Doctoral Students

E-mail: federica.cidale01@upol.cz

Bio

Federica Cidale is a PhD student in International Relations and Asian studies at Palacký University Olomouc in the Czech Republic. Her main research delves into the growing influence of cybertechnologies on international politics. Furthermore, her research interests extend to Japan's domestic politics, East Asian security, the Indo-Pacific region, ASEAN – particularly Myanmar – and non-Western state systems such as Mandala.

Dissertation: Securitization of Cybertechnologies in Japan

The dissertation examines Japan’s incomplete securitization of cybertechnologies, asking why securitizing moves have not resulted in full securitization despite a severe threat environment, sustained elite-level attention, and external pressure. Drawing on Bigo’s sociological approach to securitization, it examines how constitutional constraints, ministerial fragmentation, bureaucratic competition and societal opposition shape Japan’s cybersecurity policy. The analysis focuses on two cases: Japan’s cyber relations with China, representing the confrontational dimension, and Japan–ASEAN cybersecurity cooperation, representing the cooperative dimension, using longitudinal content analysis of official documents, political speeches, parliamentary debates, and Japanese-language newspaper coverage.

Supervisor: doc. Dr. Alfred Gerstl

E-mail: lucie.fajtlova01@upol.cz

Office: SV 2.20

Bio

My name is Lucie Fajtlová, and I am a PhD student in Asian Studies, currently focusing on ethnobotany and ethnolinguistics. I have been affiliated with the Department of Asian Studies since 2018. I hold degrees in Korean for Business, Chinese Philology, and Asian Studies with a specialization in Korean Language and Culture. My interest in East Asia was initially sparked by popular culture and gradually developed into an academic career. In my free time, I enjoy East Asian popular literature and comics, studying Chinese characters in Korean, cooking, fermented foods, herbalism, and growing plants, including viticulture.

Dissertation: Ethnobotanical Nomenclature and Taxonomy of Brassica species in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

My research examines how folk names for vegetables in the Korean dialects of Yanbian, China, reflect the interplay between language, culture, and the environment. I focus on both cultivated and wild-growing species, including the genus Brassica, and analyse their phonological, morphological, and semantic structure, their relationship to scientific taxonomy, and the influence of Chinese, Korean, and Manchu. The aim of the research is to document traditional knowledge, describe the impact of language shift and modernization on its transmission, and contribute to the preservation of the linguistic and ethnobotanical heritage of this multilingual border region.

Supervisor: doc. Joanna Ut-seong Sio, Ph.D.

E-mail: monika.halova@upol.cz

Office: SV 2.35

Bio

Monika Hálová is a PhD candidate in Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, where she also teaches Korean. In her research, she focuses on how Czech learners acquire and use Korean, with particular attention to L1 influence, language input, and learning environment. She is also interested in connecting findings from second language acquisition research with language pedagogy and classroom practice.

Dissertation: Roles of cross-linguistic influence and student exchange programme in the acquisition of Korean case by Czech learners of Korean

The dissertation investigates the acquisition of Korean case by Czech learners, focusing on the influence of L1 properties and exposure to the target language in a foreign language learning context. The project examines how learners’ performance is affected by different levels and types of language input. Particular attention is paid to student exchange programmes as a source of intensive, real-life exposure to the target language. The study explores the interplay between L1 influence, L2 input, and the learning environment in the acquisition of Korean case.

Supervisor: doc. Joanna Ut-seong Sio, Ph.D.

E-mail: yixuan.jandovachen@upol.cz

Office: SV 3.24

Bio

Yixuan Jandová Chen is a senior lecturer in Chinese at the Department of Asian Studies, Palacký University Olomouc. Her research focuses on second language acquisition and teaching Chinese as a foreign/second language.

Dissertation: Exploring Formal Register Acquisition in Chinese as a Foreign Language

The dissertation investigates the use of formal written register by intermediate and advanced learners of Chinese. Drawing on learner corpus data, multidimensional register analysis, teacher judgments, and teaching materials, the project examines linguistic features associated with formal and conversational language, identifies recurring patterns and difficulties in learners’ register use, and considers how formal register can be more effectively addressed in Chinese language teaching.

Supervisor: doc. Joanna Ut-seong Sio, Ph.D.

E-mail: martina.jemelkova01@upol.cz

Office: SV 3.25

Bio

Martina Jemelková is a PhD candidate in the doctoral programme Languages and Cultures of China and Japan. Her current research focuses on the influence of style on the prosodic structure of contemporary Chinese. Her broader research interests also include the morphological productivity of zero-meaning sinograms, their representation in the contemporary Chinese lexicon, and the typological characteristics of structures they form. At the Department of Asian Studies, she is responsible for managing the library collection, including digital resources, and ensuring the day-to-day operations of the Asian Library.

Dissertation: Prosodic Characteristics of the Standard Chinese Broadcast News Speech

The dissertation examines the prosodic structure of spoken television news in Modern Chinese and investigates whether the high degree of structural uniformity of this style is also reflected in its prosodic realisation. Based on a corpus of CCTV news broadcasts, it explores the extent to which the use of prosodic features is determined, or at least influenced, by the function of the source text. One of the study’s significant contributions is the application of Oldřich Švarný’s methodological framework to the stylistic dimension of language. The main aim of the thesis is to determine how the textual uniformity of news discourse is manifested at the prosodic level.

Supervisor: prof. Mgr. David Uher, PhD.

E-mail: koreshkovayu@gmail.com, yuliakodzhaeva@yandex.ru

Bio

Researcher specializing in economic and social anthropology, with a regional focus on China and Chinese presence across post-Soviet Eurasia. Research interests include cross-border mobility, informal economies, digital infrastructures, and institutional change, with an emphasis on commodification processes in agricultural and forest-processing sectors. Experienced in multi-sited ethnography and STS-informed analytical approaches, with long-term fieldwork conducted in Eastern Siberia and additional research in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Fieldwork experience includes research with Chinese migrants, migrants from Central Asia, and small-scale producers in rural contexts.

Dissertation: Post-socialist commodification and Chinese presence in Siberia: hybrid trajectories in agriculture and forestry

My dissertation examines the post-socialist commodification of land and forest resources in Eastern Siberia, with a particular focus on the role of Chinese actors in agriculture and forestry. Rather than treating “Chinese” enterprises as bounded or externally imposed formations, I show how Chinese participation becomes embedded in existing local networks, infrastructures, labor arrangements, and formal and informal institutions. I conceptualize these developments as hybrid trajectories of commodification, through which inherited Soviet socio-material arrangements are reworked and combined with market practices, local adaptations, and cross-border economic participation.

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Miroslav Nožina, Ph.D.

E-mail: natalie.kubicinova01@upol.cz

Office: SV 2.20

Bio

Arts, Palacký University Olomouc. Her research focuses on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), particularly Chinese materia medica and texts of the bencao tradition. She applies her expertise not only in academic research but also in clinical practice. She is also affiliated with the Material Culture Laboratory (MatKulLab), where she contributes to interdisciplinary research combining approaches from the humanities and natural sciences. Her work includes the study and experimental reconstruction of historical recipes and traditional practices, with a particular interest in fermentation and fermented products such as kombucha and medicinal wines, as well as their potential significance for human health.

Dissertation: Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches to Healthy Digestion: From Classical Texts to the Present Day

The dissertation examines the concept of healthy digestion in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the ways in which it has evolved throughout the historical development of the Chinese medical tradition. Drawing on classical medical texts, it traces changing understandings of digestive function, the causes of digestive disorders, and approaches to their treatment, with particular emphasis on Chinese materia medica and herbal prescriptions. The research also considers how historically developed concepts are reflected in contemporary practice and how they can be viewed in light of current scientific knowledge. Another part of the study focuses on fermentation and its use in the context of traditional Chinese medicine and health care.

Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Lukáš Kučera, Ph.D.

E-mail: vantuyen.le01@upol.cz, letuyen.k53@gmail.com

Bio

Le Van Tuyen is a PhD candidate at the Department of Asian Studies, Palacký University, and also a researcher at the Institute of Anthropology and Religious Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (Hanoi). His main research interests are Christian studies, religious conversion, the relationship between state and religion, and economics and religion. His recent publications are "Legal Status of Vietnamese Protestant Churches: The Pros and Cons" (The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 2024) and "The Emergence and Growth of Protestant House Churches in Vietnam since the Đổi mới Reforms of 1986" (Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies, forthcoming).

Dissertation: Looking for God: The Journey of Becoming a New Christian in Contemporary Hanoi

My dissertation aims to explore the process of conversion to Protestant Christianity in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.  Its central research question is: How does Protestant conversion emerge, become plausible, and continue to reshape the lives of internal migrants in contemporary Hanoi? To answer these questions, qualitative data were collected through unstructured and semi-structured interviews with fifty-two research participants, including pastors, church leaders, and lay Christians, as well as through participant observation among four Protestant groups and their related ministries in Hanoi. Its central argument is that conversion to Protestant Christianity should be understood neither as a purely individual decision nor simply as the result of church recruitment. Rather, it is an interrelated process shaped by migration-induced dislocation, weak prior religious capital, social networks, life problems, and the active evangelistic practices of Protestant churches.

Supervisor: Filip Kraus, Ph.D.

E-mail: natan.ledvon01@upol.cz

Office: SV 1.68

Bio

Natan Ledvoň se věnuje lingvistice a antropologii austronéských společností v indonéské provincii Maluku. Absolvoval indonéská studia na Univerzitě Palackého v Olomouci a následně lingvistiku na Universitas Diponegoro v Semarangu. V rámci stipendijních programů studoval i na Universitas Udayana v Denpasaru a Universitas Pattimura na Ambonu. Profesně působil v diplomacii, vzdělávání, cestovním ruchu a terénní humanitární práci.

Dissertation: Space imagined and experienced: toponymic interface and spatial cognition in Watubela oral narratives

Vycházím z lingvistické antropologie a prostřednictvím jazyka poznávám jeho mluvčí. Věnuji se dokumentaci a popisu ohroženého jazyka Watubela, který nemá publikovanou gramatiku. Zároveň zkoumám, jak jeho mluvčí vyprávějí příběhy doma, za chůze venku a při plavbě po okolním moři. Soustředím se na to, jak tato ostrovní společnost s ústní tradicí ukládá, předává a vybavuje si znalosti o svém prostředí pomocí míst a jejich názvů. Svůj výzkum vedu v úzké spolupráci s kolegy z Universitas Pattimura na Ambonu. Společně usilujeme o to, aby naše práce přispívala k uchovávání a sdílení místního vědění.

Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Ivona Barešová, Ph.D.

E-mail: nela.mikulcikova01@upol.cz

Office: SV 2.70

Bio

My name is Nela Mikulčíková, and I am a graduate of Indonesian Studies. In my doctoral research, I focus on spirit mediums in Borneo, a topic I came across by chance during my bachelor’s studies and found so fascinating that I have continued to pursue it ever since. In my free time, I enjoy reading fiction, crocheting, and watching TV series with dystopian, post-apocalyptic, or spiritual themes.

Dissertation: The Tatung Tradition: Exploring Healing Practices, Gender Dynamics, and Community Building

My dissertation examines the tradition of spirit mediums known as tatung within the Chinese-Indonesian community of Singkawang, West Kalimantan. The research aims to explore how tatung address not only physical ailments but also emotional, financial, and relationship-related problems. I plan to study their everyday lives, document how their healing practices are understood within the community, and examine the relationships they build with people who seek their help. In addition, I will investigate how gender shapes the roles and perceptions of tatung, and whether it influences the ways in which community members approach or place trust in them. These findings will contribute to the relatively underexplored field of shamanism and offer new insights into the cultural and social significance of tatung in contemporary Indonesian society.

Supervisor: doc. Monika Arnez, Ph.D.

E-mail: takashi.nakagawa01@upol.cz

Office: SV 1.68

Bio

I study linguistics, focusing on the documentation and description of endangered languages, and conducting fieldwork in Indonesia. I also have an academic background in communication studies and anthropology, as well as professional experience in telecommunications, and experience in disaster risk reduction and relief projects in Indonesia and Peru.

Dissertation: Documentation and Description of Sangir

This project provides audio-visual documentation and a grammatical description of Sangir, an endangered language spoken in the Sangir Archipelago of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Collaborating with local resource persons and organizations, the project also seeks to support their language conservation and revitalization.

Supervisor: František Kratochvíl, Ph.D.

E-mail: shirin.naseer02@upol.cz

Bio

Shirin Naseer is a PhD student in the Department of Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Her research focuses on China’s soft power, public diplomacy, and international perceptions of China, with particular attention to China-Pakistan relations and South Asia. Her work examines how China is represented and perceived across media, political discourse and public opinion.

Dissertation: Between Nations, Between Hearts: Public Admiration for China Beyond Strategy and Economics in Pakistan

My dissertation examines perceptions of China in Pakistan, with a particular focus on how these perceptions are shaped by public diplomacy, media narratives and broader political and social contexts. The project looks beyond conventional understandings of China-Pakistan relations as primarily economic or strategic, examining how China’s growing presence, investments and engagement are interpreted across different segments of Pakistani society. Using Pakistan as a case study, it also speaks to broader debates about how China’s growing overseas engagement is understood in countries where its political and economic footprint is increasingly visible.

Supervisor: Ing. Mgr. Richard Turcsányi, Ph.D.

E-mail: huongpham251288@gmail.com

Bio

Thu Huong Pham is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechia. She also has been a researcher at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences since 2011. She earned a master’s degree in Sociology and another master’s degree in International Development Studies. Her research focuses on partner choice of young Vietnamese, Vietnamese diaspora, migration, family studies.

Dissertation: Partner choice of second generation Vietnamese in the Czech Republic: Patterns and Impact factors

This dissertation examines how second generation Vietnamese in the Czech Republic choose their life partners. Drawing on theories of cultural racism, identity formation and partner choice, it traces the pathway that runs from identity to partner preferences, and from preferences to actual partnerships under impact factors such as macro, meso and micro. Although migration research commonly treats interethnic marriage as a measure of how far a minority has adapted to the host society, preliminary findings show that this cohort tends to prefer co-ethnic partners, a tendency connected to their complex identity formation and social position in Czech society. The study thereby contributes to the literature on identity and intimate relationships among the descendants of migrants, a topic that remains largely unexamined in the Czech context.

Supervisor: Filip Kraus, Ph.D.

E-mail: veronika.ricanova01@upol.cz

Office: SV 1.68

Bio

Veronika Říčanová is a PhD candidate in Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. She studied International Territorial Studies at Mendel University in Brno, where her research focused on democratic backsliding in Indonesia and the Philippines’ hedging strategy. Her broader research interests include China+1 investment diversification and the South China Sea dispute.

DIssertation: Industrial Upgrading and Trade Diversion in ASEAN Amid US-China Trade Wars

The dissertation examines how the US-China trade war and renewed US tariffs under the Trump administration are reshaping global value chains in Southeast Asia. Focusing on 
Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, it investigates why China+1 diversification has attracted substantial foreign investment while producing only limited functional upgrading. The research further explores how differences in political coalitions, statebusiness relations, and state capacity shape governments’ ability to use industrial policy to promote technology transfer, local supplier development, and greater domestic value 
capture.

Supervisor: doc. Dr. Alfred Gerst

E-mail: rudolf.schimera01@upol.cz

Office: SV 3.22

Bio

Rudolf Schimera specializes in the history of Asian cinema, with a particular focus on Japanese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese film. He has long taught courses on Asian cinema at the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc. In the past, he worked as a film critic and collaborated with film festivals and cultural institutions.

Dissertation: A Cultural Analysis of the ‘Japanese New Wave’ through 1960s Film Journalism

The dissertation examines the Japanese New Wave as a historically shifting category shaped by filmmaking, critical discourse, festival and distribution practices, and later film historiography. It traces the emergence and transformation of this label in both Japanese and Western contexts, as well as the process through which its canon was formed. Methodologically, the dissertation draws on historical and discourse analysis of contemporary sources and investigates the transnational circulation of films, concepts, and critical discourses between Japan and the West.

Supervisor: Giorgio Strafella, Ph.D.

E-mail: ahmed.sharif01@upol.cz

Bio

Ahmed Sharif is a PhD candidate in Asian Studies at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. He also serves as a Senior Lecturer and Research Associate at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). His doctoral research focuses on heritage, local community narratives, oral traditions, and ritual practices at Mahasthangarh, Bangladesh. In his work, he applies field archaeological methods, such as site surveys and excavations, alongside qualitative approaches like ethnography and photo-elicitation interviews. His broader interests include community heritage, landscape archaeology, Sufism in Bengal, and the intersection of oral traditions and archaeology.

Dissertation: Alternative Heritage Discourse at Mahasthangarh, Bangladesh: An Ethnographic Study of Community Narratives, Oral Traditions and Ritual Practices

This ethnographic study analyzes and interprets the multifaceted interactions between people and heritage at Mahasthangarh, Bangladesh, and identifies and articulates an Alternative Heritage Discourse (ALHD) operating at the community level. By examining the community narratives, oral traditions, and ritual practices around the Mahasthangarh archaeological site, this research seeks to move beyond the boundaries imposed by the state-sanctioned Authorized Heritage Discourse (AHD) and contribute to a more inclusive, process-oriented understanding of heritage.

Supervisor: doc. Monika Arnez, Ph.D., MA

E-mail: filip.sebok01@upol.cz

Bio

Filip Šebok holds M.A. degrees in International Relations from Masaryk University in Brno and Renmin University of China in Beijing, and a B.A. in Chinese Cultural Studies from Masaryk University. His research focuses on Chinese foreign policy, particularly toward the EU and Central and Eastern Europe.

Dissertation: The role of think tanks in Chinese foreign policy towards Europe

The thesis will analyze the role of Chinese foreign policy think tanks in the implementation of Chinese foreign policy towards Europe, conceptualizing think tanks as network-building, knowledge-creating, and discourse-shaping actors. Employing case-study analysis, the operation of Chinese think tanks in Europe through locally established entities will be analyzed.  The thesis seeks to contribute to the understanding of think tanks as non-state/hybrid actors in the exercise of Chinese foreign policy.

Supervisor: Ing. Mgr. Richard Turcsányi, Ph.D.

E-mail: utammu01@upol.cz

Office: SV 1.68

Bio

I focus on EU-ASEAN and Global South relations, particularly from the Indonesian and Central Eastern European perspective. Besides that, I am also interested in the issue of human security, human rights, gender, and youth movements in the two regions.

Dissertation: The Anatomy of Indonesia’s “Global South” Identity Discourse and Its Contestations

My dissertation scrutinises the Indonesian government´s discourse of ´Global South´ as an attempt to insert its agency at international stage with major powers, for instance, in its current BRICS+ membership and relations with China and Russia.

Supervisor: doc. Dr. Alfred Gerstl

E-mail: veronika.vasekova01@upol.cz

Bio

Veronika Vaseková is a PhD candidate in Asian Studies at the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc. Her research connects the study of contemporary China with environmental psychology, risk perception, and environmental governance; her broader research interests also include social entrepreneurship, the circular economy, visual literacy, and qualitative and mixed-methods research. During her doctoral studies, she has led research projects on water perception in China, public trust in Chinese environmental policy, and social entrepreneurship, and in 2026–2027 she also serves as an external co-investigator in the project The Recognition–Authority Gap: How Platforms Construct Entrepreneurial Authority in Social Entrepreneurship at The Education University of Hong Kong.

Her international research and academic experience includes China and Hong Kong, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Spain, and the Netherlands, and she has taught at both Palacký University Olomouc and the University of Ostrava. She has published, or has work forthcoming, in Nature + Culture, Environmental Quality Management, Social Enterprise Journal, Human Arenas, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Humanistic Management Journal, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, and Kulturní studia.

Dissertation: Perception of Water Pollution and Environmental Risks among Chinese and Foreigners in Direct Administered Municipalities of China

The dissertation examines how Chinese and foreign residents of China’s directly administered municipalities perceive water pollution and water-related risks, the acceptance of reclaimed water, and trust in institutions responsible for water management. It employs a qualitatively dominant mixed-method design combining interviews, open-ended water associations, and two quantitative datasets. The findings show that the clearest differences between Chinese and foreign respondents concern evaluations of water quality and the affective framing of water, while reclaimed-water acceptance is shaped particularly by reclaimed-water-specific trust and perceived risk. The dissertation also contributes to the refinement of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework by examining mechanisms of risk attenuation and develops implications for environmental communication and socially credible water governance in urban China.

Supervisor: doc. Olaf Günther, Ph.D.

E-mail: zhenzh00@upol.cz

Office: SV 1.68

Bio

MSc in Modern and Contemporary Art: History, Curating and Criticism at the University of Edinburgh. Focus on contemporary art, visual culture, exhibition studies, and queer theory. Museum and curatorial experience related to Chinese contemporary art.

Dissertation: The (In)Visibility and Representation of the Chinese Male Body and Sexuality in Contemporary Queer Art in East Asia

My PhD project examines how the Chinese male body and homoerotic desire are represented in contemporary queer art across Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diasporic contexts. It focuses on how queer visibility is produced, negotiated, or restricted through visual form, censorship, public culture, institutions, and exhibition-making. By combining art history, queer theory, Sinophone cultural analysis, and exhibition studies, the project aims to develop a Chinese-centred account of queer visual culture.

Supervisor: Giorgio Strafella, Ph.D.