Keynote Panel
Pavel Doleček
Pavel Doleček currently holds the position of Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation. Before being appointed as Deputy Minister in 2023 Pavel Doleček had been serving as Vice-Rector for Strategic Cooperation and Development at Charles University and held the responsibility for coordination of investment and developmental projects and strategic partnerships with state administration, other universities and public and private sector. Before that he had been working at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) as the Head of the Strategic Unit and then in the position of Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Research. He was in charge of the conception and realization of higher education and research policy under the authority of the MEYS, including international bilateral and multilateral cooperation, legislative framework and funding policy. Pavel Doleček has been participating in several governing boards, be it those of state-funded organizations or universities as well as program boards of institutions providing financial support for research, development and innovation. He dealt with pedagogical, publishing and research activities.
Václav Velčovský
Václav Velčovský combines both academic and policy making assets in his career. Since 2015, he is the Vice-Minister / DG at the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic, in charge of the international co-operation, European Union’ affairs and European Structural and Investment Funds, especially for regional schools, HEIs and research and development. In previous decades, he worked at the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic where he was responsible for international affairs, and at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic with focus on the civil service reform. He studied Czech Language, Literature, and History at the Charles University (Master), Slavonic Studies at the University Leipzig, and Pedagogy at the Charles University (Ph.D.). He is author of four monographs and dozens scientific articles on Czech-German relations’ history, language policy and pedagogy. He is fluent in English and German.
Michal Pazour
Michal Pazour is Head of the Department of Strategic Studies at the Technology Centre Prague. He specialises in the evaluation, analysis and design of research and innovation policies. He coordinates national projects evaluating research and innovation policies and exploring measures to strengthen national innovation systems. Michal is the author or co-author of numerous analytical and policy studies prepared for the Czech government, the European Commission, the European Parliament, or the OECD. Michal holds a PhD in Economic Policy from the University of Economics in Prague.
"Policy" Panel Discussion
Jiří Homola
TBD
Radka Wildová
Radka Wildová is Director General Higher Education, Science and Research Section at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Radka Wildová graduated from the Faculty of Education of Charles University. Since 1989 she has worked at the Department of Primary Pedagogy of Charles University and professionally deals with the development of initial reading literacy and pre-literacy within the framework of his scientific research and teaching activities. After being the vice-dean of studies at the Faculty of Education of Charles University, she became the dean of the faculty (2009 - 2017). From 2017 to 2022 she was Charles University’s Vice-Rector for the Concept and Quality of Education. Since February 2022 she has been the Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Research at the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. In this position, her chief focus is on increasing the quality of higher education, its flexibility and modernization, as well as on supporting large research infrastructures and excellent research projects. Radka Wildová is the author or co-author of a number of important publications and professional papers related to the development of reading literacy and pre-literacy. Her activity in the field of doctoral studies is extensive. She is a member of several domestic and foreign professional organizations, groups and expert teams (e.g., International Reading Association, Council of Europe – Committee for the Development of Educational Activities).
Petr Očko
TBD
Ilona Müllerová
Ilona Müllerová received the scientific rank of DrSc. in 2021. Since 1973, she has been employed at the Institute of Instrumentation of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, where she founded the field of scanning electron microscopy by slow electrons. From 2012 to 2021, she was the director of this institute. She has given a number of invited lectures at international conferences, foreign universities and at world leading electron microscopy companies. She also completed a number of internships abroad, the longest of which were at the University of Toyama (Japan), where she was appointed professor in 2023, and at the University of York (UK). In 2012 she received the Czechoslovak Microscopy Society Award for Lifetime Contribution to Microscopy, in 2013 the Kapsch Czech Head - Invention Award, and in 2020 the Milada Paulova Award for Lifetime Contribution to Science in Electrical Engineering. Since January 2020, she is a member of the Council for Research, Development and Innovation, and since 2021, she is the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
Milena Králíčková
Milena Králíčková has been the rector of Charles University since 1 February 2022. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Plzeň, and spent a year in the USA thanks to a Fulbright Commission at the Reproductive Endocrine Unit of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. After completing her Ph.D., she worked at the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Clinic of the University Hospital in Plzeň in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics, embryology scientific work and also taught at the Institute of Histology and Embryology. Subsequently, she worked at the Faculty of Medicine in Plzeň as the Vice-Dean for Development and Head of one of the two research programmes of the Biomedical Centre in Plzeň. In 2013, Milena Králíčková became the Vice-Rector for Education at Charles University, a position she held until 2022.
Experience From Abroad and Discussion
TBD
Lightning Panel
Jakub Uchytil
Jakub Uchytil after graduating in Information Systems and Technology at the University of Economics in Prague, he has been involved in the economic evaluation of public investments and cost-benefit analyses since 2004. In 2011, he joined the Ministry of Education, where he focuses on the control and implementation of research projects funded by EU structural funds, since 2013 as department director. For many years, he has been battling administrative burden and auditors, although with varying degree of success.
Monika Vrbková
Monika Vrbková works at the innovation agency JIC as the Head of the Financing Entrepreneurship Support Team. For over fifteen years, she has been assisting companies in securing funding for the development and commercialization of their innovative products and facilitating collaboration with international partners. She specializes in European Commission programmes, particularly those targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe. She actively participates in expert advisory groups shaping European innovation policies and has extensive experience in managing international projects.
Daniel Frank
Daniel Frank born in Czechoslovakia, Prague in 1975, works at the Technology Centre Prague in the department of the National Information Centre for European Research since 2011. He is currently the editor-in-chief of ECHO magazine. At TC Prague he is involved as an analyst in monitoring the participation of the Czech Republic and EU countries in the Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation and other programmes supporting international research. Previously he worked in various positions usually related to analysis and data processing – Agricultural Water Management Administration (2001–2007), CULS – Czech University of Life Sciences (2008–2009) and VÚMOP - Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation (2010). His hobbies include good food, Spanish, multivariate statistics and the history of communist Czechoslovakia. He is also a devoted fan of the Czech national hockey team and the HC Sparta Prague club.
Lucie Núňez Tayupanta
Lucie Núňez Tayupanta is currently the Director of Research and Development Department at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. From 2016 to 2023, she worked as Head of the European Research Area Unit at the same institution. She is responsible for creating and developing strategy for an effective R&D policy at national level and engaging stakeholders to ensure its successful implementation. Furthermore, she is involved in implementing international cooperation in R&D, coordination of the Czech participation in international R&D programmes and for the implementation of the large research infrastructures policy and their funding.
Martin Svoboda
Martin Svoboda has been the Director of the National Library of Technology (NTK) in Prague since 1997. He graduated at Czech Technical University in computer engineering in 1965 and carried out research and development in text processing and information retrieval systems. He is a lifelong promoter of co-operation of libraries and information centres using ICT. When in the National Library, he co-founded the Czech and Slovak Library Information Network – an international project. In NTK he initiated the Virtual Polytechnic Library a inter-library resource sharing system and also negotiated “Big Deals” with key publishers for the entire Czech scholarly and R&D community, which resulted in the nation-wide CzechELib (National Centre for Electronic Resources) project and currently the "National Centre for Information Support of Research, Development, and Innovation" project.
Štěpán Jurajda
Štěpán Jurajda is Professor of Economics at CERGE-EI, where he also served as Director. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and was a post-doc at Princeton University. He served as Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, as vice-chairman of the Research, Development and Innovation Council, and as a member of the National Economic Council of the Czech Government. His research appeared in leading social-science journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Econometrics, Demography, and PNAS.
Ladislav Krištoufek
Ladislav Krištoufek is a Vice-Rector for Research at Charles University, a member of the Czech governmental R&D&I Council, and a professor of economics. He is the only Czech social scientist listed among the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2022 and for 2023 the only ranked economist in the Widening countries. He currently sits as the Clarivate Research Council member. In the R&D&I Council, he is a rapporteur for the national research priorities, research excellence, and the Czech Science Foundation.
Panel Discussion: Young Scientists
TBD
