Fulbright Reality Czech

Eva Holtanová is a climate scientist at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague. In 2024/2025, she spent six transformative months at Colorado State University in Fort Collins as a Fulbright Scholar. Her research focused on understanding how extreme temperature events might change under global warming, but her stay was far more than just academic. With her family of five in tow, Eva made the most of the Fulbright “grace period,” which allows grantees and their families up to 30 extra days in the U.S. beyond the official grant. Together, they embarked on an unforgettable road trip from Colorado to Utah, northern Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington, exploring the breathtaking national parks and making memories that went far beyond the lab.  Traveling as a family with three kids is always an adventure. Moving to an unknown place in a foreign country on the other side of the Atlantic for six months is a big adventure. Indeed, spending ...

Ian Zwaschka is a high school English  teacher. In 2024/2025 he served at the Petr Bezruč Gymnázium in Frýdek-Místek as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. With a BA in English, Creative Writing, and Cinema, and a year of teaching in South Korea under his belt, he slipped into the rhythm of a Czech college-prep high school as if he’d been there for years. During his grant, Ian energized students with a popular improv club, joined the local folk band Ondrášek on stage, presented at an academic conference, and dove into Czech lessons so he could chat with locals instead of relying on wild gesturing. Somewhere between the mountains, the music, and the everyday wonder of a town of 50,000, Frýdek-Místek stole his heart. So when a job offer from the Vocational High School arrived, Ian didn’t think twice. His Czech adventure was not ready to end. The Czech Republic was once a postcard to me – a saturated image of the Charles Bridge with Prague written in cursive at the bottom. Th...

Andrea Průchová Hrůzová je  vizuální socioložka. Vyučuje na Fakultě sociálních věd Univerzity Karlovy a výzkumně působí na Ústavu pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, kde se zabývá vztahem paměti a digitálního prostoru. V roce 2011 založila a do roku 2023 vedla Platformu pro studium vizuální kultury Fresh Eye. Do češtiny převedla výběr esejů Johna Bergera „Způsoby vidění“ a podílela se na českém překladu „Teorie obrazu“ W. J. T. Mitchella a „Zápisníku z šedesátých let” Jonase Mekase.  V roce 2024 vydala knihu esejí „V zajetí obrazů. Vizuální politika 21. století” (Akropolis), oceněnou Českou sociologickou společností a nominovanou na cenu Magnesia Litera. Editorsky aktuálně připravila soubor textů „Public Narratives of Decolonization and Racial (In)Justice in Central and Southeast Europe” (2025, Palgrave Macmillan). Jako stipendistka Fulbrightova programu strávila v akademickém roce 2015/2016 sedm měsíců na Pratt Institute a Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development n...

Julia Prager-Hessel  is the Deputy Communications Director for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in the U.S. Congress. Three years ago, she served as an English Teaching Assistant at Gymnázium Chotěboř. In November 2022, she hosted an unforgettable Thanksgiving for her Czech students, colleagues, and fellow grantees who had no plans for the holiday. What seemed a Herculean task at first turned into “cultural exchange in its purest form: joyful, messy, loud, communal, and, true to Thanksgiving culture and Czech cuisine alike, punctuated by a ton of heavy food,” complete with traditions and Cotton-Eye Joe dancing. Because of this and many other experiences, the town of fewer than 10,000 grew close to Julia’s heart. She returns whenever possible: “Chotěboř grounds me, and reminds me why I do the work I do, why community matters, why listening matters, why showing up matters.”  Three Thanksgivings ago, I stood at the back of the attic event hall in Panský Dům,...

Libby Hladik is an occupational therapist.  Her work blends clinical expertise with creativity and collaboration. With a background as a theatre director and producer, she brings a unique perspective to her research on well-being and community participation for people with developmental disabilities and their families. In the 2024/2025 academic year, Libby spent a year in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright Scholar, partnering with the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education at Masaryk University in Brno. She worked alongside Czech families to adapt an Accessibility Toolkit for Cultural Institutions, helping to make community spaces more inclusive. Joined by her Czech-born husband and their daughter, Libby reflects, “My Fulbright experience was truly special in how it connected such important parts of my personal and professional life.”  My Fulbright experience was a dream come true. It sounds a little funny and a bit verbose, but it was a combination of personal and profe...

Tomáš Hoření Samec je sociolog. Působí na Sociologickém ústavu Akademie věd ČR a na Fakultách architektury ČVUT a VUT. Zaměřuje se na výzkum bydlení ve vztahu ke společenským normám, diskurzu a politikám. Zájem o participativní formy bydlení ho inspiroval k podání přihlášky do Fulbright-Masarykova programu. V prosinci roku 2024 odjel s manželkou a dcerou na University of Arizona, kde v půlmilionovém městě Tucson pět měsíců zkoumal možnosti a limity spolupráce mezi veřejným a občanským sektorem při rozvoji různých forem participativního bydlení jako jsou Community Land Trust, cohousing nebo cooperatives. Přestože výzkumný projekt se v USA vyvíjel jinak než očekával, zpět v České republice mu teď chybí více času na čtení a psaní, pouštní západy slunce a propojené cyklostezky.  Stalo se Vám někdy, že jste zmeškali let? Mně ano, dvakrát, pokaždé ve Spojených státech. Přesouvat na několik měsíců svůj profesní, rodinný i osobní život není nic jednoduchého, obzvláště, když na přestup na l...