(This content has been translated automatically.)

Dear students,

Even though it is winter and exam season, a lot has happened in the last 14 days since our last newsletter. For example, on the second Saturday in January, our university opened its doors (in Czech) again to prospective students. Several thousand young people filled the university premises, and we even sent a special bus service to the streets. Right now we are also presenting (in Czech) ourselves at the Gaudeamus fair in Prague.

What is happening or is about to happen is also the subject of our newsletter. This Friday and Saturday, the second round of the Czech presidential election will take place. The Rector of UP Martin Procházka calls on students, members of the academic community and employees to use their civic right in the second round, not to miss the opportunity to influence the future direction of our country and to vote. 

It was Thursday, February 21, 1946, when the bells of the Olomouc churches rang out. They heralded the passing of the law on the restoration of the University of Olomouc and the fact that Olomouc was once again becoming a university town. This is still true today, so this year we will commemorate this anniversary – along with 450 years since the founding of the University of Olomouc – during the UP Academic Week. It will begin, just like the summer semester, on 13 February and will bring a range of cultural, scientific and social activities for students and staff, as well as for the public.

On Monday morning, the Donate Blood with the Rector challenge will be launched, followed by a pub quiz, an art happening and an AFOcinema. During the weekend, students and employees of UP will have free admission to the Olomouc Museum of Art, the Regional Museum in Olomouc (Vlastivědné muzeum) and the Fort Science. For the complete programme, visit akademickytyden.upol.cz.

The Palacký University Accommodation and Dining Facilities must also proceed to the necessary adjustment of the calculation of operating costs for the production of meals from 1 February 2023. The operating costs per hot meal will thus increase from the current CZK 60 to CZK 80. University employees will not be practically affected by the increase; the difference will be covered by the individual units by increasing the employer's contribution. Student meals are subsidised by the Ministry of Education, so the university management will seek to increase this contribution through the Czech Rectors' Conference. Details on the SKM website (in Czech).

A general practitioner's office has been reopened in the dormitories of Palacký University in Olomouc, which can be used by students when they are away from their home residence. The surgery is run by MOJE AMBULANCE, a. s., always on Wednesdays and Fridays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., telephone 581 074 200. There is also a dental surgery, gynaecological surgery and massage services (in Czech) in the J. L. Fischer College Health Centre (Block B, 1st floor, separate entrance from the outside).

In the past year, students and employees of the University of Applied Sciences had 906 blood donations at the Olomouc University Hospital, of which 125 were first-time donors. Do students or employees donate more often? And how do the individual faculties stand in relation to each other? Take a look at the infographic on the website daruj.upol.cz and join the university donors this year. During the UP Academic Week, the Blood Donate HYPERLINK "https://daruj.upol.cz/"Blood with the Rector challenge will take place at the Transfusion Department of the University Hospital Olomouc. How to participate? Just write to us by 7 February at daruj@upol.cz. All donors during this week can look forward to a small gift. The Donate Blood with the Rector challenge, as well as the long-running Roll Up Your Sleeve competition, will be launched on Monday morning directly at the transfusion clinic by University Rector Martin Procházka and Czech Red Cross President Marek Jukl.

The activities and services of the International Cooperation of UP are presented on the new website, which is available in Czech and English versions. The Czech version is intended primarily for students and employees of UP who are interested in various short-term study stays, internships and mobility abroad, and also serves as an information and support platform for individual faculties of UP. The English version, on the other hand, aims to provide support and maximum information to foreign partners, students and visitors. They can find information about exchange and internship opportunities at UP, find out who and what services are available to them and what support the Welcome Office will offer them during their stay in Olomouc. Check them out at international.upol.cz.

The Neuron Foundation and the IOCB Tech Foundation are launching the first year of the Neuron & IOCB Tech Internships in Israel. In Israel, you will be able to work on your own research and learn about the Israeli scientific ecosystem with a focus on applied research, commercialization and transfer. The two-month internship must take place between May 1 and September 15, and each selected student will receive 60,000 CZK to cover travel, visa, accommodation and subsistence costs. The deadline to apply is 15 March 2023 (in Czech).

Have you written and published a book in the past year? Congratulations! If it also belongs to the field of scientific and professional literature and deals with social or medical sciences, or sciences of living or non-living nature, you can win the Josef Hlávka Prize for Scientific Literature for 2022 (in Czech). It is awarded by the Czech Literary Fund Foundation together with the Josef, Marie and Zdeňka Hlávka Foundation, the oldest existing Czech foundation, founded on 25 January 1904 by architect Josef Hlávka (in Czech). Proposals for the award (including 1 copy of the publication) can be submitted until 10 February 2023, address and details can be found on the Foundation's website (in Czech).

Lectures focused on physical activity and public health were prepared by the Faculty of Physical Culture of UP in cooperation with Professor Michael Pratt, a leading foreign expert in this field from the University of California San Diego. They are open to all interested persons and take place in Building A of the Faculty of Physical Culture in Neředín. Details and dates can be found in the UP Journal article (in Czech).

Good news came from Czech Television. In its March programme, it has included the film Black Czechs, a unique documentary depicting the unknown fate of nearly sixty Namibian children who were sent to socialist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s to become the new elite of the then regime in Namibia. The film, made by Martin Müller, director and Head of Audiovisual Production at UP, was co-produced by UP and CT. It premiered last year at the AFO (in Czech) and was also seen by the audience at festivals in Čadec and Jihlava, where it won several awards (in Czech). Czech Television will broadcast Black Bohemia on CT2 in two days (21 March at 21:30 and 22 March at 17:50).

Want to try studying in America? You have a chance, but only until 12 February! All you have to do is apply for a semester-long study stay at a partner institution within the UP study programme founded thirty years ago by the American philanthropist and friend of Palacký University Charles Merrill. Moravian University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Who the program is for, how to apply if you are interested, and more details are on the new International Cooperation website.

Take part in the competition for the best student essay on the topic of Management of the Future or what will management look like in 10 years?, which is held as part of the Manager of the Year competition. The deadline is 30 June, and the results will be announced at the 30th Annual Manager of the Year Award Ceremony on 14 September 2023. For more information, visit the website (in Czech).

• Protection of copyright, copyright-related rights and databases at UP

  The internal standard, effective as of 27 January 2023, affects UP employees and UP students – in the case of UP employees, in particular employees who create and register employee works at UP, senior employees and employees authorized to enter into license agreements on behalf of UP for intellectual property protected by copyright law. It regulates in particular the general obligations of UP employees and UP students in ensuring the protection of copyright and other intellectual property rights protected under the Copyright Act, employee and school works created at UP, the obligations of UP employees in creating, recording and reporting employee works at UP and the obligations of UP employees in the process of concluding licence agreements for intellectual property protected by copyright law at UP, including publishing in the Open Access mode.

All standards and other methodological instructions, orders, directives and decisions of the Rector, Bursar and Deans can be found by logging in at files.upol.cz.