MENDEL news 6/2023 (eng) by MENDELU

The Employee Newsletter of Mendel University in Brno

How to communicate using gender-sensitive language?

As part of efforts to fulfill the Gender Equality Plan, a guide to using gender-sensitive language has been created. The guide gives recommendations for how to communicate in written and spoken form in Czech and in visual forms in a way that is respectful of and fair to men, women, and non-binary people. It includes specific examples of suitable phrases and wording to use. The guide does not present binding rules for communication. Instead, its goal is to promote communication rules that support equal opportunity in academia, research, and society as a whole.

6-23

MENDELU highlights

MENDELU Week

This academic year will kick off with MENDELU Week. We want this week to be an opportunity for students and employees to come together and start the new semester together. You can look forward to the following events that will take place during MENDELU week:

• 23 September – MENDELU Run. You are invited to the sixth annual MENDELU Run, which will take place on Saturday, 23 September 2023, in MENDELU’s Botanical Garden and Arboretum. This event is for runners, fans, and everyone who wants to enjoy a sporting atmosphere in the MENDELU Botanical Garden and Arboretum. You can find more information and the registration form here.

• 27 September – MENDELU Party. From 10:00 to 4:00 the area between Buildings A and X will be transformed into a party zone. There will be a swap where you can exchange clothing, books, and other items; the Sustainable MENDELU exhibition; presentations by student associations; and guided tours of the University apiary.

• 28 September – A visit to G. J. Mendel’s birthplace. On this state holiday, we will offer employees the opportunity to visit G. J. Mendel’s birthplace in Vražné. An organized bus trip will depart from MENDELU and include a guided tour of the founder of genetics’ birthplace. Family members may join the excursion. During MENDELU Week, the canteen will serve meals inspired by G. J. Mendel, and we are currently working on an informational campaign that will focus on G. J. Mendel’s legacy and significance. With the exception of the tour of Mendel’s birthplace, all events are intended for MENDELU employees and students. More detailed information and links to reserve spots on the tours of the apiary and G. J. Mendel’s birthplace will be sent out by email.

Země živitelka agricultural exhibition

The 49th annual Země živitelka, or Bread Basket, exhibition run from 24 August to 29 August 2023 in České Budějovice. This exhibition is the largest, most important agricultural fair in Czechia and Slovakia and is intended for both industry professionals and the general public. MENDELU had a booth in Pavilion R, where it presented its latest findings in agricultural research and offered events and activities for the general public. Among others, the Minister of the Environment Petr Hladík and the Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný visited our booth. The booth was organized by Communication and Marketing Office MENDELU, the Faculty of AgriSciences and the University Agriculture Enterprise in Žabčice.

Researchers’ Night

On Friday, 6 October, from 6:00 p.m. until 11:59, Researchers’ Night will take place at the MENDELU campus. This year’s theme is mystery. It is a night when science and scientists show their real faces. You can find more information and the program on the website https://mendelu.cz/noc-vedcu

Mobility at MENDELU

This July, the International Relations Office successfully completed a credit mobility project that started in 2020. Although the project was launched during the difficult days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was nearly impossible to send students to or receive them from non-European countries, we still managed to send 133 students for placements in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Nigeria, Uganda, Nicaragua, South Africa, Cambodia, and Mongolia. In many countries we made important contacts and connections, not only at the academic level, that will lead to new partnerships and cooperation in the fields of student exchanges and science and research. In February 2023, MENDELU submitted an application for the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme for the 2023–2025 period. MENDELU was the second most successful university in the Czech Republic in terms of the number of mobility spots assigned to it. The project application was rated as being very good, and as a result, MENDELU was assigned 218 mobilities. Cooperation will continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Cambodia, Ghana, and Uganda. Newly participating countries include Kosovo, Georgia, and New Zealand.

MENDELU highlights

Day camp for children of MENDELU employees takes place for fourth time

The Human Resources Management Office, in cooperation with the Lužánky Free Time Center, organized summer day camps for the children and grandchildren of MENDEULU employees for the fourth time. This year, two one-week camps were held, one in July and one in August. These camps always focus on issues that are central to MENDELU’s activities. This year’s topics were the natural elements and animal husbandry. Every year, scientists take part in the camps and share interesting information from their fields with the children. This year, entomologist Zdeněk Laštůvka participated for the second time. The dates and topics of next years’ camps will be announced in early 2024. You can have a look at pictures from this year’s “Fifth Element” camp here

New internal regulations

With the start of the new academic year, four new internal regulations will come into effect that will change some processes and rules at the University.

The first are the Study and Examination Regulations, which establish the basic framework of teaching and learning. The changes affect students, teachers, and the administration of studies as such. One of the most important changes is the increasing of the number of credits students of bachelor’s and master’s programs need to proceed to their second semester, from 12 to 15. Another change is that any period in which a student interrupts studies will now count toward the maximum time allowed to complete a program. Students will also newly be required to excuse absences from classes due to illness within seven days. Besides these changes, the biggest changes for doctoral students include a clearer definition of what is required to advance to the next year of study, the elimination of the need to include an abstract when submitting a dissertation, and the new obligation to study abroad for at least one month.

The Scholarship Regulations have also been changed. Most importantly, the dates when accomadation and social stipends are paid out have been changed. Now, they will be sent to recipients three times a year, in January, April, and July.

The new Accreditation Regulations introduce changes in how applications for the accreditation of study programs are evaluated.

Now, instead of the Internal Accreditation Committee, the Internal Evaluation Board will be responsible for evaluation. The portfolio and number of evaluators have been expanded in an effort to improve the overall evaluation of study program quality. These changes should make the process shorter and enable faculties to address any shortcomings while the process is still ongoing. The new accreditation processes are described in full detail at akreditace.mendelu.cz. The Internal Evaluation Board Rules of Procedure have also been updated. Changes have been made to Section 3, which establishes details about the non-public part of the board’s negotiations, the deadlines for voting by correspondence, and the manner of publishing minutes. You can find all internal regulations on the MENDELU Public Notice Board.

Digitalization of University processes

This autumn will bring many new things in the University’s efforts to digitalize administrative procedures. On 1 October, a modern, more dynamic looking “time and attendance” application will be launched. It is simpler to fill out, which will certainly please users. Attendance and time-keeping clerks will certainly appreciate the automatic transfer of attendance data to SAP at the end of the month. We can also look forward to the launch of several new “specimen signatures”, the simplification of administration processes, and the complete digitalization of the approval process with the launching of “e-templates” (draft employment contracts and changes to contracts) to replace outdated MS Word forms. Some faculties have already started using “e-reporting for projects”. These apps, and many more, have been developed for you by staff from the Department of IT, the Records and Archives Department and Filing Office, and SMART MENDELU.

Changes at HR Management Office

On 1 September 2023, the organizational structure of the Human Resources Management Office changed in an effort to contribute to the more effective management of this office and to improve the provision of support to University employees. The Personnel Office has transformed into the Personnel Department, which is headed by Jana Zouharová. The International Employee Support Office has been eliminated, and its responsibilities are now carried

out by the Personnel Department. The same also goes for activities related to work-life balance. Karolína Doncová is in charge of both portfolios. The HR Development and Benefits Department has been renamed the HR Development Office, which now includes the portfolio of the eliminated Recruitment Office. This department is headed by Tereza Ondráčková. For more information, visit https://orlz.mendelu.cz/kontakt.

Open Science

Discounts for publishing in Open Access journals are still available. For more information and a list of journals offering discounts, see the webpage of the Open Science Centre, or write to us at e-mail. We have an unlimited number of vouchers available for publishing with Cambridge University Press, the American Chemical Society, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. You can also take advantage of the Open Access Support Fund for publications in 2023. One evaluation criterion is the participation of a PhD student in research and the co-authoring of the paper. For more on the conditions for drawing from the Open Access Fund, see here. You can use the data storage solutions provided by MENDELU to store your research data. For a list of possibilities, see here To send data you may also use FileSender or CESNET. The Open Science Centre offers guidelines and support for Open Science at the University: open-science@mendelu.cz.

MEDIA HIGHLIGHT

1 July – iDNES.cz – Mongolia begins using Czech hiking trail markings: HERE

5 July – Český rozhlas Brno – bringing blue-green algae to space on satellites: HERE

12 July – Brňan.cz – informational trails commemorate abandoned villages: HERE

19 July – Brněnský deník.cz – ergonomic chairs: HERE

27 July – irozhlas.cz – wildfires: HERE

1 August – ekolist.cz – decline in seagrasses: HERE

4 August – novinky.cz – environmentally friendly plant protection products: HERE

Rector’s Awards

MENDELU highlights

2022 Annual Report

The Annual Report on the Activities of Mendel University in Brno for 2022 was published in late June. It summarizes the most important events of 2022, which in many ways was not an easy year. We also celebrated the 200th birthday of G. J. Mendel, and many events were held for both professional and general audiences. This report, which must be compiled every year as established by the Higher Education Act and whose general outline is established by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, can be found on the notice board. For the first time ever, it features illustrations by students.

Library news

On 21 September 2023, at 1:00 p.m., a ceremony will be held in the Auditorium of MENDELU, where the Rector’s Awards will be given out. The ceremony will include a performance of songs from musicals by actors from the Brno City Theater.

PowerPoint presentations can now be modified

Newly updated official University PowerPoint presentations have been added to the employee business trip page of the MENDELU website. The presentations may be modified as needed for various purposes. You can find both a Czech and English version of the presentation.

Give old banners a new life

In the name of sustainability and environmental protection, we have decided to give a new life to unneeded materials: banners and roll-up banners that we no longer use. If you have any unused banners, please bring them to the collection point next to storeroom of the Communications and Marketing Office in the basement of Building Q. The collection point is marked by a sign. These materials will be further processed and upcycled into University merchandise.

SUSTAINABLE MENDELU

• Even though you have been able to visit the University library’s main loan room all summer long, from 18 September all library study rooms will be open and in full operating mode: at the the Brno campus at Zemědělská and Tř. generála Píky from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the library in Lednice from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 8 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays. You can find more information about opening hours on the library services website: https://uvis.mendelu.cz/knihovna-aktuality

• Libraries and study rooms are freely accessible to all. Registration is necessary only to borrow books. You can easily register online using your account in the library catalogue https://katalog.mendelu.cz. Registration is of course free of charge. Employees can be registered library users as long as they have an employment contract. The Library will renew your reader card every year for you.

• If you haven’t yet signed up for the Library Newsletter, you can do so at https://mailchi.mp/2acb41d5c9ea/newsletter_ knihovna or on the Library’s website https://uvis.mendelu.cz/ knihovna-aktuality. You’ll get all the most important news right in your inbox.

• Based on proposals by academic staff and the needs of students, the Mendel University in Brno citation style guide, known as The Library Recommends, has been revised, with the objective of making bibliographic citations clearer and simpler. The revised citation style is described in a guide containing many practical examples. It is available on the Library website

JINAG is the South Moravian Agency for Public Innovations, which creates new paths toward and ways for solving problems related to public administration in South Moravia. The agency was launched in autumn of 2022 as an association. Its main founder is the South Moravia Region. JINAG’s objective is to improve the quality of life for South Moravians, and it therefore engages in activities involving the transfer of solutions from elsewhere in the Czech Republic and abroad to the region. The agency has advocated the creation of a platform where people from different institutions and companies can share their experiences, resulting in the seamless implementation of projects. It is the only innovation agency focused on life both in urban agglomerates and in rural areas.

Vision: Open, modern public administration in the South Moravia Region, which can flexibly adopt available innovative solutions. The South Moravian Region will become carbon neutral.

Mission: JINAG supports the implementation of innovative solutions in the public sector with the goal of improving the quality and accessibility of public services, and as a result, bettering the quality of life of South Moravians.

MENDELU confirmed its interest in becoming a member of this association by signing a membership application on 23 June 2023. TALKS are currently being held for MENDELU to head the “Adaptation of the Region to Climate Change” platform. The specialist ambassador of this domain will be a representative from CzechGlobe (the Global Change Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) or the Partnership Foundation. www.jinag.eu

From the world of science and research

Two new professors awarded appointment decrees

In June, the president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, personally awarded appointment decrees to newly minted professors at the Karolinum building in Prague. On the proposal of the MENDELU Scientific Council, Roman Gebauer and Michal Tomšovský were appointed professors in the fields of forest phytology, and forest protection and game management, respectively. Congratulations!

2023 graduate survey

Like last year, this year we have also conducted a survey among graduates. We addressed both fresh graduates (of bachelor’s and master’s programs) and graduates who completed their studies last year. Responses were collected from May until the end of July. This year 699 graduates filled out the survey, 428 of whom graduated this year and 271, last year. We were most interested in how successful graduates are on the job market. The survey also concentrated on gaining feedback from graduates about their degree programs. You can find the results of this survey, and much more, on the pages of the Department of Quality and Risk Management.

Nobel Prize winner at MENDELU

In September, our University will be visited by the 2020 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier. She received the Nobel Prize for developing a method for genome editing. On Tuesday, 12 September, at 5:00 p.m., Professor Charpentier will give a public lecture at the MENDELU campus in lecture hall Q01. The title of her talk is “A Research Journey towards the CRISPR-Cas Genome Engineering Technology”. Everyone is cordially invited! The following day the University will award her with the honorary degree of doctor honoris causa. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 13 September 2023.

Sign up for the Brno Ph.D. Talent contest!

All students in their first year of doctoral studies are eligible to take part in the Brno Ph.D. Talent contest, which kicks off on 4 September. MENDELU is one of the participating universities. The top 25 students who convince the expert committee about the excellence of their findings and the quality of their proposed research project will be awarded a scholarship. You can find out more about the contest here. You can also follow the Project Department webpage, where information about the internal MENDELU Ph.D Talent contest will soon be made available.

Evaluation of 2023 internal quality evaluation

From 15 May to 30 June, a regular internal quality evaluation was conducted across MENDELU. In total, 3,991 survey forms were filled out, of which 2022 were course evaluations by their guarantors, and 612, evaluations by academic and research staff. Overall, participation in the evaluation was 86 percent. The survey provided many interesting findings, for example, that compared to other universities in Brno we have a lower percentage of international academic and research employees, or that the percentage of Slovak students among total international students has fallen by 11 percentage points over the last 5 years. One of the studied indicators is the publication activities of academic staff, which is an important criterion for accrediting new degree programs. But more than just the scope of publications is studied; so too is how publications are related to the focuses of individual study programs.

You can find more interesting information acquired through this year’s internal quality evaluation at kvalita.mendelu.cz. We would like to thank everyone who took part in this year’s evaluation.

From the world of science and research

More than 80 project proposals submitted to ZEMĚ II program

A total of 81 project proposals were submitted in response to the first public call for project funding focused on research, development, and innovation in 2023 as part of the ZEMĚ II program. MENDELU is the coordinator of 41 of these projects! Staff from the Faculty of AgriSciences prepared 56 projects; from the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 12 projects; from the Faculty of Business and Economics, 1 project; from the Faculty of Horticulture, 9 projects; and from the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, 3 projects. The announcement of results is expected by 17 January 2024. Successful projects will start from 3 January 2024.

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, SIGMA DC3 program

The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic announced the results of the public call for project proposals under the SIGMA DC3 program. Five projects from MENDELU were awarded grants:

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• Tools for preventing chronic non-infectious diseases: Innovative procedures and products for evaluating children’s health and obesity risks (Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, Dana Hübelová)

• Supporting changes in behavioural patterns in Generation Z and a proposal for interventions to prevent food waste including an evaluation of their impacts (Faculty of Business and Economics, Lucie Veselá)

• Potential of revitalizing brownfields with the possibility of partial self-financing (Faculty of Business and Economics, Ladislava Issever Grochová)

• Digital educational tools for developing consumers’ environmental competences (Faculty of Business and Economics, Lucie Veselá)

• Web application for demonstrating authorship (Faculty of Business and Economics, Pavel Turčínek)

MENDELU Ph.D. school

The Project Department is preparing attractive topics for the MENDEL Ph.D. School this autumn for doctoral students at MENDELU.

Project Center renamed POREK

The Project Center of the Rector’s Office has a new acronym, POREK. You can find out more about the center’s activities at https://porek.mendelu.cz/en/.