The EC-H2020-MSCA urbanHIST project, the implementation of which ended on 28 July 2021, brings another great result in the form of the third PhD diploma defended within the double degree scheme, this time also with the direct involvement of UPJŠ in Košice.
On October 18, 2021, the PhD thesis of Elvira Khairullina, M.A. was successfully defended. The PhD student defended her thesis “Trams in Socialist Urban Planning in the 1960s and 1970s: Urban and Transport Models in the GDR, the CSR and the USSR”. It was the second defence that took place within the project with the direct participation of UPJŠ in Košice.
Within the framework of the project’s innovative training network and the double diploma programme, Elvira Khairullina was a PhD student at Universidad de Valladolid in Spain, as well as at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, where she studied as an external PhD student at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ, in the Slovak History study programme. Her doctoral studies, however, went far beyond the boundaries of the two aforementioned training institutes. As part of professional internships or study and research stays, she worked at various academic as well as non-academic institutions in Europe. The dissertation had a largely interdisciplinary character, embodied also in the person of the doctoral supervisor at UPJŠ, prof. Mgr. Jaroslav Hofierka, PhD. (Institute of Geography, Faculty of Natural Sciences, UPJŠ in Košice). During her studies, she visited Košice several times not only as a member of the urbanHIST consortium, but also during her study stays and scientific conferences.
The defense of her dissertation was conducted in a hybrid format, with part of the committee attending the defense in person at Universidad de Valladolid in Spain, and the rest of the committee as well as the public audience participating online via live streaming from Universidad de Valladolid in Spain. UPJŠ in Košice was represented in the evaluation committee by prof. PaedDr. Martin Pekár, PhD. The quality of the thesis was evaluated by the committee at Universidad de Valladolid with the highest possible rating “Sobresaliente” – with distinction.
On the basis of the bilateral agreement and the Double Degree Agreement between UVa and UPJŠ, Elvira Khairulina, M.A. will be awarded the PhD degree by both universities.
Mgr. Katarína Hajduková
Project coordinator at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice
