Summer School focused on soft skills brought together scientists across faculties

Participants of the five-day Summer School—organized by CATRIN in June under the Accelerator and San4Fuel projects—gained valuable insights into technology transfer, intellectual property protection, grant proposals writing or project and innovation management. The event primarily targeted PhD students and early-career researchers from Palacký University. Attendees also had the opportunity to improve their English presentation skills and learn how to effectively communicate their scientific results. The programme featured discussions on gender issues and strategies for preventing burnout.

“Projects funded through the ERA Chair and Twinning calls focus not only on research but also on developing soft skills—those complementary capabilities that support scientific work. That’s why we decided to offer a comprehensive training and workshop package open to participants from across the university,” said Monika Klimparová, one of the event organizers and a project manager at CATRIN. “Each day, 27 participants took part, including members of the Innovative Chemistry research group, other CATRIN’s researchers and participants from the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Education.”

Linda Lososová and Roman Jurečka from CATRIN walked the participants through the topics of patent protection and commercialization of scientific results. Real-world case studies were presented by Jakub Navařík from IronAnalytics and Pavel Calta from Kapaji. Gender equity and work-life balance were addressed by Klára Cozlová Čmolíková from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague’s Department for Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity, along with Dita Jahodová, the Ombudswoman for Equal Opportunities at the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University. A full-day science communication workshop was led by the science populariser Vendula Lužná and the English language teacher Markus Johan Öbrink. The final day was dedicated to grants, particularly the art of writing grant proposals, lectured by Andrea Nogová and Martin Grepl of CATRIN.

“The event was a great success, as demonstrated by the strong attendance and very positive feedback. It offered a unique opportunity to connect scientists and managers across CATRIN’s research groups and other parts of the university. We hope to repeat it in the future,” said the Director of CATRIN Pavel Banáš.

Thanks to the ACCELERATOR project funded by the Horizon Europe programme, the renowned chemist Alexander Dömling has established a new research group at Palacký University. Its main research focus lies in miniaturization and automation—strategies that drive sustainable chemistry while also accelerating the development of new pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, plant protection agents, and biostimulants. The project also aims to attract outstanding researchers to the university, support young talents and foster close collaborations with commercial partners.

The SAN4Fuel project explores the application of a revolutionary scientific approach—single-atom engineering. Researchers from CATRIN at Palacký University, the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies at VSB–Technical University of Ostrava, the University of Trieste, and Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Germany, are working to develop new materials for green energy production and CO₂ emissions reduction. The ultimate goal is to find sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels.