Invite an interesting personality to UP

Since 1994, a lecture in honour of Prof. Josef Ludvík Fischer, who was the first rector of Palacký University after its restoration in 1946, has been held in November. Anyone studying and working at UP can submit a proposal for the personality who will deliver this year's lecture; the proposal must include a short justification. It should be a prominent Czech or foreign personality from any scientific field. Please send your proposals to prorektorVaV@upol.cz by 30 May. The selection is then decided by the Rector of UP on the proposal of the relevant university committee. Take inspiration from the list of people who have given the Fischer lecture at UP in the past.

Get the UP Junior Grant

The UP Junior Grant helps to establish a new research group and laboratory and prepare for the submission of an international project in the Horizon Europe call. Applicants with a Ph.D. degree and no more than 37 years of age can apply for the grant until 22 July. The upper financial limit of the project is a maximum of CZK 4 million. Applications are submitted online, detailed information is available on the UP Project Service website.

Holidays with university for three-year-olds and high school students

Hundreds of children aged from 3 years to puberty enjoy summer suburban camps with the Akademik Sport Centre of Palacký University every year, called Summer of Children. Fairy tale, sports and educational activities are on offer, with registrations opened in the previous days. The Fortress of Knowledge or the Faculty of Science and Education also offers holiday activities and exploration for children, teenagers or high school students. The latest summary can be found on the website upol.cz/prazdniny (in Czech).

Shared bikes return to Olomouc thanks to university support

One hundred and fifty Nextbike shared bikes can be used again in Olomouc as part of bikesharing. This is largely thanks to UP, which initiated the negotiations and financially supported the project. There are more than 60 parking spaces around the city – for example, in the courtyard of the Zbrojnice/Armoury, at the FPE in Neředín, at Šlechtitelů campus or at Lake Poděbrady. UP students and employees will receive a free 100 CZK travel credit when they register via university e-mail. Read more in the UP Journal article. (in Czech)

Read the new issue of the UP Project Service Newsletter

The UP Project Service publishes an electronic monthly newsletter with information about news and calls for projects. Read it to find suitable funding for your project or join the research and training programmes. The current issue can be found on the UP Project Service website. (in Czech)

SURVEYS

How do you get to the university? Help with mobility research

Do you ride your own or shared bike to UP, take public transport or get in your car and drop your kids off at school on the way? Is it far away, or do you live just a few blocks away and walk? These questions are being answered by a survey that is currently being conducted among students and workers at UP and ten other universities in the Czech Republic. Fill out the questionnaire and get involved too! (in Czech) You can read the details in the article on the Sustainable University website. (in Czech)

INVITATIONS

Do you enjoy popularizing science to a wide audience? Enter international competitions now!

Do you want to try what it's like to summarize your research in three minutes and impress a panel of experts? That's exactly what the international Falling Walls and FameLab competitions offer. Our students regularly celebrate great successes in them and UP traditionally offers all those interested the opportunity to improve their skills and prepare for participation in the competitions. The UP Career Centre in cooperation with science popularizer Vendula Lužná is organizing an information session on both competitions on Monday, 2 June 2025 at 16:00 at the UP Career Centre (Křížkovského 8). They are open to both students and senior scientists and the deadline for both is 30 June 2025.

Wikipedia and Science – How to Get Involved

To mark the Month of Science on Wikipedia, Palacký University is hosting lectures and an editathon for researchers at the Fort Science interactive science center. Are you missing information related to your field on Wikipedia? Do entries connected to your research contain inaccuracies or gaps? Would you like to see a prominent scientist from your discipline represented on Wikipedia?

Join the edit-a-thon aimed at involving academic staff, researchers, and scholars from any UP department in editing, sourcing, and writing scientific content on Wikipedia. You can drop in any time between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. Don’t forget to bring your laptop.

For more information and registration, visit veda.wikimedia.cz (in Czech).

Watch and Know: Watch AFO films online

Do you miss the AFO? 10 films from this year's edition and even more from the previous ones can be watched online on the Watch and Know platform. It's free – just register. By the way, the next AFO will be April 28 – May 3, 2026.

20% discount on the Philharmonic Festival at the Stadion

Take advantage of an exclusive offer for those working at UP! SK Sigma Olomouc in cooperation with the university's partner Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc will welcome Michal Horáček, Michael Kocáb and Ondřej Ruml for a multi-genre open air Philharmonic Festival (in Czech). Tickets are available on Ticketportal, after selecting your seats go to the basket, where at the end of section 1 you will find the Uplatnit slevový kód field, click on the right on the To set up button, enter the code UPOL25 and confirm with the Verify button. The discount cannot be applied to VIP C tickets.

Earth on a Plate Festival: food production and consumption

The main theme will be seeds and⁠ their importance for sustainable agriculture and food system resilience. The festival, which is part of the Playing for Climate! Ahead of Climate Change, will take place this year on Tuesday 3 June at the Fort Science (in Czech). It is organised by Na mysli, Strategy AV21, the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS and the UP Fort Science. The programme (in Czech) includes a seed workshop, a film screening, a presentation of a new book and a discussion.

NEW STANDARDS

• Public Procurement at UP – Amendment No. 3
  This amendment to the UP internal standard, effective from 16 May 2025, (in Czech) is addressed to all UP employees. The main change is the increase of the financial limits for small-scale public procurement: for supplies and services to CZK 3,000,000 excluding VAT, for construction works to CZK 9,000,000 excluding VAT; at the same time, the sub-limits across the standard are increased to take into account economic development and inflation. The amendment also clarifies the rules for awarding contracts co-financed by EU subsidies and strengthens the principles of transparency, economy and accountability.

  
  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.

COMPETITIONS

Compete for free registration for the Olomouc 1/2 marathon

Palacký University is a proud partner of the Mattoni Olomouc 1/2Marathon again this year! The biggest running festival in Moravia will take place on Saturday 14th June and you have the opportunity to run the main race for free and compete for the Rector's Cup, which can be won by the fastest runners from UP in the 5 km race. Currently we are competing for free registration for the main race Mattoni 1/2maraton Olomouc. Just send us the correct answer to the competition question by Wednesday, May 28, to soutez@upol.cz with the subject "Půlmaraton": What is the name of last year's winner of the UP Rector's Cup (in Czech „Pohár rektora UP“)?

Enjoy the dm family mile with the university as part of the free 1/2 marathon

Thanks to our partnership with the Mattoni Olomouc 1/2Marathon, this year we are also offering university employees the opportunity to get free registrations for the dm Family Mile, which is a traditional part of the Olomouc Half Marathon. If you are interested in a registration code, please send an email to soutez@upol.cz by Wednesday 28 May with the subject "dm rodinná mile", stating how many codes you are interested in. Due to the limited number of free registrations, your speed is of the essence!

Compete for vouchers to R6 Club and Green Bar

The Olomouc Majáles UP is already a thing of the past, but with its partners we have a competition for a 500 CZK voucher to the R6 club and a voucher to the Green Bar in Ztracená Street. All you need to do to win is to be a little bit lucky and answer the contest question: What is the name of the winner of this year's UP Literary Competition in the category of poetry, who received her diploma and award together with other winners of the competition from the hands of Rector Michael Kohajda during the Majáles? Send your answer to soutez@upol.cz with the subject "Vouchery" by Wednesday, May 28.

UP Sports Day: photo contest for a bbq set

Those who didn't choose any of the UP Sports Day activities organized by the UP, but still went with their colleagues to play sports or go on a trip, have the opportunity to send a photo with a short description of the trip to sportovniden@upol.cz by the end of May and win a set of telescopic roasting forks Zapárkuj and Rybička pocket knife.

Win a design book about the history of AFO

AFO celebrated a beautiful round anniversary this year and UP Publishing together with the AFO creative team prepared a unique book in the form of a design binder as a gift. The unconventional publication offers interviews, history, essays, an extensive photo album as well as a graphic postcard with a badge and a double-sided poster. In short, a colorful chronicle and a collectible artistic artifact at the same time. Would you like to have it at home? Then you can try your luck in a competition to win one of five copies. Just answer the question correctly: How many years of the AFO Festival took place in Olomouc this year? Send your answers to vydavatelstvi@upol.cz (!!) by Monday 26 May. In the subject line, please write " Soutěž o AFO knihu". The winners will be contacted on Tuesday 27 May.