. In the past, he was the spokesperson for the President of the Czech Republic, the government representative for communications on the missile defense program, and a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University in the US. He is the author of several books, including Cuba: A Brief History of the End (Academica Press, London-Washington, 2024) and The World According to Trump (Bourdon, 2024).
prof. Alexander Duleba, CSc.
Slovak political scientist and analyst specializing in foreign and security policy, Russia, and Eastern Europe. He has long been involved in issues of geopolitics, energy security, and relations between the European Union, NATO, and the post-Soviet space. From 2000 to 2019, he was director of the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, where he currently works. From 2021 to 2023, he was advisor to the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic on relations with Eastern European countries. He has been teaching at the University of Prešov since 2010.
Mgr. Zinaida Bechná, Ph.D.
Political scientist working at the Department of International Relations and European Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. Her research focuses on security dynamics in the post-Soviet space, the geopolitical liminality of de facto states, and issues of European Union agency in the field of security and crisis management. She is the coordinator of the CENTREPEACE Twinning Horizon Europe project and a member of the INTERFER implementation team.
prof. RNDr. Antonín Kučera, Ph.D.
Computer scientist and professor at the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, who has long been involved in stochastic systems and their applications. His professional work focuses on methods for the analysis, verification, and multi-criteria optimization of discrete probability systems using artificial intelligence methods.
Šimon Pánek
Czech humanitarian worker and civic activist. He was one of the prominent figures of November 1989, when he participated in the student movement during the Velvet Revolution. He is a co-founder and long-time representative of the organization People in Need, which provides humanitarian and development aid and supports education and human rights in dozens of countries around the world. In his work, he has long been committed to strengthening civil society and defending democratic values.