Calls for Papers

CFP – Queer Materiality: Becoming-Relations 

This international conference is jointly organised by Department of Czech and Comparative Literature (Faculty of Arts, Charles University), the Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts, Charles University), CEFRES, the Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i. (Slovak Academy of Sciences) and Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) (the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences).

Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2025
Date: March 12–13, 2026
Location: Charles University, Faculty of Arts & CEFRES, Prague
Language: English (Slovak and Czech are also accepted)

Coordinators: Michaela Rumpíková, Mateusz Chmurski, Josef Šebek, Iwona Janicka, Alžbeta Kuchtová, Eva Voldřichová Beránková
Scientific Committee: TBC

Keynotes:
Prof. Jack Halberstam (Columbia University),
Dr. Bogdan Popa (Transylvania University),
Hélène Giannecchini (to be confirmed)

In their 2009 book Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable, Judith Butler attempts to rethink “the complex and fragile character of the social bond and to consider what conditions might make violence less possible, lives more equally grievable, and, hence, more livable” (2009: 1). With multiple ideological conflicts around the globe, Butler’s project remains relevant. While the Czech and Slovak governments still refuse to acknowledge the Istanbul agreement, elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe we can observe an underlying tension around LGBTQI+ and other minorities’ rights. Continue reading CFP – Queer Materiality: Becoming-Relations  →

Calls for Applications, Join us

CFA – TANDEM Program, CNRS / AV ČR 2026–2027

The French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences in Prague (CEFRES) in Prague, the French National Research Center (CNRS), the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Charles University (UK) are launching the fifth call for applications for the TANDEM incubator program of the CEFRES Platform.
TANDEM program endeavors excellency in social sciences and humanities by bringing together Czech and French colleagues to intensify scientific collaboration between our countries in the European Research Area.

The aim of the program is to associate two researchers, one from the CAS and one from CNRS or affiliated to CNRS (i.e. member of an UMR) around a joint research project leading to foster joint Czech-French scientific collaboration through the submission of a project proposal: Continue reading CFA – TANDEM Program, CNRS / AV ČR 2026–2027 →

Calls for Applications, Non classé

CFA – Body and Care in the Ordeal of the War

Body and Care in the Ordeal of the War
A Socio-historical Perspective on East-Central and East-Southern Europe in the 20th-21st Centuries

This conference is part of activities conducted by “War and Society in Central and Eastern Europe (20th-21st centuries)” Research Alliance (EURETES, EHESS – MESR) that bring together CERCEC-EHESS, Charles University in Prague and Lviv Center of Urban History. It is hosted and supported by CEFRES, French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences.

Deadline for submission:  May 5, 2025
When: 12-14 November 2025
Where: CEFRES, Prague
Language: english and others (see below)

The aim of this conference is to fill an important gap in our understanding of the relation between war, violence-affected and thus fragilized bodies and care in East-Central and East-Southern European societies in a long-term perspective, that of the armed conflicts of the 20th-21st centuries.

Participants are invited to give particular consideration to the following themes:

  • Body and mental health,
  • Hygiene, nutrition, epidemics,
  • Healthcare institutions and actors,
  • Care provision, regimes, and infrastructure,
  • Material culture of care,
  • Mixed economies of welfare,
  • Circulations,
  • Agency and rights of the cared-for

The conference will include a workshop specifically dedicated to an interdisciplinary discussion on sources and methods; submissions should point to these as well.

See the full text of the call here.

All applications of 700 words maximum should be sent by May 5, 2025 to the organizers here-bellow mentioned.

Applications can be sent in European languages other than English, although correct understanding of english to enable shared discussion is essential.

Scientific committee:

Ioulia Shukan (EHESS) ioulia.shukan(@)ehess.fr
Paul Lenormand (Université Paris Nanterre) plenorma(@)parisnanterre.fr
Iryna Sklokina (Center for Urban History, Lviv)
Laura Lee Downs (European University Institute)
Dominika Gruzhiel (European University Institute)
Oksana Vynnyk (Irish Research Counsil)
Jean-Paul Newman (Maynooth University)
Hanna Zaremba -Kosovych (Institute of Ethonology, Academy of sciences of Ukraine)
Sarah D. Phillips (University of Indiana)
Morgane Labbé (EHESS)
Vaclav Smirdkal (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
Mark Edele (University of Melbourne)
Alexandre Sumpf (University of Strasbourg) Continue reading CFA – Body and Care in the Ordeal of the War →

Grand Entretien

Grand Entretien with Françoise Vergès

Decolonizing Feminism – Grand Entretien with Françoise Vergès

On the occasion of the publication in the Czech edition of Un féminisme décolonial (La Fabrique, 2019) by Karolinum, CEFRES, the French Institute in Prague and Charles University invite you to a Great Interview with the author Françoise Vergès.

When: Wednesday, 12/3 2025, 6 pm
Location: French Institute in Prague, Štěpánská 35, Prague 1, 5th floor
Language: French with simultaneous Czech interpretation
Moderator: Chiara Mengozzi (CEFRES / Faculty of Arts, Charles University)

Who cleans up the world? It is with this question that Françoise Vergès introduces a decolonial feminism, taking as her starting point the underpaid, underestimated work that women, the majority of them racialised, do every day, all over the world, to make a society work. This feminism sees itself as the only one with a true understanding of women’s rights. Françoise Vergès defends an anti-racist and anti-capitalist feminism. Continue reading Grand Entretien with Françoise Vergès →

CEFRES Team

Helga Mitterbauer – Research and CV

Néo-baroque in Central Europe: Literature, Theatre, Cinema, and Other Arts

Research area: 1

Helga Mitterbauer, full professor of German literature at the Université libre de Bruxelles, is joining CEFRES from January to March 2025 thanks to the ‘Visiting scholars’ international mobility support programme funded by the CNRS. Previously, she was a visiting professor at a number of universities, including the University of Alberta (2010-2015) and ELTE Budapest. She taught at the University of Graz (1993-2013) where she habilitated in 2008.

She was chair of the coordinating committee of the ICLA CHLEL book series (2022-2024; Amsterdam, Benjamins) and is currently co-editor of the book series Forum: Österreich (Frank & Timme, Berlin).

Her project Neo-baroque in Central Europe focuses on the revival of baroque stylistic elements in literature, theatre, film and other arts in Germany and Central Europe. The aim is to study the extent to which this historical perspective is still valid today. Part of the project is to investigate how historical changes in society and power politics are reflected in literature and art, which art forms are used in response or to what extent art and literature facilitate the accumulation of power (the emergence of private galleries and libraries).

link to the full list of publications here.

CEFRES Team

Eva Krásová – Research and CV

Eva Krásová teaches theory of literature at the Institute of Czech Literature and Comparative Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague.

Her research focuses on the history of thinking about literature, especially in the 20th century, using historiographical methods such as text genetics and work with archival documents. She is interested in the relations between Czech and French linguists mainly Emile Benveniste, Antoine Meillet, Jan Mukařovský, Vilém Mathesius, Vladimír Skalička, etc.

In addition, she has long been a lecturer in world literature in creative writing programmes, first at the Josef Škvorecký Literary Academy, and from 2015 to the present at the Text and Screenplay Department of the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory and College, where she has had the opportunity to meet young poets in their
formative stages.

Her most recent professional interest is the analysis of popular culture using the tools of classical narratology and pop culture tropology and the resulting reflections on the place of literature in the contemporary media situation.

French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences – Prague