Mgr. Radim Chvaja, Ph.D.
Radim Chvaja is a full-time researcher at the European Research University. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Masaryk University and is currently a postdoc at the University of Otago (New Zealand), where he is studying the relationship between religion, reproduction and demography as part of an international project. His work, however, is mainly concerned with the question of fostering intra-group cooperation and trust and the role that religious beliefs and rituals play in this, which places his research at the intersection of behavioural economics, social psychology, anthropology and evolutionary biology. He primarily uses experiments in the laboratory and in the field, complemented by observational and longitudinal study methods, to answer his research questions. He has conducted his field research on the island of Mauritius and in northern Spain, for example, and as a PhD student at Masaryk University in Brno he has been involved in teaching and several internal research and education projects. During his studies he also received an internal student grant from Masaryk University in Brno and a student grant from the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association. He has published in reputed journals in the top quartile.
Qualification.
PhD
Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Study of Religions, 2023
Master's Degree
Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Philosophy, 2018
Bachelor’s Degree
Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts, Philosophy, 2016
Experience.
2022–present, University of Otago, Postdoc Fellow
2021–present, ERUNI, Researcher
Publications (last 5 years, selected).
CHVAJA, R., SPAKE, L., HASSAN, A., SHENK, M. K., SOSIS, R., SEAR, R., SHAVER, J. H. Maternal religiosity and social support to mothers: helpers’ religious identity matters. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 2025, pp. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2454705.
CHVAJA, R., SHAVER, J. H., SPAKE, L., HASSAN, A., ALAM, N., RAI, R. K., SEAR, R., SOSIS, R., SHENK, M. K. The role of parental religiosity in shaping paternal investment: evidence from Bangladesh and India. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2025, 292(20251352), pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1352.
LANG, M., CHVAJA, R. Mechanisms of secularization: Testing between the Rationalization and Existential Insecurity theories. Collabra: Psychology, 2024, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.126508.
CHVAJA, R. Costly Signaling as an Integral Part of the Systemic Approach to Religion: Critical Assessment from within the Field. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 2024, 10(1-2), pp. 90-99. E-ISSN 2049-7563. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.23765.
SHAVER, J. H., CHVAJA, R., SPAKE, L., HASSAN, A., BADJIE, J., PRENTICE, A. M., CERAMI, C., SEAR, R., SHENK, M. K., SOSIS, R. Religious Involvement Is Associated With Higher Fertility and Lower Maternal Investment, but More Alloparental Support Among Gambian Mothers, 2024, 36(12), pp. 1-15. E-ISSN 1520-6300. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24144.
CHVAJA, R. The Impact of Ritual Participation on Perceived Moral Objectivity: A Longitudinal Investigationof the U.S. Adolescents. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2024. E-ISSN 1468-5906. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12920.
LANG, M., CHVAJA, R., PURZYCKI, B. G. The role of costly commitment signals in assorting cooperators during intergroup conflict. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2024, 45(2), pp. 131–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.01.003.
CHVAJA, R., MURÍN, M., VOROBYEV, D. The effect of Covid-19 emergence on religiosity: Evidence from Singapore. Social Science Research, 2024, 118(102979). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.102979.
Hobbies.
Family, Books, Skateboarding, Mountains