The management meeting on Wednesday 9 October discussed the ongoing selection process for the director of CATRIN, the opening of the new UP Archives building and the upcoming renaming of the dormitories. Read the full summary (in Czech) (after logging in the UP Portal), we will prepare another one for you 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.

Membership in the European university network Aurora, whose president is UP Rector Martin Procházka, has already brought a lot of good things to UP – not only a stronger position among European universities, but also many benefits for its students and employees. Exchange stays, online courses, joint projects, a map of research centres, a database of trainers or an emerging joint international study programme – these are just some of them. What else is happening in Aurora? Find out in the new issue of the Aurora at UP newsletter.

The Welcome Office is thrilled to launch UP Chronicles, a new series of articles that will give you an insider's view of life at Palacký University through the eyes of our ambassadors! Want to see how international students experience the university and what their journey looks like on different faculties? Check out the first article by Kung-Te (Derek) Chu and explore the university from a fresh perspective!

Celebration of 450 years of the university, a visit from the president, record enrollments, significant discoveries, the fifty-eighth AFO. You can read what all happened at Palacký University in 2023 in the promotional version of the UP Annual Report (in Czech).

The UP Project Service (in Czech) assists all interested parties from the university with applying for grants and searching for funding opportunities. It provides project support across international, national and internal grant schemes. It also publishes a monthly e-newsletter with information on news and calls for projects. Read it to find suitable funding for your project or join research and training programmes. The current issue can be found on the UP Project Service website. (in Czech)

Explore our series of engaging infographics, developed through dynamic online peer-coaching sessions with professionals from European higher education institutions as part of the UNICOMM – University Community Active Participation Project. Together, they exchanged ideas and best practices to enhance student engagement, resulting in a set of essential skills and strategies. These three infographics offer practical tools for higher education professionals aiming to boost student engagement.

Additionally, we are excited to present another outcome: “Come for Cookies. Stay for Community.” — a Toolbox for Community Building, Facilitating Participation, and Enhancing Belonging in Higher Education Communities. This unique resource, developed through workshops by four consortium institutions, offers conclusions, tips, and ready-made solutions to enhance your work.

LECTURES

Come to the annual lecture honoring the University's first post-war rector, J. L. Fischer. This time the invitation of the University was accepted by czech economist, philosopher and educator Tomáš Sedláček. He will talk about the ways in which matter, knowledge and the meaning of economics have been transformed in human history. This year, for the first time, we have decided to offer the opportunity to attend the lecture to the general public, so we will meet together on 7 November at the Metropol cinema. Admission is free, registration is required.

As in previous semesters, the Sustainable University invites you to a series of lectures and workshops (in Czech) focusing on sustainability, responsible lifestyle, electromobility and ergonomics in the workplace. They are free of charge for all interested people from UP and the public. The next one will take place on 30 October – Jan Staněk, known as Electro Dad, will speak on the topic (Are) electric cars changing the world?. The full programme, registration and recordings of past events can be found on the Sustainable University website (in Czech).

After the holiday break, Element Talks (in Czech) are back and this time they will focus on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and the impact of AI on law and legislation. We'll meet on October 23 at 5:30pm in Element Coworking (in Czech). How can MS Copilot become a new teammate to help manage everyday challenges? And how to sufficiently secure applications using AI? What impact does AI have on legal and ethical issues? Register for (in Czech) the next in the series of Element Talks, this time part of the AI Days (in Czech).

From Monday 21 to Wednesday 23 October, the next edition of the Open Science Week event will take place. Join us online for a series of lectures that will focus on open access publishing, research data management and other open science practices (pre-registration, citizen science, etc.), in terms of funder conditions and implementation options. You can look forward to practical demonstrations of tools, platforms and repositories. The agenda and registration can be found on the Association of College Libraries (in Czech) website.

The new semester will see the continuation of courses dedicated to open and responsible science, which aim to broaden and standardise knowledge in this broad area at our university. The programme, delivered through CJV, comprises a total of ten closely linked courses. More info and registration on the Open Science UP website.

INVITATIONS

Want to start a business but don't know where to start? Come get inspired at UP Business Camp 2024 (in Czech)! This year we will focus on sustainability in business with regard to the environment, the use of new technologies, but also wellbeing, human resources and ESG criteria. We will meet on 22 November at the Fortress of Knowledge. Tickets are on sale now and you can get them at a discounted price until 22 October. UP students and employees can even take advantage of an additional discount.

Throughout the month of November, the Haná metropolis will be dominated by the Olomouc Design Days festival , which is also co-organised by our university. On Friday 1 November, Petr Bilík will present Olomouc in a film in the Chapel of Corpus Christi. After the lecture, the opening party of the festival awaits you in the atrium of the Konvikt. A day later you can register for five thematic blocks focused on the use of AI not only for creatives. Saturday's programme will be complemented by a ReUse day full of workshops, lectures and a swap prepared by the Sustainable University. On Sunday, 3 November, you can visit selected studios at the UP Art Centre as part of the Open Studios programme.

EGEA is looking for the Olomouc GeoGuessr champion! The game consists in appearing in Google Streetview in a random place on the planet. Your task is to find out where you are by what you see. The winner is the one who hits it the fastest and closest to the actual location. You can compete in teams of three on October 22 at 6:00 p.m. at the Faculty of Science (November 17, 12, room 2.005). More info and registration at olomouc@egea.eu.

NEW STANDARDS

• Inventory of assets, material and documentary inventories at UP in 2024

  This internal UP standard, effective from 8 October 2024, (in Czech)is intended primarily for members of inventory committees (ÚIK, HIK, DIK) and persons responsible for the registration of UP property and involved in its inventory. It sets out the timetable and conditions of the inventory process at UP in 2024, including further digitisation of the process.

   

   

• The standard on research data management has been supplemented by detailed navigation

  In August, Palacký University was one of the first Czech universities to publish an internal standard on Research Data Management at UP (in Czech). For a more detailed orientation in this new standard, the Department for Science and Research has prepared an annotated edition (in Czech). The so-called Semaphore (in Czech) will facilitate the orientation in the duties of employees at UP in the field of research data management. For more information, see the news on the UP Portal (in Czech).

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

COMPETITION

Compete with Výstaviště Flora for free tickets

In the current newsletter we bring you a competition for tickets to two events at the Flora Olomouc Exhibition Centre. If you are tempted by LEGO bricks, you can go this weekend to the LEGO® models World of Bricks 2024 event, and if you prefer plants, we invite you to the exhibition Jewels of the Forest - a sales exhibition of orchids and tropical plants, which takes place from 18 October to 3 November 2024 in the Flora Collection Greenhouses. 

We have pairs of tickets for each of these events. If you want to go to the first cube event, email us by Friday with your answer to the contest question Which iconic building from Harry Potter will appear in the exhibition as a giant Lego model? to soutez@upo l.cz. And if you're tempted by tropical plants, email us by Wednesday 23 October with your answer to the question What will be the focus of the Olomouc Design Days university conference on Saturday 2 November at Konvikt? again to soutez@upol.cz.