Projects

I coordinated and participated in over 30 international and national research projects

Selection of projects

•PI and coordinator of the Horizon Europe project BRRIDGE: Building Capacities for Excellent Research and Innovation in Democracy and Policy through Networking, Knowledge, and Experience Transfer (Budget: € 1 474 312,50). This project addresses 21st-century challenges to democracy, with my research focus particularly on regional and socio-economic inequalities and their impact on democracy. It is the largest international research grant in UMB’s history and brings together the world’s top universities to explore contemporary challenges to democracy, shaped by shifts in technology, culture, governance, and inequalities. BRRIDGE enhances the research excellence of the PI’s host institution through a range of activities, including four keynote lectures featuring top-tier scholars, three panel discussions, and thirteen research training sessions.

• In the SECreTour (Horizon Europe, Budget: € 2 999 988,75, UMB budget: € 287 500, WP6 leader) we are responsible for developing a business model for a unique cultural pilgrimage route in Central Slovakia, with the aim of providing scenarios for sustainable regional development and supporting marginal and peripheral areas in the region. In the INCULTUM project (H2020, Budget: € 3 752 131,25, UMB budget: € 171 875, WP4 leader, Pilot action no.3 leader) we focused on the development of peripheral and rural areas, utilizing participatory and place-specific approaches to foster growth in these regions. As a part of our pilot action we developed an original participatory platform banickepoklady, to promote mining heritage in Central Slovakia. In addition, we published two open-access books: the first, Participatory Governance and Models in Culture and Cultural Tourism, for which I served as the lead co-author, and the second, Innovative Cultural Tourism in European Peripheries (published by Routledge), co-authoring two chapters. Additionally, the FOLPSEC (7FP) project explored local production systems and their impact on spatial development in EU countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia) and beyond (Russia and Ukraine).