Thesis title: Development assistance as a soft power initiative: Case study Kosovo
Begun: 2020
Thematic research group: Regpol - Centrum pro výzkum otázek regionální a politické geografie
Link to relevant web pages: Researchgate - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vit-Volny
Qualifications:
2013 – 2017 (Bachelor degree) Faculty of Science – Demography and Social Geography
2013 – 2017 (Bachelor degree) Faculty of Arts – History – European Studies
2017 – 2020 (Master’s degree) Global Migration and Development Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University
2019 semester at Institute de Geographie, Sorbonne IV, Paris, France
2020 semester at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 – ongoing PhD. Regional and political geography
Awards and grants:
2023-2024 GAUK - The Aims of Gulf Cooperation Council Soft Power Initiatives and the
Impact It Has on Local Communities: The Case Study of Kosovo
2020–1 st at 13 th Student Conference on the Balkans (Ústav mezinárodních vztahů – MZV)
2017–3 rd at the best bachelor thesis in the field of geography (ČGS Brno)
Research:
My dissertation deals with the development assistance and its connection to soft power. The aim is to discover how donors use development assistance for their foreign policy goals and how it impacts the society of receiver´s country. Situation in Kosovo is taken as case study for this research. Generally, I am interested in themes connected to the nationalism, geopolitics and development assistance in the region of Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
Publications:
VOLNÝ V. (2023): Involvement of the Gulf Cooperation Council States in Kosovo:
development assistance, soft power, and neofundamentalism. Journal of Southeast
European and Black Sea Studies, 23, 3, 529-547. ISSN 1468-3857. Dostupné z:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683857.2022.2128362
VOLNÝ V. (2022): Denis Kazanskyi and Maryna Vorotyntseva, Yak Ukraina vtrachala
Donbas. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Studia Territorialia, 22, 1, 97-100. ISSN 1213-4449.
Dostupné z: https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1083161
VOLNÝ V., KORVASOVÁ V. (eds.) (2020): Proceedings of EGEA Annual Congress 2019:
Forgotten Homeland - Realizing the Roots. Praha, Česká geografická společnost, ISBN 978-
80-907728-3-0.
VOLNÝ V. (2019): Vznik, vývoj a dnešní realita pan-nacionalismu na západním Balkáně na
příkladu albánského a srbského národa. Informace České geografické společnosti, 38, 1,
12-23. ISSN 1213-1075. Dostupné z: https://geography.cz/publikace/informace-
cgs/informace-cgs-201938_1/
Conference contributions:
8TH EUGEO Congress - June 28 – July 1, 2021, Prague
The GGC states techniques of spreading the cultural soft power in Kosovo via the
development assistance
UGI-IGU Paris - 18-22 July 2022 - The Development Assistance as a Religious Soft Power
Initiative Congress of Czech and Slovak Geography Associations, Olomouc – 6-8 September – The Development Assistance as a Method of Soft Power: Case study of Kosovo.
Teaching - Participation on subjects:
Introduction to geography and geographical proseminar (2020/2021
Special Topics in Political Geography (2022/2023 –
Geography of Nationalism (2022/2023 –
Research into migration and development: approaches and examples I (2023/2024 –
Foreign excursion (2023 – programme for excursion in Kosovo)
Supervising:
BERKOVÁ, K. (2022): The Media Discourse Analysis of the Normalization of Relations
Between Israel and Arab States.
POKORNÝ, Z. (2023): Bosnia and Herzegovina: attitudes, interests and efforts of Croats and
Serbs.
External activities:
Geography teacher at middle school, ZŠ Hanspaulka (2021 – ongoing)
Long time active member of European Geography Association for Students and Young
Geographers (EGEA - https://egea.eu/)
- Main organiser of Annual Congress of EGEA, Loučná nad Desnou, 2019
- Treasurer of EGEA, 2017–2018
- Representative of Fundraising Committee of EGEA, 2016–2017
- Treasurer of Eastern Regional Congress, Hrachov, 2017
Board Member of Czech Geography Association (2022 – ongoing)