In the years 2008–2016, Josef Kovalčuk was the head of the Institute for Theatre Research at DIFA JAMU. His scholarly works have mainly been concerned with the theory of devised and studio theatre on which he published a number of papers, collected in the book Téma: autorské divadlo (Theme: Authorial Theatre, 2009). In addition, he surveys the history of studio theatres in Brno focusing mainly on HaDivadlo, about which he published the books HaDivadlo: hry, scénáře, studie, dokumenty (HaDivadlo: Plays, Scripts, Studies and Documents, 1996), Bylo jich pět a půl (There Were Five and a Half of Them, 2005) and Hvězdy nad Kabinetem múz (Stars above the Cabinet of the Muses, 2011). In collaboration with Petr Oslzlý he wrote the book Společný projekt Cesty: křižovatky – jízdní řády – setkání (The Common Project Roads: Crossroads, Timetables, Encounters, 2013), which in 1984 involved HaDivadlo, Husa na provázku Theatre, Divadlo na okraji and Studio Ypsilon. He also collaborated on the publication of the collected works of Jan Roubal.
As a theorist of devised theatre, Josef Kovalčuk formulated HaDivadlo’s poetical programme which sprang from the issue of one’s moral responsibility under a totalitarian regime. In his scholarly works he analysed the features of devised and studio theatre, he discussed the issues concerning the scripts and the process of staging a production. His studies outline idiosyncratic qualities of leading ensembles of this theatre movement in the 1970s and 80s. In recent years the core of his work as a historiographer has been the documentation of studio theatres in Brno, in the years 2010-2012 he was the coordinator of the project of the Czech Science Foundation Dokumentace a analýza tvorby brněnských studiových divadel, (Documentation and Analysis ofBrno Studio Theatre Productions), which he followed up with the project Brněnská studiová divadla II: Dokumentace – rekonstrukce – analýza (Brno Studio Theatres II: Documentation – Reconstruction – Analysis).
Josef Kovalčuk held the post of the dean of JAMU Faculty of Theatre in the years 1990-1996 and 2002-2008. He was deeply involved in the post-1989 re-establishment of the school and in setting up its new departments. At DIFA JAMU he was also awarded the degree of associate professor (1990), and acquired his full professorship there in 2002. He is the head of one of the studios of directing and dramaturgy, he participated in the foundation of Encounter, an international festival of theatre schools, and in the establishment of the tradition of international scholarly and doctoral conferences at DIFA. At present he holds the post of the vice-dean for science, research, strategy and development at JAMU.
He graduated in Czech, History and Philosophy at Palacký University, Olomouc (1972), and in dramaturgy at DAMU in Prague (1979). In 1974 he was involved in the founding of HaDivadlo in Prostějov, working as its dramaturg until 1996. In the years 1997-2002 he held the post of dramaturg and art director of the drama ensemble of the National Theatre in Prague; in the years 2009-2013 he was the dramaturg of Husa na provázku Theatre.