We were delighted to welcome to Univ the recently appointed Slovak ambassador, Róbert Ondrejcsák, and the Slovak counsellor for public and cultural diplomacy, Elena Mallicková.

In meetings with the Master and myself, we discussed the place of Slovak language, literature and linguistics in the Czech with Slovak degree course and our hope, especially following Brexit and the loss of the Erasmus programme, that we can further increase student engagement with Slovakia through embassy cultural events and promoting opportunities to study and work in Slovakia.

In this context, he was pleased to learn of the Dr Andrei Klein scholarship, which is open to Slovak as well as Czech applicants to Univ. The ambassador also held a lively Q&A with undergraduate and postgraduate students of Czech and Slovak, which gave them an insight both into Slovakia and its international priorities, and the hectic life of an ambassador.

Dr Rajendra Chitnis, Ivana and Pavel Tykač Supernumerary Fellow in Czech, Fellow for Anti-Racism and Associate Professor of Czech

Dr Chitnis teaches classes in Czech and Slovak literature from the fourteenth century to the present and translation from Czech and Slovak into English. From 2014 to 2016, he was Principal Investigator of an AHRC Translating Cultures Research Innovations project, Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations, which was recently published as a book. You can read an interview with Dr Chitnis here.

Published: 3 December 2021

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