The ceremony marking the 106th anniversary of the founding of Masaryk University began with a funny story, recalling the moment when Leoš Janáček learned that he would be the first honorary doctor of the young university.
“He came back from the dean's office all anxious – that he was going to have to make a speech, all those ceremonies... And then he got stage fright.” Jiří Hanuš, the Vice-Rector for Academic and Cultural Affairs, quoted these words from the memoir written by Marie Trkanová with Marie Stejskalová, who was the housekeeper in Leoš Janáček’s family. This book is also the source of the famous quote “I left as Janacek, I am returning as a doctor”, because the famous composer learned about his doctorate from the newspaper that he read on a train ride to Hukvaldy. It is worth mentioning that in the end, he gave a very nice speech, which is documented in the Masaryk University Archives.
This year, the celebration of the MU’s 106th anniversary took place exactly one hundred years to the day from the original event, on 28 January 2025, and it included a celebration of the 100th anniversary since the composer Leoš Janáček received his honorary doctorate from the university. The university awarded ten Silver Medals on the occasion for significant scientific achievements, consolidating the importance of MU, deepening cooperation with domestic and foreign institutions and helping to further develop the university. The work of three of the awardees – Jiří Zahrádka, Graeme Dibble and Nigel Simeone – revolves around Janáček’s work and Czech music. Furthermore, Petr Dvořák and Ivan Rektor, both of whom had also served on the university’s management board in the past, were awarded gold medals for their lifetime contribution to research and the development of MU.
Before awarding the medals, MU Rector Martin Bareš briefly reflected on the upcoming events and developments at Masaryk University, including the completion of the MUNI BioPharma Hub, the development of sports infrastructure and the challenge of the rising demographic curve, which implies the arrival of a higher number of students at MU.
“Without the people who work for and help Masaryk University, it would not be the university it is today. The university’s history serves as the basis for its present and its future. I would like to thank all twelve of the awardees for their contribution to the development and flourishing of our university,” said Martin Bareš.
At the end of the ceremony, Janáček was again given the floor when the Graff Quartet performed the String Quartet No.2 from his “Intimate Letters” for the award winners and the audience. The draft and the original of Leoš Janáček’s honorary doctorate diploma were then displayed in the hall of the Faculty of Law in front of the Karel Engliš Auditorium, where the whole ceremony took place.
MU Silver Medal Awardees
Jiří Zahrádka – Associate Professor at the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Arts, MU; curator of the Leoš Janáček Archive at the Moravian Museum
Jiří Zahrádka has been a long-standing member of the MU Board of Culture and the Arts and the MU Faculty of Arts Committee and has had a long and successful career in teaching, publishing and editing. He is a supervisor of doctoral students and a frequent supervisor and opponent of MU students’ bachelor and master theses. He has been involved in the digitisation of the Leoš Janáček Archive collections and has led the project of editing and creating and online database of Janáček’s correspondence.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to teaching and research and the development of MU in the field of musicology.
Graeme Dibble – British translator and educator
Graeme Dibble graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland and over the years, he has worked on many occasions with Masaryk University (Faculty of Education, Munipress), the Moravian Gallery in Brno, the Moravian Museum, the National Theatre in Brno, the Czech Literary Centre and the National Heritage Institute. He also worked at the State Language School in Brno and for a number of years, he worked for the BBC in Scotland. He has dual Czech and British citizenship. His translations include the Treasures of Moravia (2010), The Most Beautiful Czech Books (2013), Leoš Janáček and Lidové noviny (2014), OCH! (2016), Karlova ukolébavka (2016) and Stories of Exile (2018).
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his outstanding translation work.
Nigel Simeone – musicologist, conductor, writer and teacher with a wide range of research interests
Nigel Simeone has authored and co-authored books on Janáček (e.g. Janáček’s Works, 1997, with John Tyrrell and Alena Němcová, The Janáček Compendium, 2019) and on Charles Mackerras (2015, with John Tyrrell), as well as numerous papers on Janáček. He has authored essays on Janáček’s Jenůfa, From a Dead House and Katya Kabanova for the Royal Opera House in London and for Simon Rattle’s ongoing Janáček Opera Series with the London Symphony Orchestra. He has regular programmes on BBC Radio, including the radio series Tales From the Stave, Record Review, and presents live broadcasts of Janáček works from the Royal Opera House and the BBC Proms. He has previously taught at the University of Nottingham, Bangor University, the University of Sheffield and English Martyrs’ Catholic School in Leicester.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to teaching and research in musicology.
Josef Janyška – former MU Vice-Rector for Information Technology, Professor of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Faculty of Science of MU
He was a member of the MU Academic Senate for two terms, including one term as chair of the Academic Staff Chamber, and he also served on the MU Internal Evaluation Board. During his long teaching career, he has supervised many successful bachelor and master theses in Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry and doctoral theses in Geometry, Topology and Geometric Analysis and General Issues in Mathematics. He is a supervisor of the Teaching of Descriptive Geometry for Secondary Schools. His main research area is differential geometry.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to teaching and research at MU in the field of mathematics.
Ivo Jurtík – member of the MU Development Council and Coordinator of Infrastructure Development at the Faculty of Arts, MU
Ivo Jurtík is a former long-standing bursar of the Faculty of Arts. In this role, he contributed to the establishment and development of the main principles of responsible and sustainable functioning of the faculty, which helped it to cope with the recent energy crisis. He was significantly involved in the previous phases of the reconstruction of the faculty’s historic buildings and in 2021, he was awarded a commemorative medal from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of MU for his contribution to the project. He is the co-author of several past and current projects of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic at the university level.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to the development of MU.
Jiří Kratochvíl – MU graduate and a long-time head of the University Campus Library; member of the MU Faculty of Medicine Library Committee
Jiří Kratochvíl focuses on information education, scientific publishing and predatory journals. He is the author and co-author of several textbooks and a number of articles in professional journals, including How to Cite: Citation Styles (2022), How to Cite (2021), Dubious Journals (2020), and papers such as Citation rules through the eyes of biomedical journal editors (2022), Evaluation of untrustworthy journals: Transition from formal criteria to a complex view (2020), Compliance with ethical rules for scientist publishing in biomedical Open Access journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports (2019), and Evaluation of the e-learning course “Information Literacy” for medical students (2013).
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to the development of library services and information education at MU.
Filip Křepelka – Professor and Head of the Department of International and European Law at the Faculty of Law, MU
Filip Křepelka is a long-term member of the Academic Senate of MU and served as its chair in 2006–2011. He also serves on the MU Research Ethics Committee. In 1998–2003, he was an assistant to the vice-chairman (chairman in 2003) of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and in 2004–2008, he served as the expert advisor on European law at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic. He also served on the Disputes Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. His classes and papers focus on the European integration in the context of federalism, sources of EU secondary law as its legislation, linguistic expression of law, legal frameworks of economic integration, regulation of health, education and transport, and legal comparative studies.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to international and European law.
Blanka Sochorová – Bursar Emeritus, Faculty of Medicine, MU
Blanka Sochorová has contributed to the major development, efficient management and internal administration of the medical faculty. Since the beginning of the construction of the university campus, she has been involved in the preparation and implementation of the move of the MU Faculty of Medicine from its original location in the city centre to the new premises in Brno-Bohunice. During the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the faculty in 2019, she received a commemorative faculty medal from the Dean and current Rector of MU in recognition of her responsible work over many years in preparing the budget, monitoring its implementation, setting up faculty processes and securing human resources as the faculty’s bursar.
She is awarded the MU Silver Medal for her lifetime contribution to the development of MU.
Vojtěch Šimíček – Associate Professor, Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science, Faculty of Law, MU
Vojtěch Šimíček focuses on human rights and the judiciary, constitutional law and state studies. He was the chair of the academic senate of the faculty and is a member of the faculty scientific council. He was an assistant judge at the Constitutional Court (1996–2003). In 2003, he was appointed judge and assigned to the Supreme Administrative Court (2003–2014). From 2014 to 2024, he served as a judge of the Constitutional Court and also as a vice-president of the Court in 2024. He is a teacher, has authored and co-authored many publications and has been involved in the organisation of dozens of conferences and seminars.
He is awarded the MU Silver Medal for his lifetime contribution to teaching and research and the development of MU in the field of law.
Leoš Tržil – Director of the Regional Police Directorate of the South Moravian Region
Po studiu Průmyslové školy dopravní v Břeclavi nastoupil v roce 1993 na Obvodní oddělení Policie ČR v Lednici. Od roku 1994 postupně pracoval pro dopravní službu Policie ČR v Břeclavi, Podivíně, Brně a Praze. Během zaměstnání vystudoval Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Od roku 2008 byl ředitelem Ředitelství služby dopravní policie Policejního prezidia ČR. Akcentuje téma bezpečnostní problematiky a svou aktivitou nejen na sociálních sítích přispívá ke kultivaci veřejného prostoru. S MU spolupracuje na opatřeních zajišťujících vyšší bezpečnost studentů a zaměstnanců. Je vášnivým cyklistou, stojí za vznikem historicky prvního cyklopruhu v České republice.
Stříbrná medaile MU se uděluje za přínos k rozvoji MU.
MU Gold Medal Awardees
Petr Dvořák – former MU Vice-Rector for Science and Research, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics
For many years, Petr Dvořák was the Head of the Institute of Biology at the MU Faculty of Medicine. He also served as the Vice-Dean for Science at the MU Faculty of Medicine and from 2014 to 2020, he was first a member and later the First Vice-Chairman of the Research, Development and Innovation Council (RDIC). He has also worked at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Japanese RIKEN Institute, the French INRA Institute, and Mendel University. He is the main author of Methodology 17+, which is a research evaluation methodology. He has also served as the Chair of the Commission for the Evaluation of Research Organizations at the RVVI and the Chair of the Bioethics Commission of the Czech Republic. Since 2021, he has been Vice-Chair of the Scientific Council of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. His scientific work has focused on the functioning of the fibroblast growth factor and its receptors in human stem cells. In particular, he has studied the mechanisms of division, differentiation and genomic stability of stem cells and their potential use for drug development and modelling of human diseases. His results have contributed to the general understanding of how human stem cells regulate their undifferentiated state.
He is awarded the MU Gold Medal for his lifetime contribution to research at MU and to the development in the field of stem cells.
Ivan Rektor – former MU Vice-Rector for Development; Professor and head of research group at the CEITEC MU Neuroscience Centre
Ivan Rektor was instrumental in the foundation of CEITEC. His research has focused on epilepsy and movement disorders. From 1984 to 1989, he studied the indications of epileptic monkeys and from 1990 to 1992, he focused on the indications of epilepsy surgery, both in Paris. From 1992 to 2012, he headed the neurological clinic at St. Anne’s University Hospital and served as the head of the 1st Neurological Clinic at the MU Faculty of Medicine, a joint department with St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno, which he developed into a top neurological department with an excellent international reputation. He has always emphasized the need for top clinical and research standards. In 2019, he received the MU Rector’s Award for long-term excellence in research in the field of natural sciences and medicine. He is the author of many major publications and has extensive reaching and research experience. In 2023, he captured the attention of the wider academic community on the CT24 Interview programme when he spoke about research into the trauma passed between generations of Holocaust survivors.
He is awarded the MU Gold Medal for his lifetime contribution to teaching and research and the development of MU in the field of neuroscience.