Professor of Neurology and since 2019 Rector of Masaryk University, where he has been working for a long time. Upon his arrival, he defined the topic of the social application of the university as one of the most important in his mandate. His research specializes in movement disorders, Parkinson's disease, dystonia, essential tremor and spasticity. He has worked with the University of Minnesota for over twenty years.
Performers
Masaryk Days 2025: Russia & Europe
The professor of general history at the Institute of History, Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University (MU), specializes in the religious and cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries. His current research explores the origins of modern European culture and education from historical, philosophical, and anthropological perspectives. Additionally, he serves on the editorial board of the Brno journal Kontexty and holds the position of Vice-Rector at MU.
Piotr Skwieciński
He was an active participant in the anti-communist opposition, after 1989 a journalist and diplomat. From 2006 to 2009 he was the head of the Polish Press Agency PAP and later a correspondent for the Rzeczpospolita daily in Moscow. From 2019-2022 he was director of the Polish Institute in Moscow - he left Russia after the start of the aggression against Ukraine in retaliation for the expulsion of forty-five Russian diplomats from Poland. Poland's ambassador to Armenia from summer 2023, recalled as part of Tusk's civil service purges in summer 2024.
doc. PhDr. Petr Hlaváček, Ph.D.
Czech historian of cultural, intellectual and religious history (not only) of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, philosopher, editor and publicist. He worked at the Historical Institute of the CAS, later he held the office of vice-dean at the Hussite Theological Faculty of Charles University and the position of head of the Department of History and Christian Culture. He founded and heads Collegium Europaeum - Research Group for the History of European Thought at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University & the Faculty of Arts of the CAS in Prague, was elected as a Fellow of the Centre for Medieval Studies of the CAS and the Charles University, is also the President of the Luther Society and since 2023 the Director of the Research and Education Department at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. Among other things, he deals with the issues of national messianism and European identity.
Martin Groman
Journalist, columnist and "doctor over old newspapers" working at the Department of Media Studies at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism of the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University and at MUP. He is also chairman of the Ferdinand Peroutka Society, author of texts and books about old, original communists and their thwarted illusions - for example, about František Kriegl (2023). His other foot is in the pond of content marketing, editing and copywriting.
Michal Stehlík
Historian-Slovakist. Starting with the topic of Czech-Slovak relations, progressing through the twists and turns of communist Czechoslovakia to general sage ruminations on history. Author of books and exhibitions. Teaching for the third decade behind the university department. He divides his world between the department and museums - once upon a time he directed the Faculty of Philosophy, where he now supervises the Museum Studies course and currently heads the Memorial of National Literature. He discovers the world with wonder, among other things, through the eyes of his eight offspring.
R. Scruton memorial plaque
(Masaryk Days 2025)
Mgr. Daniel Kroupa, Ph.D.
Philosopher, politician and university teacher. After he was not allowed to continue his studies after 1970, he moved in the circle of Václav Havel and Jan Patočka, participated in the organisation of housing seminars, and became a signatory of Charter 77. After 1989, he served in the Czechoslovak and Czech parliaments, as a deputy and senator, and briefly as a member of the European Parliament. After leaving politics, he devoted himself to social services and teaching, especially at the J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, where he headed the Department of Political Science and Philosophy until 2015.