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Dear employees,

dear students, 

We must unfortunately open today's edition with sad news. Josef Jařab passed away after a short serious illness. He was 85 years old. A professor of English and American literature, literary theorist and translator, he was the first post-Velvet Revolution UP Rector, which he headed from 1990 to 1997. In him, the University is losing the most prominent personality of its post-Cold War era, the city of Olomouc and the entire Czech Republic are losing a charismatic man who was recognized by important domestic and international personalities for his work and qualities. He passed away symbolically on the day of the biggest student festival – the Olomouc May Fest (Majáles), whose king the students crowned him ten years ago. Honour his memory.

WHAT'S GOING ON AT UP?

At the last management meeting (26 April), the ongoing work on the UP Working Regulations and the establishment of data warehouses at UP were discussed. A risk analysis of cyber security is currently underway. Read the full summary (after logging in the UP Portal), we will prepare another one for you exceptionally in a month (the next management meeting will take place on 24 May). More detailed information will be subsequently 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.

Right now, with a few clicks, you can influence how your faculty will be heard during the University's governance – because the online elections for the UP Academic Senate have started. Voters are members of the academic community, i.e. all male or female students and academic staff. The UP Academic Senate is made up of 24 senators – two academics from each faculty and one student. Therefore, you too vote for a maximum of three names from the published candidates from your faculty. The results should be known no later than 15 May, the term of office of the new senators is from 15 September 2023 to 15 May 2026. You can vote until 11 May (12:00) at volby.upol.cz.

The law school is holding a collection of material aid for Ukraine (in Czech) until mid-May. It includes an online auction organized by Vasyl Kapustej, a student of PF UP, who has been trying to help Ukraine since the beginning of the war and has collected items for the collection. The money raised in the auction will be used to buy items for refugees, mothers with children or the elderly in Ukraine. The items on offer include special postage stamps, a Ukrainian flag donated by Ukrainian tankers, military patches and an army T-shirt. You can find items to bid on in individual posts on the faculty FB page – feel free to scroll!

LECTURES AND COURSES

Have you talked to anyone about climate change? And what was it like? Come hear what the latest climate findings are about climate and how to explain them to those who don't want to hear much about them. Milan Vítek from the Climate Facts Project will explain why it is so difficult to find common ground on climate change in particular, and will show arguments and ways to discuss it. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 17 May at 1 pm in the large auditorium of the Faculty of Arts of UP. Read more (in Czech) and register on the Lifelong Learning Portal.

Do you know someone who would like to start learning Czech? Or perhaps someone in your neighbourhood has already embarked on this thorny but magical journey and would like to move on? The Summer School of Slavic Studies at the UP Faculty of Arts, which will offer an intensive Czech language course for everyone from beginners to advanced students from July 16 to August 14, is offering UP students and employees a better price. It is possible to attend either a two-week or a month-long school, which in addition to classes also includes excursions, screenings, folklore evening or sports afternoons. Details in this PDF and at lsss.upol.cz.

INVITATIONS

It's neither right nor healthy to study and work all the time – besides rest, we shouldn't forget regular exercise. There is only one UP Sports Day, but it is packed with dozens of physical and sporting activities that you can participate in for free. When? On Wednesday, May 10, when the Rector's holiday is announced for this reason. Indoor and outdoor and individual and collective activities are prepared, and the day will end with a social afternoon at the UP Sports Hall. More in the article (in Czech) and at upol.cz/sportovni-den.

At the beginning of September, the 21st edition of the Czech Academic Games will take place, where students from all universities in the Czech Republic will compete in 17 sports. Let's leave aside the fact that the host of this largest student sporting event is Palacký University again after two years – the important thing is that the registration for participation in the Games is already open. If you are involved in any of the sports in which the Games will be competing and would like to help the UP representation build on the successes of previous years, you can contact the respective sponsor. You can find an overview of the sponsors of the sports, as well as other information regarding the Czech Academic Games and the UP representation at the Games on the website (in Czech).

When it comes to freedom, we can be persistent. Get on the track for all those who did not give up and support Memory of Nations – the largest publicly accessible memory database in Europe – along with your health. As a traditional partner of the event, we invite you to Smetana Sady on Saturday 20 May, where you will be able to run the route that suits you best and visit the exhibition in the civil protection shelter. On site you will find a university respite zone, another sports programme or a competition with basic first aid. More on the website. (in Czech)

Not only for those interested in English and translation is a discussion with translator Lucie Mikolajková, organized by the British Centre of the UP Library. It will take place on Wednesday, 17 May at 17:30 in the Slyozel clubroom on the first floor of the UP Central Library in Zbrojnica. Details can be found on the UP Library website (in Czech).

A film documentary about the oldest beer in Central Europe, whose discovery was co-authored by experts from the Faculty of Science and Philosophy, will be screened in Olomouc on Wednesday 10 May 2023 at 14:00 in the auditorium of the Faculty of Science. The Beauty of Kladina, as the 3,000-year-old bronze vessel from the collection of the East Bohemian Museum in Pardubice is called today, contained the remains of millet and a mixture of bitter herbs. The bucket probably contained the oldest documented beer in Central Europe. The vessel was unearthed by archaeologists near Kladina in Pardubice after it was discovered by a chance finder. In the end, it was a world unique!

COMPETITIONS

From 11 to 22 May, performances of the Divadelní Flora festival will take place in various traditional and non-traditional venues in Olomouc. This year's programme is framed by the motto "Otherness" and we have several tickets for you as a partner of the festival. If you answer our question correctly, you can win two tickets each for the performances of Ballet Girls (Sat 13 May 18:00), There is no need to do anything anymore (Sun 14 May 18:30) or There is an impression of being (Fri 19 May 20:00). Question: Which sacred space in Olomouc can you get to during the festival? Send your answers by Tuesday 9 May to soutez@upol.cz, and write in the message which performance you are competing for. 

Do you want to become a star of the scientific sky and shine at one of the oldest international scientific competitions? Make a three-minute video showcasing your research and enter the FameLab stand-up science (in Czech) competition by 31 May. You'll bring your work to the public, improve your presentation skills, meet other scientists and you might just win.