Cultural Exchange at Charles University in Prague ****************************************************************************************** * Cultural Exchange at Charles University in Prague ****************************************************************************************** The 25th of April marked the third annual Cultural Exchange event hosted by the Catholic T Faculty of Charles University. The event, a student conference officially called “Cultural Art Exchange between Italy and Central Europe [ URL "http://www.ktf.cuni.cz/KTF-4-version1 aj_cultural_transfer_program.pdf"] ”, was held at the main faculty building and saw a seri given by post-graduates from various European universities. The lectures aimed to discuss Italian art has, and continues, to influence European art, especially that of Central Euro I was fortunate enough to speak with two of the organisers, Marie Opatrná and Magdalena No how important it was for the students to have a chance to show case their research. They w because although it was the third conference it was the first international event on this has held. Most of the students presenting lectures were from Charles University, but there nationalities. From native Czech students to those who had come to Charles University from There were also many other universities taking part who had sent students including Univer Tor Vergata in Rome, University of Leipzig, University of Vienna, Masaryk University in Br University in Olomouc, University of Hradec Králové, University of Warsaw, University of G of Wroclaw, and Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The lectures were divided into four themes (Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern had their own room. Each room had its own timetable of lectures which were delivered in th language of the candidate, most being in Czech or English with a few excepts given in Germ Translations were provided in Czech throughout. Each student would come up to the front an presentation after an introduction from the professor responsible for that theme. Afterwar would receive questions regarding their full research or any aspect of their presentation the audience. To sum up, a great opportunity for the post-graduate students to gain practi hands-on experience when it comes to giving a presentation of their research. During the lunch break I was able to speak with one of the participating post-graduates. A Jagiellonian University had just given her lecture entitled 'New aspects of the idea of Be artistic realisations of Piotr and Maciej Polejowskis, the Lvivian artistic Family (1761-1 was kind enough to grant me a short interview on her participation in the conference. I asked her how the candidates were chosen to give conference lectures in her home univers replied that post-graduates could submit an application to their PhD director, who would t best to be put forward. I then asked why she felt this particular conference was significant for her and why she d for it. She said the topic of the conference, the cultural transfer from Italy to Central a very important aspect of art which is often over looked. She then went on to say how the conferences with this topic. Meaning it was a very good opportunity to share her research. My next question about her presentation was about how she chose her topic. Due to time con nature of the lectures being quite short the students had had to choose one small aspect o to discuss. The small topic Agata was presenting was taken from the broader research she w doctorate programme. The last thing I asked was how she felt about giving the lecture and taking part in the co said how she had been nervous, particularly as English was not her first language but over enjoyed it and had been curious to see the other lectures given by her peers. As well as being a fun and unique opportunity for students and professors to share their r wider academic community, the students also were given a “reward”. The best presentations would be collected in a book to be published shortly. We are glad that this year saw another successful student conference in the field of Art H Charles University in Prague hopes will grow in years to come. Keziah Garratt-Smithson is a second year student currently on an ERASMUS placement at Char In her spare time she is a keen reader, loves films, and enjoys horse riding. She chose to experience.