Masaryk University will finalise its strategy for the next seven years
Most importantly, 2020 will be the year of debates around the MU Strategic Plan 2021+, which will set out the priorities and the direction of the university for the next seven years. The plan is being developed by a team comprised of around 130 representatives from all the university faculties and institutes, students and academic staff from the MU Academic Senate and non-academic employees. The strategy will be finalised at the end of April and will be discussed and approved by the governing bodies of the university before being submitted to the Ministry of Education in October.
An overall university strategy is necessary to clarify the key points in the university’s role in education, research and society that will be the priority in the upcoming years and is also important for supporting university projects that require funding from public and international resources.
The Simulation Centre of the MU Faculty of Medicine is due to open in September
The Simulation Centre at the MU Faculty of Medicine will open its doors to the students at the start of the next academic year. After two years of construction at the University Campus Bohunice, the first-year students will be the first to test the new facilities.
The Simulation Centre is unparalleled in the Czech Republic and will serve as a facility for comprehensive hands-on learning by students in healthcare programmes. The five-storey building will simulate hospital facilities including the emergency department, operating rooms and regular hospital rooms that are equipped with medical training dummies and simulators that imitate real-life situations. This will give the students the opportunity to practice both regular and complicated procedures and situations in a safe environment. The construction and equipment cost a total of almost 40 million euros and the project has been funded by the Operational Programme Research, Development and Education.
Masaryk Days: reflections on current social issues
The first year of Masaryk Days, a new event inspired by Rector Martin Bareš, will take place in early March to commemorate the birthday of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The event will celebrate Masaryk as a scholar, politician and president and highlight some of the aspects of his personal philosophy and activities. Even more importantly, it should create a platform to present the current projects of international researchers and discuss important social issues.
The faculty, students and general public are welcome to meet the US historian Andrew O'Shaughnessy from the University of Virginia, who studies the life and work of Thomas Jefferson, to reflect on the issues that surrounded the birth of American democracy and its impact on the situation in Europe. Andrew O'Shaughnessy is one of the leading figures in academic and public life who were invited to discuss the nature of democracy and its advantages and drawbacks. More detailed information about the event schedule will be published later this January.
New biobank to open at the campus
New laboratories and a new unique biobank will open at the MU Faculty of Science RECETOX research centre in the second half of the year. The facilities are designed to store environmental and biological tissue samples and will include those taken from participants in a study that focuses on the impact of the environment and lifestyle on human health. The analysis of these samples will help researchers understand how toxic substances accumulate in the environment and in the human body and whether there is a link between their presence and the rise of chronic diseases.
The fully automated biobank will ensure the high quality of samples in long-term storage and will enable the international research community to obtain unique data from the understudied Central European region.