Prof. PaedDr. Mgr. Miroslav Vaněk, Ph.D. is a Czech historian who specializes in modern Czech history. From 2000-2017 he was the head of the Oral History Centre of the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Since 2017, he has been the director of this Institute.

Miroslav Vaněk received a first in history, Czech language, pedagogy and psychology when graduated from grammar school. Later he received a doctorate from the Faculty of Arts of the Palacký University in Olomouc and is now a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague.

Prior to 1990, he worked as a primary school teacher. After 1989, he became interested in oral history largely due to his concentration in capturing the events of 17 November 1989 in Czechoslovakia. He then joined the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he later participated in the foundation of the Oral History Centre. He focuses on the theory and methodology of oral history, political elites and dissent and independent musical genres. Since 2006, he has been working at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, where he also founded the Master’s Program of Oral History - Contemporary History in 2008.

Selected bibliography:

- VANĚK, Miroslav (ed.). Obyčejní lidé..?! Pohled do života tzv. mlčící většiny. Životopisná vyprávění příslušníků dělnických profesí a inteligence. Praha, Academia 2009. 3 volumes, 1306 p.

- VANĚK, Miroslav. O orální historii s jejími zakladateli a protagonisty. Praha, Ústav pro soudobé dějiny 2008, 135 p.

- VANĚK, Miroslav. Mocní a bezmocní? Politické elity a disent v období tzv. normalizace. Interpretační studie životopisných interview. Praha, Prostor 2006, 412 p.

- VANĚK, M., URBÁŠEK, P. Vítězové? Poražení? Politické elity a disent v období tzv. normalizace. Životopisná interview. Prostor, Praha 2005, 1970 p.

- VANĚK, Miroslav. Orální historie ve výzkumu soudobých dějin. Praha: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 2004. 175 p.

- VANĚK, Miroslav – MÜCKE, Pavel. Velvet Revolutions: An Oral History of Czech Society. New York – Oxford, Oxford University Press 2016, 264 p.

- VANĚK, Miroslav. Those Who Prevailed And Those Were Replaced: Interview On Both Sides of A Conflict. In: Donald A. Richtie (ed.), The Oxford Handbook Of Oral History. Oxford University Press 2011, pp. 37–50.

... and others.