This year’s Dies academicus ceremony returned to the auditorium of the Faculty of Law after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In his speech, MU Rector Martin Bareš recalled the two previous celebrations that could not take place at the usual venue. “Although it is already my third year in office as Rector, this is the first Dies academicus celebration where we can meet in person. That is also why I am so pleased that I was able to shake hands with everyone today,” said Martin Bareš, recalling that the pandemic years shook the world, society and people’s lives, underscoring the importance of higher education and the indispensable and strategic role of basic research, and also emphasised Masaryk University’s social responsibility.
It was thus of no great surprise that this year’s MU Rector’s Awards also went to students and employees who had volunteered and helped coordinate the activities of the MUNI HELPS Volunteer Centre.
Martin Bareš also presented two MU Gold Medals during this year’s ceremony. The first was awarded to Petr Oslzlý, co-founder of the former Civic Forum political movement, advisor to President Václav Havel and theatre scriptwriter, dramaturge, actor and recipient of the Ministry of Culture Award for his lifetime of authorial, dramaturgical and organisational work in alternative and studio theatre. The second medal went to Miloš Štědroň, a leading Czech musicologist and composer working at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University, who also collaborates productively with the Husa na provázku theatre and has received the Brno City Prize, the South Moravian Region Award for contributions in the field of music, the Ministry of Culture Award for the merits in visual arts, music and literature and the JAMU Medal.
The MU Rector’s Awards are presented annually in several categories in recognition of outstanding achievements in science and research, sports, teaching, art and civic participation. The recipients are individual MU students and employees or entire teams of people.
Awards presented as part of Dies academicus
MU Rector’s Award for Outstanding Creative Activity
Miloslav Klugar and Jitka Klugarová, Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, Faculty of Medicine – Co-investigators of the „living map” project and the latest evidence-based recommendations for preventing the spread of Covid-19 and care for patients with the disease.
MU Rector’s Award for Outstanding Artistic Activity
Radek Horáček, Olga Búciová, Zbyněk Fišer, Petra Lexová, Martina Mrázová, Jana Ovčáčková, Monika Szűcsová, Jana Nedomová and Laura Hatlapatková, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Arts – In 2021, Radek Horáček’s team of authors published the second updated edition of the book Sculpture in Brno 1989–2019.
MU Rector’s Award for an Outstanding Sports Performance
Tereza Voborníková, Faculty of Sports Studies – As a student of Physical Education and Sport, she also combines her studies with an active sporting career, representing Czechia in biathlon since 2014.
MU Rector’s Award for Extraordinary International Grant Competition Results
Robert Vácha, CEITEC MU, Faculty of Science – CEITEC research group leader and recipient of the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant in 2020 for the “PeptideKillers” project investigating treatments against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
MU Rector’s Award for Outstanding Research Results Achieved by Young Scientists under 35 Natural sciences and medicine
Zdeněk Farka, CEITEC MU, Faculty of Science – He and his team are involved in the development of bioanalytical methods for the detection of clinically and environmentally relevant substances.
Social sciences and humanities
Patrick Casey Leisure, Faculty of Law – International experience helps this young researcher working at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science to participate in the research of international and comparative public law.
Economics and informatics
Tomáš Plíhal, Faculty of Economics and Administration – A leading researcher at the Department of Finance in the area of financial asset volatility modelling. He has published excellent results in prestigious scholarly journals.
MU Rector’s Award for Long-term Excellence in Research
Natural sciences and medicine
Petr Dubový, Faculty of Medicine – A leading expert in neuroscience. Since the beginning of his scientific career, he has pursued the study of cellular and molecular processes involved in regeneration in the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Economics and informatics
Michal Kozubek, Faculty of Informatics – Prominent world-renowned researcher in the field of biomedical image acquisition and processing.
Social sciences and humanities
Jiří Malenovský, Faculty of Law – An educator at the Department of International and European Law; he has also served as a judge at the Constitutional Court, Ambassador to the Council of Europe and Senior Director of the Legal and Consular Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
MU Rector’s Award for Outstanding Teachers
Natural sciences and medicine
Social sciences and humanities
Economics and informatics
The awards in this category will be announced and presented in September this year.
MU Rector’s Award for innovations in teaching
Teaching
Lenka Gajzlerová, Sheri Kingsdorf, Vendula Malaníková, Karel Pančocha, Tullia Sychra Reucci and Helena Vaďurová, Faculty of Education – The team of educators created an e-learning course called Applied Behavioural Analysis for Beginners. The online course is designed especially for parents and caregivers of individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Teaching support
Nikola Kostlánová, CEITEC MU – She initiated the implementation of individual profile activities in doctoral education at CEITEC MU; the activities’ innovativeness and adherence to international standards subsequently influenced the development of doctoral studies not only at CEITEC MU but also at other parts of Masaryk University and even at other universities in the Czech Republic and abroad.
MU Rector’s Award for an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis
Dominik Rotrekl, Faculty of Pharmacy
Peter Lenárt, Faculty of Science
Jaroslav Bendík, Faculty of Informatics
MU Rector’s Award for the Best Students in Doctoral Programmes
Samuel Pastva, Faculty of Informatics
Sabina Rosenbergová, Faculty of Arts
Peter Solár, Faculty of Medicine
MU Rector’s Award for the Best Students in Master’s Programmes
Veronika Hermanová, Faculty of Arts
Vítězslav Dušek, Faculty of Medicine
Kryštof Chytrý, Faculty of Science
MU Rector’s Award for the Active Development of Civil Society
Tereza Mikulová, Jitka Novotná, Lucie Hájková and Pavel Sochor, Faculty of Education – The team founded the creative Open Art Studio, which supports artistic activities and social inclusion of artists with disabilities.
MU Rector's Award for Volunteering
Students
Libuša Kovalíková, Michael Král, Zuzana Laššáková, Štěpán Matyska, Jan Pokorný and Gabriela Žabková, Faculty of Medicine; Jakub Fišák, Faculty of Science; Lucie Říhová, Faculty of Education; Petr Knetl, Faculty of Informatics; Jan Novotný, Faculty of Law; David Kremeník, Faculty of Social Studies
Employees
Dagmar Pichová, Faculty of Arts
Lenka Ďulíková, Faculty of Education
Gold Medals MU
Miloš Štědroň, Petr Oslzlý – In recognition of their outstanding contributions to the development of culture and art and the Masaryk University.