(This content has been translated automatically.)

Dear employees,

Even during the exam period and on the eve of the first summer month, we will not deprive you and your inbox of a regular supply of selected news from the university. We'll alert you to a shutdown of university systems and a lecture by a Nobel laureate, and since the weather is cooperating, we'll also invite you to a few outdoor events. There will be a prize competition for those who read the whole newsletter.

This May is, among other things, the halfway point in the term of Rector Martin Procházka. How have the reverberating pandemic of covid-19, the effects of the war in Ukraine, the nationwide strike of teachers for better wages, as well as a number of internal problems affected his tenure at the head of the institution so far? What has he and his administration been able to push through, what does he consider to be their greatest successes, and where do he still see reserves that he would like to focus on in the second half of his mandate? He reflects on these and other questions in an interview for the UP Magazine (in Czech).

WHAT'S GOING ON AT UP?

The last management meeting (25 May) discussed the development of recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence at UP, carbon footprint monitoring and audit of all standards. Read the full summary (after logging in the UP Portal), we will prepare more for you again in 14 days. More detailed information will subsequently be available in the minutes of the management meeting in UPShare, as well as in the minutes of other bodies, in UP standards and documents, and on other information platforms.

STAG, Moodle, UPShare, the library system, most websites including www.upol.cz and the Fortress of Knowledge website will be down from 8am to 5pm on Saturday 10 June. The outage has been scheduled by CVT UP due to necessary technical interventions on the infrastructure. Other systems (canteen, building access system) may also be temporarily negatively affected by the outage. More information here.

SURVEYS

Do you have children or are you planning to have children and would you like to work at UP? And would you be interested in babysitting in the form of a playgroup or playgroup corner? According to a previous survey, the offer of family services including babysitting at UP is in demand. The current flash questionnaire (in Czech) seeks more specific demand for short-term babysitting or placement in a university playgroup for children aged 1–3. Let us know (in Czech) what you would prefer by midnight tonight. It will only take a few minutes.

How do drivers evaluate potentially risky situations on the road and how to make the driving school final test more effective? Join the research of the psychology department! The department is now looking for adult drivers who hold a driver's licence with a licence number of. They have at least 3 years, but no more than 10 years, and have driven at least 15,000 km. The research, during which you will watch videos containing potentially risky situations from a driver's perspective, will take place during June. Register via the form (in Czech), details are on the website (in Czech).

INVITATIONS

The Faculty of Medicine of Palacký University invites all those interested in medicine and related fields to a lecture by the 2019 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, Professor Gregg L. Semenza from Johns Hopkins University. The lecture in English will take place on Friday, 9 June at 2 pm in the large lecture hall of the Theoretical Institutes of the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Palacký, and Professor Semenza will present the discovery of the molecular mechanism by which cells respond to changes in oxygen levels and the use of this discovery in the understanding and treatment of a number of serious diseases. In Olomouc, the eminent figure of world science and medicine will also meet with representatives of the city, Palacký University and Olomouc University Hospital, as well as with scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Olomouc. 

14 days ago we invited you to the Olomouc Museum Night, this Friday we are waiting for the Night of Churches (in Czech). More than 30 churches, chapels and other spaces will be open in Olomouc, including the Chapel of Corpus Christi in the Convict or the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, and you can see the floor plan of the defunct St. Peter's Church in the courtyard of the Faculty of Arts. Petr Hofman, a graduate of PdF UP, will present the former Jesuit chapel (in Czech) in the normally inaccessible Administrative Archive of the Army of the Czech Republic – this mysterious building on the Republic Square was originally a Jesuit dormitory, i.e. a key place of the ancient Olomouc University (in Czech).

It is 400 years since the patronage of St. Pauline, 450 years since the foundation of the University of Olomouc and 300 years since the consecration of the Marian Column in Dolní náměstí. Such significant anniversaries have come together in one year and will therefore be reflected in the traditional celebrations – the City Festival, which will take place from Friday to Sunday in Olomouc. Palacký University will be actively involved in the rich programme – read more in the article (in Czech) or on the website of the celebrations (in Czech).

On Wednesday 14 June František Palacký would have celebrated his 225th birthday. Although the Father of the Nation has not been with us for some time, in the anniversary year of "his" university, we will celebrate this quarter-century as well (in Czech). The Fortress of Knowledge will be open for free all afternoon. In addition to the programme for schools, we invite you all to the poster opening (in Czech)and, most importantly, to the live recording of the podcast Rewrite History!, this time actually Rewrite Palacký! (in Czech), from 5 pm.

NEW STANDARDS

On 31 May 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Czech Republic registered an amendment to the UP internal regulations. It is intended primarily for UP employees using electronic signature and regulates the rules and use of the certificate for electronic signature. 

All UP norms, including the ineffective ones, divided by UP units, with the possibility of filtering and searching them, can be found by students and employees of UP after logging in at files.upol.cz.

COMPETITIONS

Divadlo na cucky brings a new circus to Olomouc again. From 8 to 11 June it will offer four evening performances, four workshops and an evening DJ set. As partners of the theatre and the Cirkuzkus (in Czech) festival, we have a few tickets for the acrobatic musical Heaven by the Losers Cirque Company (Sun 11 June at 20:00). You can get it if you send us the answer to the question to soutez@upol.cz by June 5: What thematic exhibition can you see in UPoint during the Olomouc City Festival?

The new Hot cUP (in Czech) university cups fit in the hand, have a practical lid, keep drinks hot or cold, are elegant, made in the Czech Republic and reusable. They are available now in UPoint and will also be sold in a network of bistros FreshUP. The easy-to-maintain cups are available in two versions: the first is decorated with the UP logo only, the second contains original graphics by the Chaoscompany.art group, in which the motifs of coffee, cocoa and tea are intertwined with the three Olomouc fountains: the Caesar, Jupiter and Hercules fountains. Hot cUPs with a volume of 0.3 litres cost CZK 100, students, graduates and employees of UP have a 10% discount at UPoint. The new cups can also be borrowed for events through the UP Marketing Office, which also offers the loan of half-liter Nicknacks with university motifs.