In Croatian historiography numerous works have been written on the history of Slavonia in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period; however no complete research into its name and extent at the time has yet been conducted. It is a well known fact, although still not systematically explored, that the geographical name S(c)lavonia was marked by homonymy and polyvalence and that at various times various areas of the broad territory form the Baltic to the Balkan Peninsula carried this name. Such a use of the term, which, in essence, means ‘Slavic land’, can in western/Latin sources to a certain extent be compared with the usage of the term Sklavinia (????ß????) in the Byzantine cultural sphere where during the Early Middle Ages this word functioned as a common noun and a political technical term. Particularly interesting, in a broader context, is the issue of the special use of the name Slavonia within the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom, where in the 13th century the administrative unit, known as the Kingdom of Slavonia, was shaped with a certain degree of political and cultural separateness. The issue of the name and extent of the province is particularly interesting and significant due to the generally known fact that the political-geographical term Slavonia experienced a shift during the Early Modern Ages from west to east, i.e. the area of medieval Slavonia is not equivalent to the area of Slavonia today. This has led to numerous implications that impact on the understanding of statehood and state borders between Croatia and Hungary, further the understanding of political concepts promoted by various political centres of power and eventually the understanding of the shaping of institutions of the central government such as the Croatian Parliament, the Slavonian Parliament, the common Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Parliament, the Croatian and Slavonian counties as well as numerous short-lived institutions .

Šume predstavljaju jedno od najvažnijih prirodnih bogatstava Slavonije. Zadatak je predloženog projekta utvrditi razmjere čovjekova utjecaja na slavonske šume u razdoblju od srednjeg vijeka do početka 20. stoljeća, te utvrditi važnost i nužnost toga procesa za opću modernizaciju Slavonije, pogotovo u vrijeme izrazite industrijalizacije i urbanizacije u 19. stoljeću. Središnji cilj projekta je odgovoriti na pitanje koliki su šume stvarno bile kapital u gospodarskom smislu, tko je tim kapitalom raspolagao i kako je taj kapital ulagan u javno dobro, odnosno kako je pretvaran u društveni i kulturni kapital. Projekt će rezultirati s web stranicom s interaktivnom kartom šumskih prostora, radionicom o povijesnim izvorima, knjigom izabranih povijesnih izvora, znanstvenim skupom, zbornikom radova znanstvenog skupa, knjigom grupe autora o antropizaciji šuma u Slavoniji te nizom znanstvenih radova u domaćim i svjetskim publikacijama.