Academic bulletin 02/2008
RESUMÉ
NEW DIRECTORS
We introduce the comments of the last four directors of Academy institutes, who were asked these three questions: In which direction will they lead the development of their institutes? What are they doing to achieve excellence in science? How will they evaluate the work in accordance with the new statutes governing Public Research Institution? The rubric was very successful and we would like to express our thanks to all the directors who were willing to provide us their responses to our questions.
"8" ANNIVERSARY IN CZECHOSLOVAK HISTORY
The beginning of communistic regime in Czechoslovakia
we recall the sixtieth anniversary of the communist putsch in Czechoslovakia. On 25 February, the Communist Party seized control of government of Czechoslovakia and its totalitarian regime was dominant until the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
TOPIC OF THE MONTH
The Communicating Vessels Letná – Klementinum
Czech scientists and pedagogues made common meeting to discuss the perspectives of National Library and Clementinum. In an Open Letter to the Czech government and to Prague's chief magistrate, they suggested being concerned about the future of Clementinum without its overshadowing National Library.
INTRODUCING PROJECTS
Center of Cell Therapy and Tissue Repair
The aim of the Center is to focus on selected branches of basic research in developmental biology, biocompatible polymer synthesis, neuroscience and transplant surgery into one organic whole. This scan serve as an experimental foundation for cell therapy and tissue repair research on a level qualitatively comparable to research in the developed countries of the EU and the USA.
SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
BIOCEV: modern center for scientists
Representatives of the Academy of Science of Czech Republic and Charles University have subscribed to the Founding Contract of the Biotechnological and Biomedical Center (BIOCEV) that will be situated in the vicinity of Vestec.
Central European Synchrotron Laboratory – CESLAB
The ASCR proposes to construct an electron synchrotron as one of the projects made possible from the Structural Funds of the EU. An electron synchrotron is the most universally usable type of accelerator, constituting an intensive source of light with unique features. Data provided by synchrotrons are important for the competitiveness of future industry in the EU.
Evaluation of Ecosystem Services
Realizing the comity of the environment, ASCR sponsored a seminar on Evaluation of Ecosystem Services. The term ecosystem services refers to the benefits from the natural systems that support human life. Czech experts of the environment discussed the difficulty of evaluating this system, its methods and results.
FROM BRUSSELS
New Marie Curie Actions: COFUND and IRSES
The European Community offers two more new actions which Marie Curie implemented for the first time on 2008. These are COFUND (Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes) and IRSES (International Research Staff Exchange Scheme).
News
15 Sep 2011 World-leading scientists will shed new light on climate
World-leading climate scientists gather in Germany 18-23 September 2011 to present new research on how Earth’s land areas – forests, soils, permanently frozen regions, deserts, croplands and pastures – affect the global climate.
14 Sep 2011 The key breakthroughs will come in future from exceptional physicists, not from philosophers
Martin Rees is Master of Trinity College and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He holds the honorary title of Astronomer Royal and also Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at Leicester University. After studying at the University of Cambridge, he held post-doctoral positions in the UK and the USA, before becoming a professor at Sussex University. In 1973, he became a fellow of King's College and Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge (continuing in the latter post until 1991) and served for ten years as director of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy. From 1992 to 2003 he was a Royal Society Research Professor.
30 Aug 2011 European Heritage Days in Château Liblice
The Prize is to be given annually. The prize will include a monetary award of 1200 USD. The charter of the prize is attached. The deadline for accepting this year's contribution is December 31, 2011. Dr. Zdenek P. Bazant, McCormick Institute Professor at Northwestern University, Evanston, member of NAS, NAE and AAAS, and a famous alumnus of CTU in Prague.
21 Jun 2011 Tony Martinek have been named as the 2011 recipients of the Blake H. Gooding Memorial Award
Conestoga’s developers of an exam program for Certified Engineering Technologists and Technicians will be recognized for their significant contribution to the profession at a gala awards ceremony to be held in Toronto in October 2011. Tony Martinek, P.Eng., former Dean of Conestoga’s School of Engineering Technology and Principal of the Doon Campus, and Jeff Schelling, LLB, corporate solicitor for the Regional Government of Waterloo, have been named as the 2011 recipients of the Blake H. Gooding Memorial Award bestowed by the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (0ACETT), as professional association established in 1962 to maintain high standards for the profession of Engineering/Applied Science Technology.
7 Jun 2011 Honorary Fellowship for Professor Jan Palouš
The Royal Astronomical Society honored Professor Jan Palouš from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic as an Honorary Fellow of the Society.
22 Apr 2011 ELI Beamlines gets the green light!
The European Commission finally approved the ELI Beamlines project. This is the first of the large projects of the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation (OP RDI) to be approved. The main purpose of the project consists of the construction of a cutting-edge research complex in the central Bohemian town of Dolní Břežany for a budget of almost 7 billion Czech crowns. The center should become operational at the beginning of the year 2016. ELI will be a top-of-the class research infrastructure providing the best conditions of access to the international scientific community.
20 Apr 2011 Representatives of the Czech Republic visited ESO at Paranal
On 6 April 2011, the ESO Paranal Observatory was honoured with a visit from the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, who also took the opportunity to admire Cerro Armazones, the future site of the planned E-ELT. The distinguished visitor was shown the technical installations at the observatory, and was present when the dome of one of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope opened for a night's observing at Cerro Paranal, the world's most advanced visible-light observatory.
19 Apr 2011 Results of International Audit on Research, Development & Innovation
The province of Carinthia is making two grants available for participation in the Management of Protected Areas MSc course. The grant of € 6,200 is targeted at applicants from Central and Eastern Europe, which have a need to make up economic ground on other European states. It gives applicants access to international expertise and global networks. Both grants will be awarded as part of a competition. Apply now, the terms and conditions are detailed below.
15 Mar 2011 Celebrating the spirit of invention
Czech scientist Professor Blanka Říhová of Microbiology Institute of the Academy of Sciences has been nominated for the prestigious European Inventor Award 2011 for her research and development of synthetic polymeric drugs to combat cancer. The driving force and motor behind the innovation process is people with a passion for discovery. Without the inquisitive mind, the search for new ideas, and creativity of human beings there would be no inventive spirit and no progress. As one of the most prestigious competitions of its type, the European Inventor Award pays tribute to the creativity of all inventors who, in applying their technical, scientific and intellectual skills, make a major contribution to technological impact, economic growth, and improvement in people's daily lives.
14 Mar 2011 EUSJA Study Trip to Prague
On the Verge of International Year of Chemistry was the theme of the first study trip for European journalists united in the European Union of Science Journalists’Association (EUSJA) organized by the Czech Science Journalists Club, the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB ASCR). The purpose of the three-day meeting (November 29 – December 1, 2010) was to improve communication between the Czech scientific community and society and to promote contacts between journalists in the field of scientific and technical communication. The study trip was supported by the ASCR Centre for Administration and Operations.
13 Mar 2011 Brain awareness week
During the Brain Awareness Week, held worldwide annually in March, the neuroscientists and other brain scientists inform the wide public on their research activities and their achievements to advance public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. The Brain Awareness Week was created in USA by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in 1996, the European activities are coordinated by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB). In 2011, the thirteenth year of the Brain Awareness Week in the Czech Republic is taking place from Mach 14, 2011. The main events are held in the main building of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The organizers are: Institute of Experimantal Medicine, v. v. i., ASCR, Czech Neuroscience Society and Media Communication Department, ASCR.
4 Feb 2011 The conference Universities in Central Europe
The conference Universities in Central Europe – Crossroads of Scholars from all over the world (Prague, 29 September 2011 – 1 October, 2011, Charles University, Czech Republic) will follow up on an international meeting dedicated to the issue of Scientists in Exile and the Dictatorships of the 20th Century, which will take place in Prague on May 24‒26 (see http://www.science.usd.cas.cz/cs/aktuality.html) While the May conference focuses on forced migration, the September conference deals with voluntary migration of scientists.
4 Feb 2011 New Round of Newton International Fellowships
A new round of Newton International Fellowships - an initiative to fund research collaborations and improve links between UK and overseas researchers - has now opened. The Newton International Fellowships are funded by the British Academy and the Royal Society and aim to attract the most promising early-career post-doctoral researchers from overseas in the fields of the humanities, the natural, physical and social sciences. The Fellowships enable researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution with the aim of fostering long-term international collaborations.
31 Jan 2011 Invitation to the Conference
May 24-26 2011 will take place in the Prague National Technical Museum the international conference SCHOLARS IN EXILE AND DICTATORSHIPS OF THE 20TH CENTURY organized by the Centre for the History of Sciences and Humanities, Institute for Contemporary History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the National Technical Museum in Prague and the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Applications can be sent before March 15, 2011 to the contact address nytrovaz@vcdv.cas.cz.
25 Jan 2011 Institutes of the ASCR received support from Research Support Fund
The National Training Fund organized a meeting on the occasion of finalizing the research subprojects, which received the grants from the Research Support Fund. Among the invited guests were Norwegian Ambasador to the Czech Republic His Excellency Jens Eikaas or Josef Syka, the member of the Steering Committee of the Fund.
7 Dec 2010 110th Anniversary of formulation of the Max Planck quantum theory
For decades, physicists had been trying to understand the surprising results they continued to measure from heating black bodies (a surface that absorbs all frequencies of light that hits it). Try as they might, scientists could not explain the results using classical physics. On December 14, 1900, German theoretical physicist Max Planck (1858–1947) discovered an equation that explained the results of these measurements.
7 Dec 2010 New International Competition Focuses on Early Career Scientists
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is launching an international competition to select up to 35 early career scientists working at academic institutions in 18 countries including the Czech Republic.
8 Oct 2010 Interview with the new Director-General at DG Research
The European Commission has appointed Robert-Jan Smits as new Director General for Research on 2 June 2010. He has a lot of experience in many areas, especially in coordination research programmes and moves to get small and medium-sized enterprises into the Framework Programmes. Previous assignment of Robert-Jan Smits was in JRC as a Deputy Director General. He was also responsible for developing the European Research Council (ERC), the European Technology Platforms (ETPs) as well as for the shaping of the Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI). His interview with CZELO office is focused mainly on the 7. Framework Programme and its results and future perspectives.
Česky
