Email: frantisek.valek@upce.cz
Telephone: + 420 773 089 671
Office hours: Wednesday 10:00-11:00 (and always also via email or MS Teams)
Research interests
Religions of the Ancient Near East, Anthropology of Religion, Digital Humanities
Professional experience
2023–present – Researcher, Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2022–present – Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice
2020–present – Junior Researcher and Data Analyst in Digital Humanities, National Library of the Czech Republic (Projects DL4DH and DigiLab)
2020–2023 – Grant Advisor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2019–2023 – Member of the editorial board of the student religious studies journal Sacra
2019–2020 – Assistant coordinator of Salesian camps, Salesian Youth Centre, České Budějovice
2016–2019 – Student assistant, Library of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Education
2019–2024 – Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2019–2022 – M.A. in Egypt and the Ancient Near East, specialisation Assyriology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2017–2019 – M.A. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2013–2017 – B.A. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Grants
2023–2025 – team member; Archaeology of Texts. Tradition, Transmission, and Transformation in the Ancient Near East (GAČR 23-05181S, principal investigator doc. PhDr. Jana Mynářová, Ph.D.), Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Publications
2024 "RS 25.435 – Not the Epic of Tukultī-Ninurta at Ugarit." N.A.B.U. 2024/3, 107–108. [link]
2023 Válek, F. a Hajič J. Jr., "Problems of Authorship Classification: Recognising the Author Style or a Book?" Digital Humanities Quarterly 17/4. [link]
2023 "Cultural Transfer in Light of Seth Baˁal and Their Relationship." In Robert Rollinger, Irene Madreiter, Martin Lang and Cinzia Pappi (eds.), The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16-20, 2018 (Melammu Symposia 12), Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2023, 443–458.
2022 Válek, F., Mokrý M. et al. (eds.) Sacra 2022 (19/1): Bohové, démoni a lidé východního Středomoří ve starověku. [link]
2021 "Foreigners and Religion at Ugarit." Studia Orientalia Electronica 9/2, 47–66. [link]
Reviews
2021 „Tugendhaft, Aaron. The idols of ISIS: from Assyria to the Internet.“ Religio 2021 (29/1), 98–100.
2020 „Yelle, R. A. (2019). Sovereignty and the Sacred: Secularism and the Political Economy of Religion.“ Sacra 2020 (18/1), 54–55.
2018 „Sedláček, T. (2017). Doklady raného náboženstva Churritov v starovekom Urkeši.“ Sacra 2018 (16/2), 67–70.
Other results
2024 Válek, F. „(Re)Building Temple of Ba’al: Tracking the Networks of Craftsmanship“ presented at DIĜIR II workshop “Arts and craftsmanship associated with ritual practices in ancient Western Asia”, Lille, 15th–16th April 2024. Video available at https://webtv.univ-lille.fr/video/12832/rebuilding-temple-of-ba%E2%80%99al-tracking-the-networks-of-craftsmanship-la-production- [17th May 2024]
2023 Válek, F. 3D Reconstruction of the Temple of Baˁal at Ugarit. [online: https://github.com/valekfrantisek/DigitalReligion-Ugarit/tree/main/3DTempleOfBaal ]
2022 Válek, F.; Vozár, Z.; Zbíral, D.; Bežová, M.; Hrzinová, J.; Novák, D.; Religionistická mapa literárních významů: Citace Bible v prvorepublikovém tisku [online; https://dl4dh.nkp.cz/]
2022 Lehečka, B., Novák, D., Kersch, F., Hladík, R., Bíšková, J., Sekyrová, K., Válek, F., Vozár, Z., Bodnár, N., Sekan, P., Bežová, M., Žabička, P., Lhoták, M., Straňák, P. 2022 Metodika přípravy dat z digitálních knihoven pro využití v digitálních humanitních vědách. Knihovna AV ČR, v. v. i., Certifikovaná metodika DG20P02OVV002.
2022 Válek, F., Hajič, J., Holub, M., Szromek, J., & Vozár, Z. AuthorGuesser. https://github.com/DigilabNLCR/AuthorGuesser
2022 Vozár, Z., Holomek, J., Holub, M., Hajič, J., Válek, F., Charypar, M., Szromek, J., Habětínová, P., Skoupá, I., & Bilwachs, M. AuthorshipAttributionLine. https://github.com/DigilabNLCR/AuthorshipAttributionLine
2021– Near Eastern Royal Epics, The NERE Project [http://oracc.org/nere/]