Research

Projects and grants→

The Department for the Study of Religions serves as a platform for prestigious research projects. We are experienced in carrying out projects through interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Here, you can explore the topics our projects focus on, learn who is involved in them, and discover the findings and results of our research.

DISSINET

Dissident Network Project

WEB

CoRe

Za hranice bezpečnosti: role konfliktu v posilování odolnosti

WEB

CREDO

Computing Religious Devotion: How Reinforcing Supernatural Beliefs Affects Normative Models in the Mind

WEB

SIPROME

Socio-Spatial Situatedness of Roman Professions and its Impact on Religion in the Roman Empire: A Formal Modeling Approach

WEB

Mapování novokřtěneckých komunit na Moravě v 16. a 17. století

WEB

Research centers→

In addition to individual researchers, our teams are organized into two research centers. The Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA) combines methods from the cognitive and evolutionary sciences, while the Center for the Digital Research of Religion (CEDRR) uses computational methodologies to enhance our understanding of historical data.

LEVYNA

1 Jun

Two LEVYNA Team Members Receive Prestigious Awards

We are delighted to share that two members of the LEVYNA team have recently received major awards recognizing their outstanding research.

CEDRRPhD

8 Jul

Anestis Karasaridis is now a PhD

Anestis defended the thesis A Computational Assessment of McNeill and Stark on Christian Expansion during the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian, and completed the doctoral exam. The defense took place on June 29 2026.

DISSINET

30 Jun

DISSINET at IMC Leeds and DH2026 in South Korea

This summer, DISSINET will present its research at two major international events - the IMC 2026 in Leeds and DH2026 in South Korea - highlighting its work on medieval religious dissent and advancing the integration of medieval studies with digital innovation.

Publications→

An overview of scholarly articles, book chapters, and books produced by the deparment.

LEVYNA

21 May

New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive computations underlying ritual performance and persistence

In a new paper published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Martin Lang, Khatereh Borhani, Alexandra Ružičková, Eva Kundtová Klocová, and Radim Chvaja propose that ritual performance and persistence can be understood through reinforcement learning.

CEDRR

13 May

Sebastian Kheml, Tomáš Glomb, and Aleš Chalupa employed spatial analysis to uncover a possible link between malaria and healing cults in Roman Italy

A new study by Sebastian Kheml, Tomáš Glomb, and Aleš Chalupa published in Open Archaeology focuses on the previously unexplored relationship between healing cults dedicated to the gods Asclepius and Apollo, and the risk of malaria in present-day Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia.

DISSINET

17 Apr

Coding a heresy trial, one clause at a time

Our new article published in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities uses the trial record of Bernard-Oth of Niort and his family to demonstrate the benefits of Computer-Assisted Semantic Text Modelling (CASTEMO), a custom approach that not only captures informational content but also its discursive and contextual embedding.

Research

Projects and grants→

DISSINET

CoRe

CREDO

SIPROME

Mapování novokřtěneckých komunit na Moravě v 16. a 17. století

Research centers→

Two LEVYNA Team Members Receive Prestigious Awards

Anestis Karasaridis is now a PhD

DISSINET at IMC Leeds and DH2026 in South Korea

Publications→

New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive computations underlying ritual performance and persistence

Sebastian Kheml, Tomáš Glomb, and Aleš Chalupa employed spatial analysis to uncover a possible link between malaria and healing cults in Roman Italy

Coding a heresy trial, one clause at a time

Collaboration with research infrastructures