CALL FOR PAPERS

UNIVERSITIES IN CENTRAL EUROPE –

CROSSROADS OF SCHOLARS FROM ALL OVER THE
WORLD

29 September 2011 – 1 October, 2011, Charles University in

Prague,
Czech Republic

ORGANIZERS & PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

• European Society for the History of Science

• Institute of History of Charles University and Archive of Charles
University in Prague
• Centre for the History of Sciences and Humanities of the Institute for
Contemporary History Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
• Czech Society for the History of Sciences and Technology
• Czech National Committee for History of Science

MAIN THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE

• Mobility of Scholars between Universities since the Age of the

Enlightenment

• The „Visiting Professor“ Phenomenon

• The 100th Anniversary of Einstein‘s stay in Prague

Central Europe is a strategically important space, destined by its geography and

political history to become crossroads of nations and their cultural and educational
traditions. The Habsburg monarchy, the German Empire unified in the second half of
the 19th century as well as the region of today’s Poland has been seats of numerous
universities and technical universities with venerable traditions. In all these
institutions, the influence of local teachers intermingled with the impact of experts
coming from culturally diverse parts of Europe. The creation of national states in the
aftermath of 1918, their subjugation by totalitarian regimes in 1933, 1938‒9, and
1945‒48, as well as the dissolution of the Soviet block after 1989, represent turning
points in the more recent history of this region.
The Charles University in Prague, where the conference will take place, was
founded by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King Charles IV in 1348. Today, it is
one of the principal Central European universities both by size and its scholarly
importance.

The aim of the conference is to look for answers to the following range of questions:
Mobility of Scholars between Universities since the Age of the Enlightenment
- Why did teachers migrate between universities? Was it mainly to further their
careers?
- Can we discern any regularity in the directions of academic migration?
- Which criteria determined the relative importance of universities?
- To what extent could the academic representatives of various scientific
disciplines influence, under the given local political, cultural and ethnic
conditions, the influx or drain of experts to/from their institutions?
- How did migration influence establishment of institutions and scientific
disciplines?

The ‘Visiting Professor’ Phenomenon

- The substance and history of the term ‘visiting professor’.
- What was the importance of visiting professors in the dissemination,
appropriation, and circulation of ideas?
- To what extent were such visits seen by the professors as a ‘time off’ or
refreshment of the academic routine, and to what extent did they enrich and
inspire their scientific work?
- What was the contribution of visiting professors to the universities hosting
them and what did they contribute to their home institutions?

Centenary of Einstein‘s stay in Prague

The conference is organised in the year of 100th anniversary of Einstein’s stay at the
Prague German Charles-Ferdinand University. Einstein and Prague and Einstein in
general is therefore also a subject of the conference.

The conference will follow up on an international meeting dedicated to the issue of

Scientists in Exile and the Dictatorships of the 20th Century, which will take place in
Prague on May 24‒26 (see http://www.science.usd.cas.cz/cs/aktuality.html)
While the May conference focuses on forced migration, the September conference
deals with voluntary migration of scientists.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Will be announced

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

Will be announced

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Marek Ďurčanský, Institute of the History of Charles University and Archive of

Charles University, Prague
Antonín Kostlán, Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic, Prague
Ivan Jakubec, Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University in Prague
Petr Cajthaml, Institute of the History of Charles University and Archive of Charles
University, Prague
Ivana Lorencová, National Technical Museum in Prague
Helena Durnová, Faculty of Education, Masaryk University, Brno
Milada Sekyrková, Institute of the History of Charles University and Archive of
Charles University, Prague
Alena Šolcová, Faculty of Information Technology, Czech Technical University in
Prague
Soňa Štrbáňová, Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic, Prague
Petr Svobodný, Institute of the History of Charles University and Archive of Charles
University, Prague

PRESENTATION and PUBLICATION

The official language of the conference will be English. The length of the
contributions will be 30 minutes including discussion.
Proposed contributions will be reviewed and approved by the Programme Committee
and published as special issue of the series Historia Universitatis Carolinae
Pragensis.

VENUE OF THE CONFERENCE

Charles University in Prague

Ovocný trh 5
116 36 Prague 1
Czech Republic

CONFERENCE FEES and DEADLINES

Registration and request for economy accommodation: March, 1, 2011

Payment of the participation fee: 90 EUR before and including April, 15, 2011,
120 EUR after April, 15, 2011
Posting of the abstract: February, 28, 2011
Notification of acceptance: March, 31, 2011
Abstract on web and conference programme in e-form: June, 1, 2011
Request of financial support: February, 28, 2011
Limited support for accomodation and/or conference fee will be available. Requests with
explanation should be sent before February 15, 2011.

Account number: will be announced before January 31, 2011

ACCOMMODATION AND TRAVEL

Information will be available on the Workshop website.
CONTACTS

Milada.sekyrkova@ruk.cuni.cz
Telephone: +420 224 491 468

Institute of the History of Charles University

and Archive of Charles University
Charles University in Prague
Ovocný trh 5
116 36 Prague 1
Czech Republic

MAIN WEB INFO

http://udauk.cuni.cz/
http://udauk.cuni.cz/ARCHIVENG-1.html