MENDEL news 6/2024 (eng)

6-24 The Employee Newsletter of Mendel University in Brno

MENDELU 105: Alumni reunion The culmination of MENDELU’s 105th anniversary celebration is approaching fast. It will kick off at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, 21 September, when the entire Brno and Lednice campuses will open to all fans of our university. You can look forward to, among other things, the opening of a new travelling historical exhibition titled MENDELU: Yesterday and Today. You can find more information and the programme in our calendar.

MENDELU highlights

Ceremonial Scientific Council meeting and rector’s awards On Friday, September 20, a ceremonial Scientific Council meeting will be held to celebrate the 105th anniversary of our alma mater.

A number of distinguished guests will attend the ceremony. The program will include the presentation of the Rector’s Awards 2024 and Commemorative Medals as a token of appreciation for long-term contributions to the development of the university. These awards will be presented to members of the academic community nominated by faculty leadership as part of the ceremony.

Grant for HEROES

University Sports Day

We are delighted to announce that the HEROES alliance, of which Mendel University in Brno is a member, has received a prestigious grant from the European Commission to support the development of European universities. In this project, headed

by Thomas More University of Applied Sciences (Belgium), we will be boosting regional resilience through environmentally friendly innovations that consider people’s needs. Together with the project’s other partners – Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), the University College Northern Denmark (Denmark), the Polytechnic Institute of Beja (Portugal), Halmstad University (Sweden), Deggendorf Institute of Technology (Germany), Vilnius University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania), and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences – we will focus on three areas: EDUCATION4HEROES, which will improve educational programmes at all levels with an emphasis on practical skills and regional resilience; HEROES4REGIONS, which will include research and innovation dealing with real local challenges; and HEROES4EVER, which will provide flexible educational opportunities for professionals and support the development of digital skills and employability. This joint accomplishment will bring new educational and research opportunities for all employees and students of Mendel University in Brno. For more information about the project, visit its website.

University Sports Day will take place on 2 October 2024 at the Centre of Sports Activities and is open to all MENDELU students.

This year, it won’t be an educational event, but a day full of sports and entertainment. There will be volleyball and table tennis tournaments, and students will be able to test their strength in a powerlifting competition. Each of these disciplines are part of the University Student Cup, and therefore MENDELU’s faculties will be competing against each other. This event is being held as part of the UNIS project for talented athletes to showcase and support sports at the university. Student associations and unions at all of the faculties contributed to organizing it. Our canteen will be selling refreshments all for the single symbolic price of 20 Kč.

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MENDELU highlights SUSTAINABLE MENDELU

Země živitelka agricultural exhibition SJWP won students from UK

BUILDING C TO HAVE GREEN ROOF As part of ongoing renovation work at Mendel University, a new green roof will be added to Building C. Work on it began this summer. The roof is another part of the university’s long-term plans for a more sustainable campus. The green roof is not just for aesthetics; it also serves a function. It produces oxygen, absorbs pollutants from the air, captures rainwater, and helps keep a stable climate inside the building.

During the World Water Week, which took place from August 24 to 29, 2024, the international final of the SJWP competition was held in Stockholm. The Czech Republic was represented

by Tadeáš Fryčák with his project "Root Tracker." The winners of the SJWP competition were students from the United Kingdom, Christopher Whitfeld and Filip Wenqi (Jonathan) Zhao, with their project "PFASolve: An integrated framework for the detection and filtration of perfluoroalkyl substances from surface water in the Thames Basin." For more information, please visit our website at sjwp.mendelu.cz.

September 28th - MENDEL Run We invite you to the 6th annual MENDEL Run, which will take place on Saturday, September 28th, 2023, starting at 8:30 AM in the Botanical Garden and Arboretum of MENDEL University.

Come and participate, cheer on the runners, or simply spend the day in a sports atmosphere in the BZA environment. For more information and registration, please visit the event's website.

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The 50th annual Země živitelky, or Bread Basket, exhibition was held from 22 August to 27 August 2024 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 signed a memorandum with the University of South Bohemia in MENDELU also presented its latest findings in the agricultural sciences. Members of the general public had the opportunity to take part in several activities planned just for them

Reopening of the Academic Wine Cellar Following summer renovations and a brief closure, the grand reopening of the Academic Wine Cellar will take place on September 16 as part of the anniversary celebrations. From September 17, we are ready to welcome guests. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit our wine cellar in building E at Zemědělská 5. Come with friends to enjoy a glass of wine produced by the university and relax in a pleasant environment. We look forward to seeing you.

MENDELU highlights Information literacy training In the new academic year, the Library will hold educational seminars for students and the academic community; you can find the full offer here. The Library would like to remind you that in addition to these planned seminars, you can also request information literacy training to be included in your courses; the content will be tailored to meet your needs. Contact us at knihovna@mendelu.cz.

Library reader registration Are you a new MENDELU employee or have you not yet needed to borrow books and journals? Register for a library card now. Just click on “My account” in the catalogue. You login credentials for the catalogue are the same for UIS; registration is an intuitive process. If you are already registered, your registration will be automatically extended.

Annual Report and Sustainability Report for 2023 The Annual Report on the Activities of Mendel University in Brno for 2023 was published in late June. It summarizes the most important events of the previous year. 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 Public Notice Board. For the second year in a row, it was illustrated by linocuts made by students.

At the same time, the Report on Sustainability at Mendel University in Brno for 2023 was compiled. This report, which summarizes all the significant activities and events on our university’s path to sustainability, was published for the second time. Both sustainability reports can be found on the Department of Strategy and Analysis website.

28 September – MENDELU RunWe would like to invite you to the seventh annual MENDELU Run, which will take place on Saturday, 28 September 2024, in MENDELU’s Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. Come and run, cheer others on, or “just” spend a day soaking in the athletic atmosphere at the arboretum. You can find out more and how to register on the event’s website.

News from the library The Library has been open all summer. Regular opening hours in the upcoming academic year will resume on Monday, 16 September 2024: in Brno from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. and in Lednice from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. You can find detailed information about Library hours here or on the Library website. Before the official start of the academic year, the Library will be open coinciding with orientation week for new students.

Book purchase requests Are you planning a course but can’t find the publications that will be required reading for students in the catalogue? You can request the Library purchases the necessary materials by filling out the form on the Library website or by writing to knihovna@mendelu.cz.

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MEDIA HIGHLIGHT 1. JULY – Ekolist.cz – Carnivore conservation project wins European award: HERE 14. JULY – Seznam zprávy.cz – Only two out of ten new trees survive: HERE 24. JULY – iRozhlas.cz – Sensors to protect animals during hay mowing: HERE 25. JULY – plus.rozhlas.cz – Not only Czech National Bank responsible for low inflation: HERE 11. AUGUST – Blanenský deník.cz – Information panels added to Seč quarry: HERE 14. AUGUST – Czech Television – New green roof at the campus: HERE

MENDELU highlights

Library and Open Science Centre newsletter If you want to keep up with the latest news about support for research and studies provided by the Library and the Open Science Centre, sign up for the newsletter. The newsletter will be delivered to your inbox on the first Monday of every month.

Licence for EndNote citation manager and new instructions in Czech Licences for the EndNote X9 citation manager are available for academics and doctoral students. You can request the Library for a licence. Besides instructions in English, we have now made available a comprehensive user manual in Czech.

Researchers’ Night On Friday, 27 September, from 6:00 p.m. until 11:59 p.m. Researchers’ Night will take place at the MENDELU campus. This year’s theme will be “transformation.” It’s a night when science and scientists show their real faces. You can find more information and the programme on the website.

Children’s day camp: Fort Boyard at MENDELU A camp for the children and grandchildren of MENDELU employees took place this summer for the fifth time. Its central theme was Fort Boyard, whose iconic watchtower, home to Father Fouras, was transformed into the fifth floor of Building A. The children spent most of their time in the arboretum and on campus, but they also went on a trip to the Junglepark ropes course in BrnoPisárky. As usual, the programme highlighted on area of research the university focuses on. This year, the children under the leadership of Jaromír Landa, learned about virtual reality. Registration for next summer’s camp will open in early 2025. Click here to see photos from this year’s camp.

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Do you know which financial benefits you are entitled to?

MENDELU employees are entitled to financial benefits including a meal allowance and contributions to selected insurance and pension saving products. You are entitled to these benefits if you have a contract for at least 0.5 FTE. You can find out more information about these and other benefits on the Human Resources Management Office website.

For insurance and pension saving products you can apply for an employer contribution of 500 Kč monthly. It can be used for supplementary pension insurance, supplementary pension savings, life insurance, and, for the first time this year, long-term investment products and long-term-care insurance. The same conditions apply as in the past: to be eligible for the contribution, the employee must have worked for three years straight at the university and must contribute at least 100 Kč monthly. You can find more information in the revised rector’s guidelines.

To obtain meal allowances, you must grant your consent for payroll deductions and activate your Edenred card. To manage your meal allowance account, you can now use the MyEdenred mobile app.

Education and Accreditation Grant Agency of Gregor Johann Mendel – Application period closed

MENDELU Boost In June 2024 two rounds of the university-wide MENDELU Boost: Start Your Business Idea competition took place. Of the 34 projects submitted, 10 teams advanced to the second round, where they presented their business ideas to an expert jury. A total of 150,000 Kč was awarded to be split between the four best teams, who will have to defend their business ideas in the autumn.

• First place: CityMind The MENDELU Boost competition was won by Andrej Gono’s team and its AI chatbot for local governments. The AI chatbot simplifies public administration and can take care of 80% of questions asked by citizens, 57% of which are answered outside of standard working hours. This will make the work of officials easier and save citizens’ time.

• Second place: Pozemkov Second place went to the Pozemkov project, whose team includes Jan Karásek from MENDELU. Pozemkov is an online property checker and finder tailored to individual users’ preferences.

• Third place: Multispectral Mapping of Agricultural Areas with Drones Petr Sklář and Michal Šebesta are collarobrating on this project for the multispectral mapping of agricultural areas using drones. They also use drones to apply chemicals and sow crops. Their business idea tied for third place.

• Third place: Bee Farm Third place also went to the Bee Farm project. The goal of this business idea is to build a bee farm that will be used for both recreation and education. This business plan also includes the production of bee products, flavoured honeys, and mead. This idea was developed by a team led by Jakub Jakeš.

We would like to congratulate all the winners!

During the summer holidays, university employees had the opportunity to submit applications for internal grants, in July for Category C – Return projects, and in August for Category A – Interdisciplinary Internal Research Projects, and now also for Category D – Applied Research Projects. Category C – Return Projects is intended for employees who are or were on maternal or parental leave and are caring for a child younger than six (pre-school aged) with the goal of supporting their further development and finding work–life balance. Category A – Interdisciplinary Internal Research Projects is intended for research teams comprising academic and research staff from at least two parts of the university that engage in basic research. Category D projects are focused on completing the output of applied research and experimental development leading to commercial application.

Winning Category C – Return Projects will be implemented beginning 1 September 2024, and Category A and D projects will start on 1 November 2024. For more information, see here.

MENDELU Ph.D. school In November the MENDELU Ph.D. School will be held once again and will offer a week full of workshops on attractive topics for all doctoral students. For more information, see the Project Centre website.

Change in Accreditation Regulations from 1 August 2024 On 1 August 2024, an amended version of the university’s Accreditation Regulations went into effect. The goal of the changes is primarily to streamline the accreditation process, first by eliminating the process of approving study programme proposals by the Internal Evaluation Board and second by transferring the authority of the university’s Scientific Council to approve programme accreditation applications to the Internal Evaluation Board. You can find the full text of the regulations on the MENDELU Public Notice Board.

Fig. The study programme accreditation process according to the Accreditation Regulations of 1 August 2024

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Education and Accreditation “Proof of Concept” in research organizations The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic has announced the results of the fourth call for applications for the Programme to Support Applied Research and Innovation SIGMA DC 1 – Support for “Proof of Concept” Activities in Research Organizations. The Department of Technology Transfer team (Synková, J. Přenosil) from MENDELU came in first place with a project titled A System for Supporting “Proof of Concept” at MENDELU! Congratulations!

MENDELU submitted a "triple call" under the OP JAK

Safety Training As part of the increase in preparedness for emergency situations, another block of first aid training for MENDELU employees will take place this autumn. The training is divided into practical and theoretical parts. Employees will have the opportunity to practice recognizing a critical patient, starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation, using an AED device, and treating injuries. Employees can register via the form here or through the QR code.

Additionally, practical demonstrations of the use of fire extinguishers for workplace safety officers and interested parties will be arranged in Brno and Lednice. The dates will be confirmed later.

Contact person: Ing. Lenka Klubalová, Safety Technician, Operations Department

The methodology won third place Sign up for the Brno Ph.D. Talent contest!

All first-year doctoral students will be able to take part in the Brno Ph.D. Talent contest, which kicks off on 5 September. MENDELU is one of the partner universities involved. 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 an additional scholarship. Registration closes 24 September 2024! For more information see here.

The work of the team from the Institute of Applied and Landscape Ecology at the Faculty of Agronomy, led by Prof. Dr. Ing. Milada Šťastná, Assoc. Prof. Ing. Jana Kozlovsky, Ph.D., Dufková, Ing. Petra Oppeltová, Ph.D., Ing. Tomáš Mašíček, Ph.D., and Michaela Tichá, on the methodology "Reducing the Load on Surface Waters from Area Agricultural Pollution Sources Through Drainage Flow Regulation in Agricultural Drainage Systems" has won third place in the Minister of Agriculture's Award for the Best Research and Experimental Development Result 2024. The main investigator was Ing. Zbyněk Kulhavý, CSc. The project was conducted in collaboration with VÚMOP - Research Institute of Melioration and Soil Protection, the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, and Agroprojekce Litomyšl, s.r.o. The methodology is available here.

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From June to August 2024, MENDELU submitted three projects to the Jan Amos Komenský Operational Program calls, with a total value of CZK 484,999,169.71.

The project titled "Increasing Efficiency, Building Infrastructure, and Developing the Academic Environment" (ZEBRA) was submitted to Call No. 02_23_023 ERDF Call for Universities – Quality, with an amount of CZK 384,999,325.46. This project focuses on improving MENDELU's infrastructural background, increasing the efficiency and quality of teaching, and enhancing the attractiveness, safety, and comfort of studying.

The project "Equality, Inclusion, and Accessibility of MENDELU Campus" (RIBA) was submitted to Call No. 02_23_024 ERDF Call for Universities – Students with Special Needs, with an amount of CZK 19,999,950.40. This project involves modifications to ensure barrier-free access, provision of special equipment for students with specific needs, tools for advisory services, and construction and technical adjustments to enhance the comfort of the target group.

The "Sustainable and Modern Academic Environment Project" (PUMA), which includes the creation of new study programs, promotional materials, and methodologies for working with students with special needs, was submitted to Call No. 02_23_022 ESF + Call for Universities with an amount of CZK 79,999,893.85. The project also focuses on developing pedagogical and didactic competencies of academic staff, increasing the quality of education provided, improving internal quality assessment processes, revising the study structure, and addressing study failure rates.

If successful, all components across MENDELU will be involved in the project, with implementation scheduled from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2028.

Pictures of new employees For more MENDELU job offers click here.

Ing. Peter Albrecht, Ph.D.

Vaishali Bhatkar

Bc. Ondřej Bulis

Mgr. Monika Csonková, Ph.D.

Akademický pracovník - odborný asistent Ústav financí a účetnictví (PEF)

Organizační pracovnice Zahraniční oddělení (PEF)

Studijní referent Děkanát (FRRMS)

Koordinátorka projektu Ústav environmentalistiky a přírodních zdrojů (FRRMS)

Ing. Stanislav Dohnal

Guillermo Escolano Casado, Ph.D.

Bc. Hana Gabrielová

Martin Havelka, DiS., MSc.

Výzkumník projektu I Ústav agrosystémů a bioklimatologie (AF)

Výzkumník projektu III Ústav chemie a biochemie (AF)

Technička pro výzkum Ústav designu a nábytku (LDF)

Vedoucí oddělení Ekonomický odbor (REK)

Bc. Zdeňka Hladilová

Ing. Jindřich Horníček

Ing. Jana Charvátová

Mgr. Alena Klimešová, DiS.

Referentka zahraničních styků Oddělení mezinárodních vztahů a internacionalizace (REK)

Metodický pracovník-konzultant projektu Ústav regionální a podnikové ekonomiky (FRRMS)

Referentka rozpočtu a dotací Referát rozpočtu (OFU EO REK)

Výzkumnice projektu II Ústav nauky o dřevě a dřevařských technologií (LDF)

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Pictures of new employees For more MENDELU job offers click here.

Hana Komínová

Ing. Eva Králíčková

Eva Martikanová

Mgr. Markéta Michutová

Referentka rozpočtu a dotací Referát rozpočtu (OFU EO REK)

Referentka investiční Stavební oddělení (PRO REK)

Zahradní specialistka Botanická zahrada a arboretum (CP)

Akademická pracovnice – asistentka Ústav pěstování,šlechtění rostlin a rostlékařství (AF)

Ing. et Ing. Kateřina Patloková

Ing. Jana Pekárková, Ph.D.

Ing. Drahomíra Pernikářová

prof. Ing. Ján Pokrivčák, M.S., Ph.D.

Výzkumnice projektu I Ústav zelinářství a květinářství (ZF)

Výzkumnice projektu III Ústav chemie a biochemie (AF)

Pěstitelka plodin Vnitřní správa Lednice (ZF)

Akademický pracovník – profesor Ústav podnikové ekonomiky (PEF)

Tomáš Pořízka

Ing. Miroslava Prokešová

Veronika Řezníková

doc. Ing. Stanislav Seitl, Ph.D.

Technik pro výzkum Ústav zakládání a pěstění lesů (LDF)

Metodická pracovnice-konzultantka projektu Ústav regionální a podnikové ekonomiky (FRRMS)

Administrátorka veřejných zakázek Oddělení veřejných zakázek a nákupu (REK)

Výzkumník projektu IV Ústav zemědělské, potravinářské a environmentální techniky (AF)

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Pictures of new employees For more MENDELU job offers click here.

DI Dr. Marian Schönauer

Mgr. Mariáń Svoboda

Tomáš Šidla

Miroslav Šmetka

AP - výzkumný pracovník Ústav ochrany lesů a myslivosti (LDF)

Technik pro výzkum Ústav designu a nábytku (LDF)

Knihovník Referát výpůjčních služeb (ÚK ÚVIS CP)

Zahradník Botanická zahrada a arboretum (CP)

Ing. Monika Štěpánová

Mgr. Ivona Toulová

Odborná administrativní pracovnice Projektové oddělení (REK)

Výzkumnice projektu II Ústav zoologie,rybářství, hydrobiologie a včelařství (AF)

Ing. Anna Vaníčková

Ing. Petr Zálešák

Ing. Petr Zapletal

Metodická pracovnice-konzultantka projektu Ústav regionální a podnikové ekonomiky (FRRMS)

Výzkumník projektu II Ústav aplikované a krajinné ekologie (AF)

Výzkumník projektu I Ústav geologie a pedologie (LDF)

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