Silvester Trnovec is a historian and specialist in Africa at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. His research has focused principally on transformations of African societies in Western and Northern Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries in the context of French colonialism. He also directs the international project Fontes Historiae Africanae / Sources for the History of Africa, under the auspices of the International Union internationales des académies in Brussels, which is dedicated to the publication of research editions of sources on African history.

He is currently conducting research on the image of Africa in Slovak society and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing in particular on the emergence of colonial stereotypes in a context where direct colonialism had not been experienced.

From January 2026 he will be collaborating with the French historian and Africa specialist Romain Tiquet to develop a new project entitled No colonies, yet still colonial? Czechoslovak history and the French colonial space in Africa up to 1945. This project is implemented within the TANDEM SAV-CNRS 2026-2027 programme and explores the historic links between the Czechoslovak space and the French colonial empire in Africa.