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Masaryk University honours its best scientists

The MUNI Scientist awards for outstanding achievements, publications in prestigious journals or publishing houses and for outstanding research results were presented to 37 researchers and research groups on 11 December.

The MUNI Scientist Awards were presented to the outstanding scientists by Vice-Rector Šárka Pospíšilová.

The purpose of the Grant Agency of Masaryk University (GAMU) awards is to motivate the university’s researchers and improve the university’s standing in the scientific community and in the public eye. The award ceremony took place in the atrium of CEITEC MU and was attended by 43 researchers and research teams. The awardees come from all ten faculties as well as CEITEC.  

“We value the work of our researchers. Their research is important both to our University and to society as a whole. It is a great pleasure for me to celebrate these efforts and ideas each year,” said Šárka Pospíšilová, Vice-Rector for research and doctoral studies.

The award ceremony was preceded by an evaluation of the projects that had completed their funding period in previous years. The afternoon programme began with a summary of this year’s GAMU activities, with calls for proposals open to researchers at all stages of their scientific careers. Master’s students can still apply for the  Excellent Diploma Thesis programme until the end of January, while researchers who have taken a longer career break could apply for Career Restart grant. The MUNI Junior Star programme is aimed at researchers who have recently completed their PhD studies, while the MASH and MASH StG/CoG programmes support excellent researchers and winners of prestigious European grants. 

Vice-Rector Pospíšilová then introduced fifteen recent Career Restart holders: Kateřina Bartošová, Kristýna Brzobohatá and Lucie Mazalová from the Faculty of Arts, Soňa Bukovčáková and Monika Kubíčková from CEITEC, Lucie Galčanová Batista and Alena Kluknavská from the Faculty of Social Studies, Veronika Kajurová from the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Monika Kratochvílová and Lenka Paštěková from the Faculty of Medicine, Oxana Truhlářová from the Faculty of Education and Dana Buriánková Fialová, Štěpánka Kelarová, Katharina Neusser and Jitka Vives from the Faculty of Science.

She also presented awards to excellent researchers.

MUNI SCIENTIST AWARDS 2024 

Hind Bangui, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Informatics – Department of Computer Systems and Communications
Awarded for an article in the Internet of Things journal.

doc. Mgr. Monika Brusenbauch Meislová, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Social Studies – Department of International Relations and European Studies
Awarded for articles published in International Affairs and Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

RNDr. Jan Byška, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Informatics – Department of Visual Computing
Awarded for articles published in Computer Graphics Forum, Computers & Graphics and IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

doc. Mgr. Pavel Dvořák, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Science – Section of Microbiology
Awarded for an article in Nature Communications.

Zuzana Hofmanová, Dr. rer. nat. 
Faculty of Arts – Department of Archaeology and Museology
Awarded for her article in Nature.

doc. Mgr. Petr Hrubý, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Arts – Department of Archaeology and Museology
Awarded for a book published by Brill.

Ing. Ondřej Jurček, Ph.D. et Ph.D. 
Faculty of Pharmacy – Department of Natural Drugs
Awarded for an article in Angewandte Chemie.

Prateek Kalia, Ph.D.
Faculty of Economics and Administration – Department of Business Management
Awarded for an article in European Management Journal.

prof. RNDr. Petr Klán, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Science – RECETOX – Head of the group Chemical Tools for Diagnostics and Therapy
Awarded for an article in Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Mgr. Martin Lang, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Arts – Laboratory for Experimental Research of Religion
Awarded for winning the prestigious Czech Science Foundation’s Junior Star grant.

doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Macháčková, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Social Studies – Head of Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society
Awarded for winning the prestigious ERC CZ grant.

Klára Marečková, Ph.D., M.Sc. 
CEITEC – Milan Brázdil Research Group
Awarded for winning the prestigious Czech Science Foundation’s Junior Star grant.

Ing. Miloš Musil, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Science – Loschmidt Laboratories
Awarded for an article published in Briefings in Bioinformatics.

PharmDr. Jan Otevřel, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Pharmacy – Department of Chemical Drugs
Awarded for an article published in Nature Synthesis.

Dr. Armin Paravlić 
Faculty of Sports Studies – Incubator of Kinanthropology Research
Awarded for an article in Annals of Medicine.

Julia Secklehner, M.Phil., Ph.D. 
Faculty of Arts – Department of Art History
Awarded for her book published by Routledge Taylor & Francis.

Mgr. Andrea Stašek 
Faculty of Social Studies – Psychology Research Institute
Awarded for her articles in the journals Computers in Human Behavior and The Journal of Sex Research, as well as for popularising mental health research among the queer community in the Czech Republic.

prof. RNDr. Jan Strejček, Ph.D.
Faculty of Informatics – Institute for Theoretical Computer Science
Awarded for articles published in Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems.

Mgr. Petr Svojanovský, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Education – Department of Education
Awarded for an article in European Journal of Teacher Education.

Mgr. et Mgr. Michal Tkaczyk, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Social Studies – Department of Media Studies and Journalism
Awarded for articles in the journals Computers in Human Behavior and Journalism Practice.

Mgr. Jakub Vostoupal, Ph.D.
Faculty of Law – Institute of Law and Technology
Awarded for an article published in Computer Law & Security Review.

Dr. Ing. Adam Williamson
Faculty of Medicine – International Clinical Research Center
Awarded the prestigious ERC Proof of Concept grant.

RNDr. Michal Zajaček, Dr. rer. nat. 
Faculty of Science –Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics
Awarded for winning the prestigious Czech Science Foundation’s Junior Star grant and for articles published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and Astrophysical Journal.

Research teams:

Mgr. Ladislav Bartoš
CEITEC – Robert Vácha Research Group 
prof. RNDr. Robert Vácha Ph.D. 
CEITEC – Head of Robert Vácha Research Group
Awarded for an article published in Nature Communications.

Ladislav Bartoš (vlevo) a Robert Vácha.

Prof. RNDr. Petr Bureš, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Science – Head of Plant Biosystematics Group
Tammy L Elliott, M.Sc., Ph.D.
McGill University, Canada 
Mgr. František Zedek, Ph.D.
Faculty of Science – Plant Biosystematics Group
Awarded for an article in New Phytologist.

Petr Bureš (vlevo) a František Zedek. Na fotografii je Tammy L Elliott.

Mgr. Martina Dvořáčková, Ph.D. 
CEITEC – Jiří Fajkus Research Group 
Mgr. Michal Franek, Ph.D.
CEITEC – Jiří Fajkus Research Group
Awarded for an article published in Nature Communications.

Martina Dvořáčková

Mgr. Miroslav Homola, Ph.D.
IST Austria – Schur group
Ing. Tibor Füzik, Ph.D.
CEITEC – Pavel Plevka Research Group
Awarded for an article in Science Advances.


prof. PhDr. Tomáš Janík, Ph.D., M.Ed. 
Faculty of Education – Institute for Research in School Education
doc. Mgr. Petr Najvar, Ph.D.​
Faculty of Education – Institute for Research in School Education
Mgr. Tereza Češková, Ph.D.
Faculty of Education – Institute for Research in School Education
Awarded for a book published by Routledge in the Research in Education section.

From the left: Petr Najvar, Tereza Češková a Tomáš Janík.

Mgr. Michal Kramárek, Ph.D.​ 
Faculty of Medicine – Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology
Mgr. Přemysl Souček, Ph.D.
Faculty of Medicine – Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology
Awarded for an article in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

Přemysl Souček (vlevo) a Michal Kramárek.

RNDr. Jitka Malčíková, Ph.D.​
CEITEC – Centre for Molecular Medicine
Mgr. Šárka Pavlová, Ph.D.
Faculty of Medicine – Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology
Awarded for an article published in the journal Leukemia.

Jitka Malčíková (vlevo) a Šárka Pavlová.

prof. Ing. Juraj Nemec, CSc.
Faculty of Economics and Administration – Department of Public Economics 
doc. Ing. Robert Jahoda, Ph.D.​
Faculty of Economics and Administration – Department of Public Economics 
doc. JUDr. Ivan Malý, CSc. 
Faculty of Economics and Administration – Department of Public Economics
Awarded for an article in the journal Public Management Review.

Ivan Malý (vlevo) a Robert Jahoda.

Anna C. Papageorgiou, Ph.D.​
CEITEC – Konstantinos Tripsianes Research Group 
Mgr. Michaela Pospíšilová​
Faculty of Medicine – Lumír Krejčí Research Group 
Konstantinos Tripsianes, Ph.D.​
CEITEC – Konstantinos Tripsianes Research Group 
doc. Mgr. Lumír Krejčí, Ph.D.
Faculty of Medicine – Lumír Krejčí Research Group
Faculty of Science – National Centre for Biomolecular Research
Awarded for an article in Nature Communications.

Konstantinos Tripsianes a Michaela Pospíšilová.

MUDr. Volodymyr Porokh​
Faculty of Medicine – Zuzana Holubcová Research Group: Gametogenesis and Early Embryo Development
PharmDr. Zuzana Holubcová, Ph.D.
Faculty of Medicine – Head of Zuzana Holubcová Research Group: Gametogenesis and Early Embryo Development
Awarded for an article in Nature Communications.

Volodymyr Porokh a Zuzana Holubcová.

RNDr. Ondřej Schindler, Ph.D.
CEITEC – Biological Data Management and Analysis Core Facility
Faculty of Science – National Centre for Biomolecular Research
doc. RNDr. Radka Svobodová, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Science – Biological Data Management and Analysis Core Facility
Awarded for an article published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

Ondřej Schindler

Mgr. Michal Šimáně, Ph.D.
Faculty of Arts – Department of Educational Sciences 
PhDr. Mgr. Oto Polouček, Ph.D. 
Faculty of Arts – Department of European Ethnology 
doc. Mgr. Jiří Zounek, Ph.D.
Faculty of Arts – Institute of Educational Sciences
Awarded for a book published by Springer Nature.

From the left: Oto Polouček, Jiří Zounek a Michal Šimáně.

Mgr. et Mgr. Katarína Šipulová, Ph.D., MSt
Faculty of Law – Head of the Judicial Studies Institute
prof. JUDr. David Kosař, Ph.D., LL.M., J. S. D.
Faculty of Law – Head of the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science
Awarded for the editorial issue of the German Law Journal.

Katarína Šipulová

Mgr. Pavlína Víšková Gajarská, Ph.D.
Mgr. Eva Ištvánková ​ 
RNDr. Silvie Trantírková, Ph.D.​ 
doc. Mgr. Lukáš Trantírek, Ph.D 
CEITEC – Lukáš Trantírek Research Group
Awarded for an article in Nature Communications.

From the left: Lukáš Trantírek, Silvie Trantírková a Eva Ištvánková.