At the UP management meetings on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 and January 15, 2025, they discussed the grants received so far and currently submitted. The UP budget for 2025 is also starting to be prepared, and a new collective bargaining agreement will be addressed this year. 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.

Lawyer Michael Kohajda will become the new rector of Palacký University. After his appointment by the President of the Republic, doc. Michael Kohajda will lead the university for the next four years, from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2029. Read more.

The Department of Development and Environmental Studies is conducting a research on gender-based discrimination of migrant women working in STEM fields (science, IT, engineering, mathematics) in the Czech Republic. The researchers are looking for migrant women working in these fields who have experience working in the Czech Republic and would be willing to share their experiences as part of my research. Participation in the research is, of course, anonymous. If you are interested, please contact the researcher at nela.przetakova@upol.cz.

Extensive infrastructure interventions and system upgrades to Moodle will take place between 2 February 2025 (8pm) and 4 February 2025 (evening hours). There will be prolonged outages or complete system unavailability.

Have you witnessed or participated in a situation on UP premises that threatened your safety or the safety of the university environment – for example, a physical attack, theft, disturbance, or trespassing? The Security Department asks that you report such incidents via the Security Incident Reporting application on the UP Portal. This is solely for data collection, monitoring of situations and subsequent evaluation – not for immediate resolution or intervention. Therefore, always call the emergency services in case of an acute threat. The data collected will help to better monitor and evaluate the security situation and possibly adjust internal measures.

Discount on insurance premiums for working pensioners

As of 1 January 2025, pensioners who are working are entitled to a social insurance rebate. They will save 6.5% on their insurance premiums. You must apply for the discount to your employer via the HR department using the application form Sleva na pojistném – zaměstnanci ve starobním důchodu.

Changes related to the digitalisation of sickness insurance benefits

From 1 January 2025, the Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení (Czech Social Security Administration) will digitise other sickness insurance benefits and the procedure for processing them will change. These are: Attendance allowance (Nursing allowance), Long-term attendance allowance, Maternity allowance (maternity allowance), Paternity allowance, Maternity allowance.
These benefits must be claimed from the employer by means of an application forms. The decision to grant the benefits will be issued electronically by the doctor and the insured person (employee) will receive by e-mail or SMS an identifier (i.e. decision/confirmation number), which he/she will indicate in the application and forward everything to his/her payroll department.

The Rector's Award Ceremony for 2024, free admission to the Art Museum and the Fort Science, and a free AFOcinema await us all during UP Academic Week – from 17 to 23 February. There will also be a Mass for the University, a special pub quiz and the long-running Donate Blood with the Rector challenge, which you can still sign up for. The full programme for the week can be found on the website.
Why Academic Week and why in February? It commemorates the re-establishment of the University of Olomouc after the Second World War, which took place with the passing of a special law on 21 February 1946. Between 1860 and 1939, only the theological faculty functioned in Olomouc, after which Czech universities were closed by the occupation administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

The Moravian Theatre Olomouc offers UP employees a ticket for 150 CZK for the last performance of W. A. Mozart's opera Titus. In addition, a regular offer of discounted performances, this time for February, is published on the benefits website. UniCredit bank is extending the offer of discounted services until 30 June 2025. The popular benefit for shopping at Datart with VIP price has a new activation code – you can also find it on the benefits website.

Do you have last year's wall or desk calendars lying around? Give them a second chance with UP Press and the Marketing Department. From Monday, February 3 until the end of the month, you can bring your old calendars to UPoint or the Bookshop (Skriptárna) at the Zbrojnice/Armoury. Afterwards, the UP Press will use them in the production of upcycled notebooks or in workshops during university events so that they make you happy once more.

SCIENCE, RESEARCH, EDUCATION

Applications for the internal Proof of Concept call within the TA ČR Sigma programme should be submitted by 10 March. The aim of the call announced by the UP Science and Technology Park is to provide support for the verification or development of innovative solutions and bringing commercially interesting ideas into practice. It focuses mainly on projects with the possibility of commercialisation through the establishment of a competence centre or spin-off company. In the case of unique technologies, support can also be provided for technologies intended for licensing. The call is open to both researchers and PhD students. More information on the Proof of Concept call can be found here.

On the UP International Cooperation website you will find a range of internships, courses, work placements and summer schools for academic and scientific staff and teachers. The current offers can be found on this page. (in Czech) Among them, we would like to highlight, for example, the large overview article AIA: Scholarships under international agreements (in Czech)with a wide range of remarkable summer courses, such as the Albanian language summer school. The invitations are always coming, so check there from time to time!

NEWSLETTERS

What does it mean that UP is a member of the European University Network Aurora? Not only a stronger position among universities, but also a lot of opportunities for everyone: semester stays for students or young researchers, internships for postdocs or financial support for projects and summer schools. Did you know that UP teachers have opened 10 courses for the summer semester for students from foreign schools? You will find everything in the new issue of the Aurora at UP newsletter.

The UP Project Service (in Czech) publishes an electronic monthly newsletter with information about news and calls for projects. Read it and 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)

Interesting news from Czech universities can be read regularly, also in English, on the website Universitas, where you can also subscribe to the newsletter (in Czech).

INVITATIONS

The award ceremony of the UP Rector's Awards for the past year will take place on Wednesday, 19 February at 4 pm for the first time in Olomouc's Metropol cinema. Also for the first time, the ceremony will be open to the public. Roman Vencl, head of the Moravian Theatre Drama Department, will guide the visitors and the award winners through the ceremony. The programme will be accompanied by the Desigual Quartet. Admission to the event is free, seats must be reserved. Dress code: semi-formal. The event will be followed by a free screening of AFOkino from 6 pm: The Hunt for the Oldest DNA.

Although women make up the majority of students at universities, their representation in science does not match this. Women in science and research have long faced specific challenges and obstacles, as by the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February. This year, UP has prepared two events to mark the occasion, with the aim of raising the profile of the great work of women in science and research: a public panel discussion with female scientists (in Czech) and, one day later, a breakfast with science, aimed primarily at junior female scientists and PhD students. See the links for details and to sign up.

Try out how people with disabilities ski on specially adapted skis with the Centre for Applied Physical Activities (APA) of the Faculty of Physical Culture of UP. You can visit the first Days on Monoski for free already this Sunday, February 2, in the Kareš Ski Resort in Loučná nad Desnou, followed by stops at Kraličák, Olešnice, Orlické Záhoří, Hrubá Voda near Olomouc and Troják. Dates and more information can be found in the UP Journal article. (in Czech)

COMPETITION

Today we have a competition with Premiere Cinemas, our partner and the most visited multiplex in Olomouc. All you have to do is answer the contest question to our email soutez@upol.cz by Wednesday, February 5, and the evening at the cinema is yours! Competition question: This year, for the first time, the 2024 Rector's Awards ceremony will be open to the general public. Where will the awards be presented on Wednesday 19 February?