In July 2022, UCT Prague became a member of PRIDE Network (https://pride-network.eu/), an association for professionals in doctoral education. The mission of this association is focused on the professional development of administrative staff and academics who support or ensure the doctoral education agenda. Charles University was the first Czech university member and UCT became the second one.

The vision of constant quality improvement and international competitiveness led to joining another important organisation – EUA-CDE (EUA Council for Doctoral Education, https://eua-cde.org/). UCT Prague will officially become a member this October as the fifth Czech university after Palacký University in Olomouc, the University of Economics, Masaryk University and the Brno University of Technology. By promoting collaboration and exchange of good practices among its members and disseminating the outcomes of its work, EUA-CDE makes an important contribution to the development of doctoral education and research training in Europe. Its members enjoy many opportunities to exchange on issues of common interest and take part in shaping the doctoral education landscape of the future.

Being a member of the PRIDE Association and EUA-CDE marks an important milestone in doctoral studies at UCT mostly because UCT as a member of the Association of Research Universities (AVU ČR) emphasizes the quality of its doctoral studies intending to further improve its doctoral education. Fulfilling one of the goals of AVU ČR Charter “to support the quality and international dimension of doctoral study programs”, UCT strengthens its international position in the doctoral study field.

UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities and is ranked 358th in the world.

For the fouth time in a row, UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2023. 

The excellent result in the QS World University Rankings 2023 was most influenced by UCT Prague’s small student-to-academic instructor ratio. Individual support for education and the inherent involvement of students in the research process even earned UCT 29th place in the world and first in Czechia in this aspect of rankings system evaluation process.

“The fourth success in a row is, of course, a nice outcome of all the staff and students of our university. We strive to build a supportive and fair environment for everyone, where everyone can participate in scientific activities. But I understand that the ranking is just a number. It is more important that we work on ourselves and continue to improve,” said Pavel Matějka, UCT Prague Rector.

The international environment of the university, with a high number of students (by Czech standards) from abroad in recent years, contributed to the good ranking. The university has also recently attracted international academics who have linked their careers to UCT Prague. After last year, which was greatly affected by the pandemic situation, these indicators have increased again. In the overall result, this means that UCT Prague is ranked 230th in this criterion.

Other Czech universities were also successful in this year’s edition of the rankings. The largest Czech university, Charles University, placed in the 288-290 world ranking range. CTU Prague moved to the 378-379 ranking range; Masaryk University achieved 551-560; Palacký University in Olomouc, 651-700. A total of 16 Czech universities were ranked.

The full list of rankings and a description of the QS methodology can be found on the QS World University Rankings 2023 website.

The Summer School of Medicinal Chemistry “Advances in Drug Discovery”, intended primarily for doctoral and postdoctoral students, is organized by UCT Prague in collaboration with the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Following its launch in 2014 and three subsequent successful courses in 2015-2017, the collaboration was expanded, and the fifth annual event was organized in 2018 in cooperation with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel on a beautiful campus in Rehovot. In 2018, the Summer School was renamed the Prague-Weizmann School on Drug Discovery. The sixth annual event, which took place in Prague in 2019, was a great success. Due to the pandemic situation, the 7th Summer School, to have been held in 2021 in Rehovot, was held online. Despite the difficult online format, but also thanks to it, the school was attended by more than 400 students from 44 countries.

The Summer School provides a broad overview of progress in drug development, from basic research to the development of the manufacturing process. As in previous years, participants can present their research in the form of poster presentations

Detailed information on the Summer School website and in the leaflet.

UCT has been cooperating with NCHU since 2011, when the memorandum of cooperation for student exchange was signed. At the meeting with prof. Wang current information about the possibilities of student mobility and areas of scientific cooperation between UCT Prague and NCHU were outlined and discussed.

On 12 July, the Rector of UCT Praguee, Pavel Matějka, met with representatives of the Belarusian national minority and a representative of the Belarusian Student Association of the Czech Republic.

The subject of the meeting was an offer of cooperation from the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and recognized representatives of the Belarusian community in the Czech Republic in the matter of assistance to current and future Belarusian students of UCT Prague in view of the ban on the provision of technical assistance and other measures in connection with the war situation in Ukraine.

The parties agreed to help in the matter of possible verification of problematic cases and securing an opinion from the official representatives of the Belarusian national minority confirming that this is a person who shares the humanistic and democratic values of the European community. Students with Belarusian citizenship who will be affected by the measures in question and who are interested in benefiting can contact Alena Kovářová Cichanovič and Kryscina Šyjanok.

The parties agreed to help in the matter of possible verification of problematic cases and securing an opinion from the official representatives of the Belarusian national minority confirming that this is a person who shares the humanistic and democratic values of the European community. Students with Belarusian citizenship who will be affected by the measures in question and who are interested in benefiting can contact Alena Kovářová Cichanovič and Kryscina Šyjanok.

During the meeting, the possibilities of employment for students nearing the end of their studies and for creating research positions for doctoral students with Belarusian citizenship were also discussed. UCT Prague’s efforts will to enable them to carry out their basic research activities in full. Applied research funded by the Czech Science Foundation would be possible according to individual assessment. For applied research financed by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, the granting of exemptions does not seem realistic.

Finally, it was said that UCT Prague stands in solidarity with persecuted Belarusian students and is carefully following the fate of a political prisoner in Belarus who was supposed to apply to study chemistry in the Czechia. However, the University does not limit itself to supporting only publicly active representatives of the Belarusian student community, but strives to keep its doors open to all those from Belarus interested in studying here.

Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and holder of an honorary doctorate from UC T Prague, regularly visits the Czech Republic at the end of the academic year. We are glad that he also came to visit us at UCT Prague this year. First, he met with Rector Pavel Matějka and his former students, Professor Vladimír Setnička and Dr Petr Kovaříček. After that, in Uhelna, he talked with doctoral students for almost two hours about his experiences in the field of science and the position of women in science. The young scientists were also interested in how to get funding for research, if one is not a renowned scientist or conducting research in a “hot topic” area. Another subject discussed was the pursuit of publishing a large number of articles, which, however, can mean lower quality and often, even research validity.

We hope to meet Jean-Marie Lehn again in good health in one year!

On Tuesday, 28 June 2022, the Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform (HYTEP) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Korean H2Korea Alliance, an organization focusing on the development of the hydrogen economy in the Republic of Korea, in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela, and the Korean Minister of Industry, Chang Yang Lee.

On behalf of the Czech side, the Memorandum was signed by the Vice-Chairman of the Board of HYTEP, Prof Martin Paidar, PhD, from the Department of Inorganic Technology at UCT Prague.

On the Korean side, the participants were the Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai Glovis. Cooperation within the framework of the Memorandum is also open to other companies.

The purpose of the Memorandum is to support the development of hydrogen mobility in the Czech Republic through demonstration pilot projects that will focus on both the production of equipment and vehicles and their operation on Czech roads. Cooperation on the part of Czech companies should also ensure the construction and operation of hydrogen filling infrastructure and subsequent operations. The main goal of the Memorandum is to support hydrogen mobility particularly in freight and bus transport.

Aleš Doucek, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of HYTEP, emphasized: ‘The memorandum is the first step towards the development of closer cooperation between Czech and Korean companies in the field of hydrogen mobility and related infrastructure. Hydrogen is the fuel for emission-free transport. Its indisputable advantages, especially in the segments of long-distance truck and bus transport, lie in the ability to have a longer range and in fast refueling, which takes a maximum of 20 minutes for trucks compared to other technologies.’

The Korean side, led by the H2Korea Alliance, perceives cooperation as an opportunity to spread innovative hydrogen technologies to the Czech Republic and to search for potential partners for cooperation. The Republic of Korea itself has been supporting the development of the hydrogen economy for a long time, and thanks to this, it will be possible to fill up with hydrogen at more than 40 filling stations on Korean roads this year. The Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company also offers a hydrogen car powered by the Hyundai Nexo Fuel Cell, or the Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell truck, which is already running commercially in Switzerland, for example.

‘This Memorandum is particularly important because it will strengthen cooperation in the field of hydrogen mobility between the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea. We believe it will help set a business model suitable for other projects to follow,’ emphasized Moon Jae-do, the Chairman of the H2Korea Alliance.

The electronic exercise book in the Organic Chemistry Portal from the University Chemistry and Technology in Prague recognized as the best project from the Czech Republic.

The Electronic Exercise Book in the Organic Chemistry Portal project from UCT Prague was awarded as the best project from the Czech Republic in the INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHER AWARD 2021/2022 competition organized by the Profformance consortium, which focuses on the development of teaching at universities. The award was presented on June 16, 2022, at a meeting in Budapest.

• Organic Chemistry Portal

About the Electronic Exercise Book in the Organic Chemistry Portal

The electronic exercise book in the Organic Chemistry Portal, which is available in Czech and English, was created at the Department of Organic Chemistry in cooperation with the UCT Prague’s Centre for Information Services (CIS). The main authors are Radek Cibulka, Hana Kotoučová, Ondřej Kundrát, Martin Mastný, and Markéta Rybáčková. However, it is necessary to mention the participation of more than a dozen master and doctoral students, who participated mainly in testing the tasks. The original version of the exercise book was programmed by Bedřich Košata.

The electronic exercise book in the Organic Chemistry Portal allows you to practice organic chemistry using the “language of formulas”, which is essential for understanding organic chemistry. Each task is not only graphically entered, but also requires a response in the form of a chemical formula, which the user actively draws. The answer is evaluated immediately after sending and, in case of a wrong answer, help appears. The exercise book can be used while studying or the user can be tested. The test is self-assembled, the number of examples and the test area can be selected (for example, alkenes or electrophilic aromatic substitution). In addition to online testing, you can insert user-selected sets of examples into a PDF document and prepare your own exercise book. Drawing formulas in a computer environment also allows you to get acquainted with one of the most common drawing programs used in many databases (Marvin JS editor). The electronic exercise book is part of the portal, which is ready for the possibility of inserting examples by other co-authors.

On Thursday, June 23, 2022, the awards of the French Embassy in the Czech Republic were presented, which are presented annually to young talented scientists in seven categories. Representatives of UCT Prague were able to rejoice in the success of three of them.

Jaroslav Aubrecht triumphed in the category of environmental and climate research with the work “Development of Cr-free environmentally-friendly hydrogenolysis catalysts to make ester hydrogenolysis sustainable”. Filip Antončík won second place in the chemistry category for his work “Next-generation high-temperature superconductors”, and Bronislav Jurásek finished third in the pharmacy category with his work “Analogs and Metabolites of New Psychoactive Substances”.

Dozens of candidates from across the Czech Republic traditionally enter the competition. Candidates are first selected by their institutions and then appear before a jury composed of Czech and French experts with defense of their work. The three best candidates will receive a financial reward in the form of a check donated by the relevant sponsoring company. In addition, the first two winners will receive a scholarship from the French Embassy in the Czech Republic for a month-long internship in a French lab of their choice.

The award ceremony takes place at the French Embassy in Prague, in the Buquoy Palace. The ceremony is chaired by the Ambassador of France to the Czech Republic and Jean-Marie Lehn, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987, who was the initiator of the competition.

In May 2022, the PARC (European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals) project was launched, supported by the new Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Framework Program (2021-2027). The project in which UCT Prague participated, is closely linked to the European Green New Deal, aiming to significantly reduce the impact of chemicals on human health and the environment. This transnational European project involves almost 200 institutions from 28 countries and three European Union institutions.

UCT Prague (Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition) will participate in activities related to the development of new analytical methods and their application for biological and environmental monitoring of chemicals, which, due to their adverse effects on human health, are of a high concern among scientists.

“As part of the ‘Monitoring and Exposure’ work package, we will build on our experience from a previous project, HBM4EU (the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative) and will participate in surveys on the quality and comparability of data obtained from biomonitoring studies. We will also be involved in solving the issue of environmental and multi-source monitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkylated (PFAS) substances and other chemicals interfering with the endocrine system in various environmental compartments (especially water, food, air),” Prof. Jana Pulkrabová stated.

To fulfil this task, UCT Prague is part of a team that supports the development of new analytical approaches to target and non-target screening of these chemicals in the environment and biological matrices.

In the work package, “Building infrastructural and human capacities” led by the RECETOX research centre at Masaryk University in Brno, UCT Prague will also participate in capacity building and harmonization for biological and environmental monitoring, which will generate the necessary data for chemical risk assessment in Europe.

On Friday, December 3, 2021, the Study in Prague university consortium organized an award ceremony for the extraordinary scholarships of prof. Miroslav Vlček. Among the scholarship recipients at the Prague City Hall Mayor's Residence was a student of UCT Prague – Ashley George.

Miroslav Vlček's scholarship is awarded to commemorate a professor and longtime vice-rector for external relations of the Czech Technical University in Prague, who established and developed the Study in Prague project between 2015-2019. The merger of 7 Prague public universities contributed to a higher internationalization of the university environment and attracted hundreds of international students to the Czech capital.

This prize is presented to international degree-seeking students that, in addition to their study obligations, contribute to sharing the good name of universities in Prague. As a student ambassador, Ashley has been a long-term partner of the International Department. She is not only a reference point for prospective students, but also helps with the organization of promotional events, and participates in the integration process of incoming international students.

Study in Prague

At UCT Prague

Do you also want to get an internationally recognized degree? The admission procedure for English study programs at UCT Prague is open from January 15 to February 28, 2022. Visit our website study.vcht.cz for more information.

At other universities

If you are also interested in other fields of study at Prague universities, refer to the Study in Prague website directly.

Photo credit: Zuzana Markéta Macková, AMU