Jakub Musil

Our scholarship holder 2013 – 2017

University

The University of Edinburgh

Field of study

Keltština a lingvistika

Open Gate graduate in 2013

I come from the town of Uherský Brod (Moravia), and perhaps owe my avid interest in minority cultures and languages to my Moravian origins.

At the end of my fifth year at the Mariánské náměstí Elementary School in Uherský Brod, I was fortunate enough, and this still brings me joy, to pass the admission test for what then was a new privately-owned Open Gate high school. I then spent eight splendid years learning and developing my skills there thanks to the generous sponsorship granted to me by The Kellner Family Foundation. I discovered my passion for visual arts, and continue to pursue them actively, primarily video art. But it soon dawned on me that studies at an art school did not attract me, and at last realized that my real mission was philology.

Linguistics in general has always been close to my heart and brain. However, my decision to read linguistics together with Celtic studies as part of a two-subject program was motivated by my longing to gain knowledge of this remarkable language group, which is now associated with a desire for political recognition and emancipation in the current European environment. The University of Edinburgh was the clear choice for me: it combined the quality of British education in humanities, the (well deserved) status of a respected institution, and a geographical situation that is evidently beneficial for me in terms of the subject of my studies and, in addition, breathtakingly beautiful.

Secondary

Open Gate Grammar School, graduated in 2013

Tertiary

The University of Edinburgh, UK, a four-year M.A. program in Celtic & Linguistics; since 2013

Goals

I would like to attain a doctorate in my field of study, and then take root in the academic world. I am attracted by educational activities in languages and culture. I also plan to continue in my creative activities.

Interests

I spend my leisure time working on my own visual and poetic projects, watching both the latest and the vintage works of art cinema (primarily at the Summer Film School), and creating my own speech. I am an ardent fan of British experimental and mainstream comedies.

My articles and what has been written about me

All articles

Universities

Student Jakub Musil: Few Czechs take humanities abroad.

Student Jakub Musil: Few Czechs take humanities abroad.
When a new staging of Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen was being prepared in London, the conductor chose him to teach the proper pronunciation of Czech dialects. The same year, Jakub Musil took part in a dialect research project at the Isle of Islay. The Open Gate graduate now lives linguistics, studying the field at the University of Edinburgh. In addition, he volunteers, helps organize culture festivals, and is working on a screenplay in Gaelic for a movie competition. “I am independent abroad, but only to an extent,” says the successful student. “I would have none of that without the support from The Kellner Family Foundation.”

Universities

07/20/2017

Clarity, or /_(-stress)

In my previous post, which I presumed to be the last one, I related the tricky situation I found myself in career-wise. I also said, to balance the doom and gloom, that I have no doubt that my horizon will soon become clearer again.

Universities

07/03/2017

Scotch Mist, or / _

I am writing this, the last entry of my Bachelors era, two days before graduating; all that is left for me to do is to pick up my tickets and my kilt. This is a happy event, certainly, but I would be even happier for slightly more clarity and certainty about the future for me and others like me who have been accepted onto a Masters programme but will not know whether they will be able to afford it until the very last minute. The last thing I want is for this special entry to be all doom and gloom, but I feel it necessary to talk about the situation at hand: how many talented academics does Britain lose every year as a result of the ever-advancing and ever-deepening precarisation of the lives, work and education of the less-than-wealthy?

Universities

03/13/2017

Ten years later on: a slightly sentimental apotheosis, or /C_C

My undergraduate study is coming to an end, and with that comes a complete lack of time to do anything but write my dissertation. As such, there have been no recent events interesting enough to write about.