In the ceremonial hall of the České Budějovice Town Hall, the title of Doctor honoris causa was solemnly awarded to the historian Prof. PhDr. Eduard Maur, CSc. The University of South Bohemia conferred this honorary academic degree in the field of Czech History in recognition of Professor Eduard Maur’s moral, scientific, and pedagogical qualities, the achievements of his internationally respected work, and his cooperation with the Institute of History at the Faculty of Arts of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.
Eduard Maur graduated from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague and remained there as a researcher. From 1993 to 2000, he headed the Institute of Czech History at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, where he is still an emeritus member. He also lectures at the Institute of Historical Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice. In the 1990s, he was a visiting professor of Czech history at several French universities (Lille, Montpellier, Paris) and collaborated academically with prestigious research centers in Germany and Austria.
His main area of interest is the economic and social history of the Czech lands in the 16th to 18th centuries, with temporal overlaps into the late Middle Ages and the period after 1800. His focus on the lower social strata, especially rural and partly urban populations, is methodologically linked to approaches of historical demography.
Eduard Maur has closely cooperated with the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice since the 1990s—initially with the Faculty of Education and later with the Faculty of Arts and its Institute of History. At this institute, his direct student Josef Grulich and his research group continue Maur’s research on the social history of rural populations in the early modern period. At the Institute of History of the Faculty of Arts, Eduard Maur has given several lectures on current trends in historical-demographic research in Europe, served as an opponent for diploma, rigorous, and especially dissertation theses. Through his activities, he has significantly influenced the scholarly approach to the social and economic history of rural populations in the 17th to 19th centuries, one of the research pillars of the Institute of History of the Faculty of Arts, University of South Bohemia.
Professor Maur continues to work closely with experts in České Budějovice as a member of the editorial board of the journal Historická demografie (Historical Demography).
"The awarding of the honorary doctorate by the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice is a great honor for me. I see this act as a recognition of my contribution to the development of the field of history, both scientifically and pedagogically. I value it all the more because it comes from a university that has managed to secure one of the most prestigious positions not only among the new higher education institutions established after 1989 but also within our entire university community," said Professor Eduard Maur in his acceptance speech.
