Dr. Petra Hudek

 ORCID iD    ResearchGate

Education:
2013–2020: Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava & Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO), Paris. Dissertation thesis: “Tangible Heritage from Communist Era in the Public Space of Bulgaria and Former Czechoslovakia: the Question of Preserving Monuments and their New Roles. (Soviet Army Memorials after 1989)”, PhD dissertation defended on 18.12.2020 at the Comenius University in Bratislava
2010–2012: Paris-Sorbonne University, France, MASTER LLCER Slavic Studies: Intercultural Communication and Museology in Renovated Europe (CIMER), domain: Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Master thesis: “L’héritage communiste en Bulgarie” [The communist heritage in Bulgaria] (Master diploma)
2005-2009: University Rennes II, France, formation: Russian and East European Studies (Bachelor diploma)

Fellowships:
December 2023: fellowship within the framework of the CEFRES-EHESS cooperation, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), research unit CERCEC, the Centre for Russian, Caucasian and Central European Studies, Paris
2021 – 2023: postdoctoral fellowship, Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
2018: Ernst Mach-Stipendien Austria, Institute of East European History, Vienna
2017: International Visegrad Fund Scholarship, Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
2017: French government scholarship

Membership:
Editorial Board Member of the online journal Forum Historiae
Executive Committee, Secretary, Slovak Historical Association
Member of Memory Studies Association (MSA)
Co-Chairs of working group PoSoCoMeS – Post-Socialist and Comparative Memory Studies
Member of Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS)

Implemented and currently ongoing commissioned research

• Instrumentalization of History in Slovak Public Space in the 20th Century: Politics of Memory in Times of Conflict, War and Rupture, Principal investigator, 1 September 2025 – 31 August 2029, Slovak research and development agency (APVV), Institute of History of the SAS, ongoing.
• Visual Representation of the Second World War in Museums, Memorials, and Commemorations in Central Europe, Principal investigator with Thomas Chopard, 1 June 2024 – 31 May 2026, Tandem CNRS – SAV Excellence Research Support Program, ongoing.
• Iconoclasm in the Public Space of Czechoslovakia after 1989. The Heritage of Socialism in Historical Perspective, Principal investigator, 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2023, Program of support for promising human resources – postdoctoral fellows, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Contemporary History, past.

Selected conference presentations

• 22 – 25 January 2026, conference Post-Socialist Memory in Times of Crises and Speculation, Yerevan, “Politics of Commemoration and Musealization of Czech and Slovak Public space”, oral presentation, https://www.posocomesyerevan2026.com/
• 10 November 2025, workshop Memory of World War II in Eastern Europe across Historical Legacies and Contemporary Debates, Bratislava, “World War II Monuments and the Politics of Memory in Czech and Slovak Contexts”, oral presentation, https://cefres.cz/en/events/the-memory-of-world-war-ii-in-eastern-europe/
• 30 – 1 November 2025, conference Monuments of the Soviet Occupation. Period as Dissonant Heritage, Riga, “Transforming Soviet war memorials in an age of geopolitical tensions”, oral presentation, https://lmzkb.lv/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Monuments-of-the-Soviet-Occupation-Period-as-Dissonant-Heritage__Programme_summaries.pdf
• 9 – 10 October 2025, conference The Past and the Future of Public History, Vilnius, “Public History and Collective Memory in Czechia and Slovakia”, oral presentation, https://www.tspmi.vu.lt/en/conferences/international-conference-the-past-and-future-of-public-history/
• 18 July 2025, Memory Studies Association (MSA), Panel: Visual Representation of War and
  Conflict in Museums, Prague, “80 Years Later: Memory and Commemoration of National
  Uprisings in Polish and Slovak Museums”, oral presentation.
• 15 – 16 September 2025, conference Memories, Narratives, and Conflicts: at the Confluence of Perspectives, Berlin, “Slovak Memory Politics and Commemorations on the 80th Anniversary of the End of Second World War”, oral presentation with Thomas Chopard, https://cefres.cz/en/events/memory-narrative-and-conflict-at-the-confluence-of-perspectives/
• 24 May 2025, Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), New York, “From Liberation to
  Controversy: The Politics of Memory Surrounding Soviet Memorials in Central Europe”, oral presentation.
• 25 January 2025, Conference Museums, Memory, Politics, Panel: Museum Representation of the Communist Past after 1989, online, “Musealisation of Communist-era Monuments in Post-1989 Czechoslovakia”, online presentation.