<p><strong>Prof. Ing. Michal Kohout, Ph.D. is originally from southern Bohemia. He started studying at UCT Prague in 2000 after high school in Soběslav. After his postdoctoral research at the Institut of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Vienna, he decided to return to his alma mater, UCT Prague, and extend, apply and transfer knowledge and experience he gained abroad. He was recently named full professor and, in addition to research and teaching, considers his mission as professor to be setting an example for students in terms of not being afraid to start one’s own business since he, with colleagues, founded a UCT Prague spin-off company, Galochrom, discussed below.</strong></p>
<h5><strong>What does your research group do? What is the focus of your research activities?</strong></h5>
<p>We have been dealing with liquid crystals for a very long time. Liquid crystals are organic materials with various applications, and as research evolves, it’s expected that liquid crystals will have some added value in real-life applications, beyond simply being liquid crystalline (e.g. being chiral, sensitive to light or to magnetic fields). We try to modify molecules so that they can handle the various demands that modern materials chemistry places on them.</p>
<p>The second area of focus, chiral stationary phases for liquid chromatography, I brought back with me to UCT Prague from my post-doc stay. In liquid chromatography, we study systems that are used in the analysis of drugs (if an active substance is chemically and optically pure), for example.</p>
<p>Together with my colleagues and students, we also work on various side projects in classical organic chemistry, such as organocatalysis.</p>
<h5><strong>Most people can only conceptualize solid crystals. Can you introduce us to the world of liquid crystals?</strong></h5>
<p>It’s quite simple: liquid crystals are basically crystals too. One can imagine a crystal as being an ordered and oriented structure with molecules precisely and unambiguously arranged in space. Liquid crystals also have these characteristics, but their molecules can also move and are mobile even though they have, let’s say, a partially-preserved crystalline structure, for they are in the so-called mesophase. To conceptualize this, one could simply compare this to a system of straws floating in the same direction, because the molecules are arranged like this and are able to move when acted upon by an external impulse (e.g. electric or magnetic field or light). A structure can be rearranged so that it occupies a new, lowest energy arrangement. Liquid crystals are used, for example, in optoelectric devices, and we’re all surrounded by liquid crystals, which are not just used in monitors, televisions, and watch displays, but also in soap or cell membranes. One doesn’t even realize how many liquid crystalline substances and systems actually are all around us in the real world.</p>
<p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/VSCHT_Pokousime_se_uspet_se_spin_off_firmou_Galochrom_profesor_Michal_Kohout_e7be735e35.jpg" alt="UCT Prague: We are trying to succeed with the spin-off company Galochrom"/></p>
<h5><strong>Is there anything else you’re up to that you’d like to tell us about?</strong></h5>
<p>I’d put liquid chromatography into the background a bit. Let me put it this way: the world of liquid crystals research is a kind of long-distance race, and we don’t know for sure if and when relatively complex molecules will be used. They certainly have the potential to be used in real life, but in the distant future. It is not easy to prepare and enhance them, so that they meet various requirements and do as many extra things as we would like.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if we look at the area of chromatography, the real world application of new research results happens relatively quickly. If we prepare a chromatography column that is significantly better than what’s currently on the market, it might be commercially interesting and result in a product that we’ll see on the market in our lifetimes.</p>
<p>But it bothers me and my colleagues that even the development of unique stationary phases is still too slow, that it takes too long for a chromatographic column to reach the market. In 2017, we tried to approach several large manufacturers with a unique system we patented. Unfortunately, there was no interest in this technology because manufactures would have to change their production technologies slightly. Because of this, my colleagues and I decided to found our own company, the Galochrom, UCT Prague spin-off. This way, we also wish to show younger colleagues and students that they don’t have to be afraid of starting a company and entering the business world.</p>
<h5><strong>How is Galochrom doing?</strong></h5>
<p>We are in the early phases. We founded the spin-off in September 2023, and since then, we placed second in a European start-up competition, which we consider to be a great success. We are currently trying to put the first products on the market and prove that they are better than those already available. Of course, we believe that our products will be adopted.</p>
<h5><strong>What practical value do you think your research and professional activities have for society and your field?</strong></h5>
<p>Our multimodal columns will have a wider range of applications and will thus be able to replace three to four standard columns. This will lead to dramatic savings for end users as well as lower solvent and solvent disposal costs.</p>
<p>As for liquid crystals, they’re a long shot, as I’ve already said, but we might, for example, use a system of so-called dopants. Let’s take a photosensitive material. We don’t have to use it as a single component; instead, we can add it to a cheaper commercial material and mix it (5-10%). Thanks to the dopant, an entire system is sensitive to light and we can not only switch individual parts (pixels) from the mesophase to the liquid phase, but also read this information with a laser. Such systems could serve as optical memories.</p>
<h5><strong>You recently became a full professor. What does this mean for you? What do you teach and what are your first impressions as professor?</strong></h5>
<p>Of course, I consider this a great personal success built upon the great work and support by my students, colleagues, and mentors. My original motivation for entering academia, a long time ago, was a promise I made to my dad: that I would graduate as one of the best in my class at UCT Prague. And I’ve made it this far, so I think he would be proud of me and that fills me with a certain sense of fulfilment. I teach organic chemistry. So for first impressions: I have more work, but it’s interesting for me, nevertheless, to teach students who are just starting their university programs. My lectures before this were for advanced students and doctoral candidates. All of a sudden, when you’re teaching core subjects, you start trying not to influence students’ mind sets too much while still conveying the information in some absorbable way, reassuring them that chemistry is actually cool and that chemists are pretty normal people.</p>
<h5><strong>It must be quite challenging to capture the attention of an auditorium full of people and to decide how much to go into detail. Do you struggle with this kind of thing? Do you have any tricks for engaging your audience?</strong></h5>
<p>It’s true, when you enter an auditorium and there are 180 people sitting there instead of 20, it’s really an incredible difference. It’s not so much about the number of people itself, because there are about the same number of people at conference presentations, but conference attendees are experts who aren’t really surprised by anything in the field. Teaching core subjects is rather about setting some level of comprehensibility for what you’re explaining.</p>
<p>Gradually, I’m getting faster at preparing my lectures, but at first, it was very time-consuming. Yet, during the class, sometimes I still get taken away a bit and then I get behind and play catch up. (He laughs.)</p>
<p>As for student engagement, I tell my colleagues that I’m trying to use my latent theatre talents, so hope that&#39;s at least somewhat successful. I’m going back in time a couple of decades and am going to use some simple, themed experiments from back then in my lectures.</p>
<h5><strong>You started studying at UCT Prague in 2000. What do you think has changed the most for students since then?</strong></h5>
<p>Definitely the quality of the food in the canteens. One hundred percent! But what has really changed for the better are the travel possibilities. That&#39;s the biggest shift I see. Today, it’s easy to go abroad for a semester, almost whenever you want. There are countless ways to do this. I remember how I tried to do an internship during my doctoral studies, but preparations were crazy. So instead, I arranged at a conference with my mentor’s colleague to join her laboratory within a European project because it was so much easier to go this way. Going abroad gives you a wealth of new experiences, and it’s great that this option is much more accessible than before.</p>
<h5><strong>Is there anything that you did not like as a student and managed to change—or are at least trying to change—as a professor?</strong></h5>
<p>For a relatively long time, my colleagues and I tried to appeal to UCT Prague’s management to provide competitive scholarships for doctoral students. Doctoral candidates are the UCT Prague’s main strength because without them, the university couldn’t do basic research. They should be valued accordingly. So I’m a supporter of finding ways to increase scholarships and I think we’ve been quite successful in this regard.</p>
<h5><strong>What would you like to achieve in your professional and personal lives?</strong></h5>
<p>As a professional, I would like that the things we’ve invented would actually be used. Research, whatever form, should aim at developing things that are useful for humanity. Basic research is great, but I like finding applications while striving to advance both science and society as a whole. Why else would we be here?</p>
<p>Personally, my highest priority is work-life balance. Achieving some reasonable balance with work, what I like to do, and time for family.</p>
<h5><strong>What does the future hold for your research group?</strong></h5>
<p>The long-term plan involves spin-off companies and connecting academia with the commercial sector. Engagement in basic research is necessary for finding usable materials and applications, yet connecting these applications directly to the industrial sector is crucial for us. The plan is to try to make a platform for quick and simple technology transfer at UCT Prague.</p>
<h5><strong>What do you do when you turn out the lights in your lab?</strong></h5>
<p>I have hobbies I’ve done for a long time. I’m either going to volleyball or trying to go fishing. Fishing is more time-consuming, so I mainly stick to volleyball. And, of course, I’m running home to spend time with my loved ones.</p>


We are trying to succeed with the spin-off company Galochrom

<p><strong>Talking to Michal Kolář is a pleasure for every interviewer. A graduate of <a href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/companies/16"><strong>Charles University’s Faculty of Science</strong></a>, with many years of experience in the German scientific context (including a stint at the renowned Max Planck Institute), Kolář gets straight to the point. He’s not afraid to bring up uncomfortable topics. He can explain complex matters from the world of physical chemistry using interesting analogies. At the same time, after sitting down with him for a few minutes, you realize he has the gift of infecting you right away with his thirst for knowledge and understanding the world around him.</strong></p>
<h5><strong>This year, you started working on a project, Towards an atomic understanding of the first moments of a protein’s life, supported by the Czech Science Foundation (CSF). The catchy title caught my attention and is actually the reason why we chose you for the interview, though several other researchers from UCT Prague also received CSF funding.</strong></h5>
<p>When I talk about science, I make an effort and enjoy interpreting my findings in the form of stories. Our project is about researching ribosomes, something I’ve been working on for seven years. I like to personify them and often compare the functioning of ribosomes to human childbirth during lectures. Because it’s easier to imagine something as intrinsically human as childbirth than it is to conceptualize the Lennard-Jones potential, which describes the interactions between atoms. A few weeks ago, Professor Pavel Jungwirth received a grant from the European Research Council (ERC). He is going to study, in detail, the interactions between atoms and ions, and in all interviews, he uses the analogy of a beating human heart. He sees a connection between our heartbeats and some microscopic parameter for calcium ion. That’s great, isn’t it?</p>
<h5><strong>If a grant proposal has a catchy title and is written in an accessible way, do you think it has a better chance of getting funded?</strong></h5>
<p>From a personal point of view, it would be great if this were the case. But I haven’t written enough proposals to be able to answer this question based on statistics. Quantitative research has shown that the appearance of the first page of a proposal is important to reviewers in the grant application review process. So, in this case, I made the title and the opening page stand out. That said, another successful CSF proposal in which I was a co-investigator was just the opposite. In terms of graphics, it was so ugly that I wouldn’t want to evaluate it. But the proposal was funded (laughs – editor’s note).</p>
<h5><strong>Please elaborate on what you expect to encounter as you are proceeding with this project, in terms of understanding the birth of proteins.</strong></h5>
<p>Almost every protein in the world has formed some kind of ribosome. A ribosome is a 25 nm complex with about 50 molecules that catalyses a chemical reaction. Protein synthesis takes place by combining protein building blocks, amino acids. An unbranched chain is formed, which typically has around 300 amino acid residues. For the protein, getting out of the ribosome takes quite a long time, on the order of seconds. The protein therefore spends a non-negligible part of its life bound to a ribosome, like a child connected to its mother by the umbilical cord, to use the childbirth analogy. No one knows exactly what happens to the protein at this stage; it’s uncharted territory.</p>
<p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/VSCHT_Martin_Balicky_Vsichni_muzete_delat_doktorat_na_Stanfordu_nebo_MIT_276ee55a64/VSCHT-Martin-Balicky-Vsichni-muzete-delat-doktorat-na-Stanfordu-nebo-MIT.jpg" alt="UCT Prague/Martin Balický: Michal Kolář from the Laboratory of Biomolecular Dynamics"/></p>
<h5><strong>Why don’t we know anything about this process yet?</strong></h5>
<p>Current techniques, such as electron cryogenic microscopy or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, do not “see” the initial phase of protein birth. Accordingly, we only have structural experiments available for about ten different nascent proteins, which are very specific. We know almost nothing about the rest. I study nature using computer models, machine learning, and structural analysis, thanks to which we can “see” what an experiment cannot.</p>
<h5><strong>What is the basis for modelling something that cannot be seen?</strong></h5>
<p>We know what amino acids look like, how they join in a chain, and how the chain grows. We also know the physical laws of the microuniverse. We enter the information into a computer and use it to predict what’s happening inside a ribosome, for example, in a part that’s called the exit tunnel. There are some special constricted places that the protein has to pass through. We do not know how it moves through the constriction region, what force makes it to do so. We also not know why constriction exists in ribosomes at all. What purpose could it have, since evolution has not removed it in over hundreds of millions of years? There are biochemical experiments showing that without narrowing, ribosomes function poorly, making non-functional proteins or not making them at all. It is also interesting that a large class of antibiotics binds precisely to the constriction region, which adds overlap to the applied setting complementing our basic research activities.</p>
<h5><strong>I assume that modelling events at the atomic level would be very demanding in terms of computational power. Do you use computing supercentres, or do you make do with UCT Prague’s infrastructure?</strong></h5>
<p>We have been able to employ the largest machines in the world for quite some time now. When we do a molecular dynamics simulation of a ribosome and count about 2.5 million atoms and their interactions, we consume supercomputer computing time in the order of weeks. We use the computing centre in Ostrava and compete for time elsewhere. Just as an example, when I returned from Germany from the Max Planck Institute in 2018, I had 40 million core hours of computing time allocated for my project in Stuttgart. At that time, in the Czech Republic, the Ostrava supercomputer centre had just announced a competition with the capacity of 70 million core hours for the entire republic.</p>
<h5><strong>Is limited computing time limiting to you in your research?</strong></h5>
<p>I am more limited in my “real-world” time, because I also have to teach, have a family, and also commute quite far to UCT Prague. If I suddenly had access to a large computing resource, I would be under more pressure to use it. Calculations need to be well planned and phased.</p>
<h5><strong>You mentioned that the outputs of your project may have overlap to applied settings, to antibiotics development. Is potential use in medicine (and thus helping people) a motivating factor for you in being a scientist? Or do you just enjoy exploring the unknown, and when a discovery comes with real-world impact, it’s a nice bonus?</strong></h5>
<p>B is correct: I&#39;m really interested in how things work and why they do what they do. I look at the world realistically and do not set unnecessarily large goals. I am not lying to anyone, not even to myself, that I will invent a new pharmaceutical. I don’t know, of course, if twenty years from now I might be disappointed by the fact that I spent my whole life tinkering with theoretical concepts and that you can’t buy anything I developed in a pharmacy. However, I do not share the current obsession funding agencies have, requiring basic research to be related to a social problem. After all, a lot of revolutionary and useful things have come about thanks to people digging into something that, at first glance, seemed useless.</p>
<h5><strong>I find your approach to basic research perfectly legitimate.</strong></h5>
<p>It is legitimate when we have fun together. But I can’t simply write to a funding agency that I’m interested in why there are suddenly five positively charged amino acids here in the ribosome and why evolution didn’t throw them away. That I don’t care whether an antibiotic is currently being attached to the site. But the funding agencies, in principle, require possible real-world applications. So I’m just going to tell them what they want to hear, because undoubtedly, there’s always some link to an antibiotic. But in the drug research field, an idea is often so far from implementation that it’s pointless to declare it.</p>
<h5><strong>At UCT Prague, you lead the Laboratory of Biomolecular Dynamics. How difficult was it to start this group?</strong></h5>
<p>Our group has been operating for six years now and the beginnings were hard for me. I had nothing to do with this university before coming here from Germany, and I think that UCT Prague is not very good at integrating scientists who did their training elsewhere. I see inbreeding being cultivated at every turn. To this day, I sometimes feel like a dissident who clearly has a different opinion than the people who studied at UCT Prague and straight away continued their academic careers here.</p>
<p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/VSCHT_Kolar_lab_at_UCT_Prague_We_are_a_young_group_of_researchers_and_students_at_University_of_Chemistry_and_Technology_in_Prague_94978e6377/VSCHT-Kolar-lab-at-UCT-Prague-We-are-a-young-group-of-researchers-and-students-at-University-of-Chemistry-and-Technology-in-Prague.jpg" alt="UCT Prague: Kolář lab at UCT Prague: We are a young group of researchers and students at University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague"/></p>
<h5><strong>What did you struggle with the most?</strong></h5>
<p>I don’t list my daily frustrations (laughs). It has been time-consuming for me to find the necessary forms. I didn’t know how grant applications work at UCT Prague, who was in charge of which agenda, or how teaching works here. I often didn’t even know who to ask, and when I did ask, I usually didn’t get an answer. A lot of information is spread through grapevines among colleagues who spent their entire careers here and know how things work.</p>
<p>But enough criticizing: I was given space for absolute independence, and no one has told me what research topic to pursue and how, which has been fantastic. And some things are changing for the better. For example, getting the Project Centre going is a great step forward.</p>
<h5><strong>If you were to compare your time here with life at the Max Planck Institute, what do you miss the most?</strong></h5>
<p>Probably a way of thinking about science that I don’t see here. Here, we talk a lot about grants, administrative duties, and citations. But to talk to someone about ribosomes and proteins first and only later discuss about administrative tasks? I don’t experience that here, unlike in Germany.</p>
<h5><strong>Are you missing anything else?</strong></h5>
<p>Although I have been working at UCT Prague for over six years, I do not have any intensive cooperation with anyone else at the university. I’m certainly partly to blame for this; I don’t tend to actively reach out and try to convince others about things we might do. In Germany, we always had events where we could meet each other and solve purely scientific matters. For example, internal seminars, conferences, and thematic lectures, which many people attended. People were active, curious, and interested in learning how their colleagues could help them. A few days ago I was at a lecture on machine learning organized by the UNICORN association, and there were maybe ten, fifteen of us there.</p>
<h5><strong>Why do you think it’s like this?</strong></h5>
<p>The fact that the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry AS CR (IOCB) is nearby might play a role, because a lot of high-quality/ambitious people do their doctorates there or work there. Many UCT Prague colleagues are strictly technologically oriented thus they do not crave scientific knowledge. I need people who enjoy learning about the workings of nature and are not scared of words such as derivation, optimization, or programming. In my opinion, UCT Prague does not target the best students in the given age cohort. When I teach sophomores, I ask them, for example, who will go to Stanford after they graduate? And they stare at me with surprise, wondering if I lost my marbles. Almost no one starts with an ambition to do a PhD at a top-ranked university. Then I tell them: you could all go to Stanford or MIT; people there usually don’t have better brains than you, they’re just dedicated to their interests and consider it normal—even in their free time!—to talk about science, learning, solving tasks together, and preparing for a scientific career.</p>
<h5><strong>Is there something in which, on the other hand, UCT Prague excels compared to institutions where you worked previously?</strong></h5>
<p>I really like the social activities organized by the university on the Dejvice campus. CrossCampus, Hanami, Campusfest. I also find the relationships between younger and older students that is visible, for example, with tutoring activities, to be great.</p>
<h5><strong>How do you feel about the possibility of going abroad again in the future?</strong></h5>
<p>Right now, the Czech Republic is the place where I want to live permanently, but I’ve not yet closed the door to future international chapters. If the opportunity presented itself and, above all, provided favourable conditions for my family, I would like to do more work outside the country. Let’s say, as part of a sabbatical, for example. I have a few places in mind where I’d love to collaborate with specific scientists for a longer period of time. But I also have three daughters and a wife, and each of them has interests and responsibilities here in the Czech Republic…it would not be easy to coordinate.</p>
<h5><strong>Do you have a scientific dream?</strong></h5>
<p>You just touched upon my soft spot. All great scientists say that you have to have big dreams and goals. I don’t have them. I’m a little sorry about this but it’s probably connected to my aforementioned realist outlook on life and my tendency to avoid disappointment. So I’m just gradually working my way through the laws of nature.</p>
<h5><strong>You are one of the few active Czech scientists on Twitter (@mhkoscience). What motivates you?</strong></h5>
<p>I was originally looking for doctoral candidates there. Now it’s a kind of hobby. In any case, science is a community affair, and if a person wants to be successful, he or she must be part of a scientific community. It rarely happens that a lone scientist suddenly comes up with a discovery that takes the whole world’s breath away. Rather, it is about small discoveries that the community gradually adopts and continues to refine. Without marketing, no one will know you’re around these days, so I’m tweeting.</p>
<h5><strong>You use a combination of bike and train to get to work from the countryside near Kolin.</strong></h5>
<p>I don’t like to drive, and traveling by train, in particular, is a special to me. It’s a time when I can think and feel good. I really enjoy train travel, even though I hardly travelled by train as a child. During my studies, I travelled along the Trans-Siberian Highway and in southern India. On the Beijing-Almaty-Moscow-Košice route, I returned to the Czech Republic by train after my friends and I decided to visit northern China and track Siberian tigers.</p>
<h5><strong>Did you succeed?</strong></h5>
<p>Fortunately, no. Plans are one thing, but when a person enters the forest and realizes that a 300-kilogram tiger might be waiting for them, it’s just not good (laughs).</p>


All of you could do a PhD at Stanford or MIT

<p><strong>In October 2023, the <a href="https://gcms.labrulez.com/companies/11"><strong>UCT Prague</strong></a> Academic Senate elected Professor Milan Pospíšil as their choice for Rector. As of 1 January 2024, he will succeed Pavel Matějka in the top university position and begin a four-year term. In this interview, the long-term Vice-Rector for Strategies and Development and the Council of Czech Universities Chair talks about his intention to adjust the core curriculum and the need to diversify income sources, about his priorities in relation to employees, as well as about support for student associations and his ongoing hobby interest in photography.</strong></p>
<h5><strong>Is UCT Prague in good shape as you become Rector on 1 January 2024?</strong></h5>
<p>Our university is not in bad shape. R&amp;D and instruction are functioning. We are still perceived as a high-quality, competitive university in the Czech context. Pavel Matějka has achieved a lot in four years and there is much to build upon. However, I see challenges in that the world around us is changing quite a bit and we will be forced to respond to those changes.</p>
<h5><strong>What do you mean by such changes?</strong></h5>
<p>Above all, potential student interest in going into technical fields, including chemistry, has been stagnating or even declining for some time. Many students prefer easier paths of study in order to have enough time for extracurricular activities. The views of fresh high school graduates are changing, and they have increasing demands about what university education should look like in terms of levels of difficulty, structure, student support, and the use of information technology.</p>
<p>After a period of sustained economic growth, the Czech Republic has fallen into an economic and energy crisis, with growing frustrations and societal concerns about conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. The standard of living of the vast majority of the Czech population is declining.</p>
<p>We are also confronted with far greater competition from international universities, which are more attractive to students thanks to instruction in English and which can offer researchers better salaries and benefits.</p>
<h5><strong>How do you plan to address the decline in interest in studying chemistry?</strong></h5>
<p>Based on discussion and agreement with the UCT Prague Faculties, our core curriculum should evolve. We can tell ourselves over and over again that the current set up is ideal. But if we don’t have enough students, what good will our thoughts about this do? In any case, I don’t mean lowering standards, but exploring possibilities of distributing course loads in a more flexible way, making course choices more aligned with specific study programs and profiles, and taking student and employee preferences into more urgent consideration.</p>
<p>In cooperation with other universities, we must ensure that there are high-quality mathematics, chemistry, and physics teachers at the secondary school level. At UCT Prague, we already have a program in which we can train high-quality teachers who are keenly interest in chemistry. Other universities should do the same for physics and mathematics. This investment would pay off for us in more motivated, more prepared secondary school graduates.</p>
<h5><strong>Another problem is the real drop in university income with regard to inflation and the government’s inadequate higher education funding policy…</strong></h5>
<p>Teaching, training, and R&amp;D at UCT Prague are expensive because of necessary instrumentation and chemicals. The government has funded higher education at low levels for a long time, and the basic governmental funding intended to operate our institution cannot even offset inflation. As a result, we have to compete hard with other universities and institutes of the Czech Academy of Science for grants to supplement governmental funding. Since Czech grant funding sources are not sufficiently high and considering the enormous competition on the national level, success in obtaining such grant funding is generally low. As a result, our instructors and researchers are frustrated by the inefficient use of their time in applying for grants instead of conducting research or improving their teaching competencies. Unfortunately, the chances are that the situation will stay the same for the next five years, if it doesn’t worsen. So, we will need to change our approach to gaining funding and try to diversify our funding sources more.</p>
<h5><strong>Where do you want to get such funding?</strong></h5>
<p>Funding sources that hold the greatest potential are in applied industrial and corporate activities. We will need to switch back from a pervasive model where it was profitable to simply conduct research and publish and return to our technological roots. We also need to get more funding from international research grants. Our success rate with international grants is not bad at all, but we need to prepare and submit higher-quality proposals. I would therefore like to support research groups who have the potential to break into prestigious European grant structures and to apply regularly for grant funding. The university is currently able to withstand the current adverse budget situation thanks to financial reserves, but the reserve funding pool is not endless.</p>
<h5><strong>How specifically do you want to raise funds from the commercial sector?</strong></h5>
<p>We need to learn how to better connect our knowledge and skills in order to provide comprehensive offers of research cooperation to interested commercial partners. With this, I do not mean just routine lab testing and measuring, but rather providing quality corporate research that companies do not have the space or human capacity to conduct on their own. We can take advantage of the fact that many of our colleagues prefer more hands-on applications and collaborations with the applied sector over publishing. Virtually no one in the Czech Republic is doing chemical-technological research at our scale and quality level. I want to emphasize that this does not mean giving up on competitive, basic and applied research, especially when our goal is to attract and keep high-quality doctoral students, who are literarily indispensable for UCT Prague.</p>
<p>We must not forget our up-to-now underutilized potential for providing continuing education and customized retraining to our industrial partners and the specific government agencies. If some of UCT Prague’s Faculties show interest, I am more than willing to contact the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs regarding the possibility of financing these activities. I know that interest also exists at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, and the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic (FFDI).</p>
<h5><strong>It is common in the corporate sector that if funding and new income streams are not sufficient, expenditures are also cut. Will you be considering savings in university operations?</strong></h5>
<p>A huge advantage of our university is the low student-to-teacher ratio, which is crucial from the point of view of training experts who are, as we can see, very competitive on the international job market. The downside of this, however, is a relatively large financial burden. Of course, we can consider how to save here, but I think that it would be a big mistake and that one of the great competitive edges of our university would be eroded. So we will look for saving opportunities together with the Deans and Vice-Rectors, primarily in operating expenses, not in personnel costs. Quality people are and always will be our best investment.</p>
<h5><strong>Let’s look at it from another angle. Aren’t you afraid that quality people will leave UCT Prague for better opportunities?</strong></h5>
<p>For me, it is a priority that university employees are satisfied and that they are paid decently for a job well done. I would like to continue gradually increasing basic salaries. Due to the developments in public financing anticipated in the coming years, this will mean lower individual percentage increases rather than tens of percentages year-to-year, but I would like to let employees know that they are important to the university. The first step after taking up the issue will be negotiations with the Faculty Deans about setting up a system for long-term employee motivation. We can start from the already-existing Employee Profile database, which can be used as a valuable initial data source.</p>
<h5><strong>What will Step Number Two be?</strong></h5>
<p>We need to conduct an analysis of services the Rectorate provides in order to determine which of them are more or less useful for the individual Faculties. Based on a statistical evaluation, we will propose their optimization and will prepare a catalogue of services provided by the Rectorate. Such an analysis has not been performed for twenty years and we are currently operating according to established habits. Today, we have a situation where various duplications appear, and some services are fine, but we don’t know if all of them are really necessary and if we can sustain them over the long term.</p>
<p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/VSCHT_Svet_kolem_nas_se_meni_09e1f9c1f4/VSCHT-Svet-kolem-nas-se-meni.jpg" alt="UCT Prague: Milan Pospíšil: The world around us is changing and we have to react."/></p>
<h5><strong>The closest collaborators for the Rector are the Vice-Rectors. Can you tell me their names already?</strong></h5>
<p>First, I would like to do some reorganization. So far, I am not counting on having a Vice-Rector for Strategies and Development position, since this agenda better fits the Rector’s responsibilities. In its place, I would like to create a Vice-Rector without a pre-existing portfolio position. Her primary responsibility for the next four years would be doctoral student support and doctoral studies in general. Considering the recent legal changes, there will be a lot of work related to this agenda since we are a university that depends on high-quality doctoral students. As a Vice-Rector for Doctoral Studies, I would like to see Prof. Michaela Rumlová (Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology).</p>
<p>As for the Vice-Rector for R&amp;D, I would like to work with Prof. Pavel Novák (Faculty of Chemical Technology) who will receive two important tasks from me: to start cooperation with the Czech commercial sector on a larger scale and to support and motivate our research groups for more active involvement in international grant competitions. I would like Associate Professor Milan Jahoda (Faculty of Chemical Engineering) to continue as Vice-Rector for Education. In addition to the many responsibilities he already has on his shoulders, I would like him to focus on extending partnerships with secondary schools and educating future chemistry teachers for primary and secondary schools.</p>
<h5><strong>The Vice-Rector for External Relations and Communications remains…</strong></h5>
<p>I will make a partial adjustment here as well and would like to have the Communications department report directly to the Rector, as is customary at other universities. The Vice-Rector’s agenda will therefore focus exclusively on internationalization and international cooperation. The main goal will be to involve UCT Prague in one of the university alliances; we also need to be more active in Brussels when negotiating scientific and research cooperation activities. I would be very happy if Prof. Pavel Matějka (Faculty of Chemical Engineering) would fill this role. I would also like to add that I, as Rector, would like to take responsibility for the Department of Safety and Risk Prevention’s agenda, which is crucial from the point of view of eliminating risks in operating a chemistry university.</p>
<h5><strong>You have announced that you want to involve the Faculty Deans more in university management. Why?</strong></h5>
<p>Most teaching and research takes place at the Faculties, and the powers of the Deans are therefore absolutely and legally essential. Faculties de facto determine basic directions of research and instruction. As Rector, my task will be to prepare optimal conditions for the Faculties and their core activities and, to this end, to ensure for them optimal functioning of the services provided by Rector’s Office. Furthermore, the Rector must coordinate the activities of the Faculties and, if necessary, act as a mediator, must be able to convince the faculties to pursue a common goal. Beyond UCT Prague, the Rector must be able to use diplomacy to ensure that the university as a whole can develop in the right direction. This applies, for example, to raising money for infrastructure development, promoting the interests of UCT Prague in decision-making processes, and in creating strategic documents on the national level.</p>
<p>Examples from the past show that if a Rector has communicated well with the Faculty Deans, university operations were very efficient. It is not a matter of resolving trifles, but of reaching a consensus on fundamental and conceptual matters.</p>
<h5><strong>Will you have enough time to manage the Departments that report to you?</strong></h5>
<p>This will depend on how we agree to set up the levels of managerial responsibilities. Of course, it can be overwhelming to deal with too many details, but that’s why there are very capable leaders as Heads of the Rectorate Departments. These departments work well and independently. I see my role primarily in the discussion of concepts, competences, goals and their implementation. It’s definitely not my intention to micromanage them.</p>
<h5><strong>What about instruction and research. Can you still perform these activities as Rector?</strong></h5>
<p>The position of Rector is more than a full-time job. I am internally reconciled to the fact that I will largely have to give up both research and teaching. However, I will keep participating in the Academic Council for the doctoral study programs at my home Faculty, will be ready to serve on examination committees, and count with supervising one or two doctoral students.</p>
<h5><strong>As Rector, you can no longer chair the Council of Universities. Won’t UCT Prague lose its influence there?</strong></h5>
<p>I don’t think so. We are an important member of the Association of Research Universities, an active part of the community of technology universities, and we are going to be more involved in the Czech Conference of Rectors. We will still have many quality contacts and connections and will make an effort to keep and extend them. I believe that I have done enough useful work for the entire higher education community in the role of Chair of the Council of Universities and will not lose my informal influence.</p>
<h5><strong>Rector Matějka strongly supported social and cultural activities for students. Will you continue to do this?</strong></h5>
<p>Clearly. Our student associations have a good reputation, even beyond our university. For example, many people marvel at our orchestra and say that we have such a wonderful and large orchestra at a tech university. The same applies to our theatre actors in Divoch. I would also add sports activities to the list because they also belong to being a student and can equip you with a number of competencies that come useful in life, especially team sports. I myself played basketball for UCT Prague for many years, so I know what I’m talking about.</p>
<p>What concerns me is the lack of infrastructure for leisure activities. I want to think things through with the Faculty Deans and to try to accommodate students as much as possible so that they have appropriate venues to meet and rest. On the other hand, I can’t work miracles. Only the new building on Vítězné náměstí will significantly improve the recent situation.</p>
<h5><strong>Professionally, you have primarily devoted your entire career to fuels. What drew you to investigating them?</strong></h5>
<p>Fuels were only an alternative path for me in the beginning. In elementary school, I wanted to study natural sciences, i.e., botany. When I was about the high school age, my teachers told me: Well, you are not suitable for natural sciences and you should go into the humanities (laughs). I was not particularly interested in Latin or history, however. So I successfully represented my humanities-oriented high school program in the mathematics and physics competitions, which was quite intimidating for the schoolmates from the science-oriented programs. Thanks to a nice chemistry teacher, I eventually decided to go study chemistry at UCT Prague. I wanted to focus on water, but at the admissions office I was told that water technology would probably be beyond my capabilities and that I should rather consider fuels (laughs). I met great people investigating fuel and stuck with the topic. Fuels were, are, and will be extremely important to society as is their impact on the environment. As a matter of fact, I am currently involved in preparation of a national, ten-year strategic plan for the use and modelling of the optimal composition of alternative energies as a part of a 20-member cross-sectoral expert team.</p>
<h5><strong>What was it about UCT Prague that made you entwine your entire adult life with it?</strong></h5>
<p>Above all, I have enjoyed the research topics, I met there excellent instructors and colleagues. I liked that our research outcomes have direct applied implications. I’m not the type of person who is satisfied solely with theoretical outputs. Furthermore, we all know each other at UCT Prague, the environment and inter-personal relations were always nice, enabling us to communicate and work together without any problems. I must also mention our students, who give us, older colleagues, energy and who enrich us.</p>
<h5><strong>What type of student were you? A slacker or a hard worker?</strong></h5>
<p>I was definitely good at chemistry; thus, my studies didn’t overwhelm me. I didn’t have to fool around all the time, I was able to deduce a lot of things, and so I also had time to play with experiments in the lab. Eventually I graduated with the highest grades and honours. I was also very involved in extracurricular student life. All the time I felt the urge to organize and invent something so that we didn’t get bored in the dorms.</p>
<h5><strong>You mentioned that you played basketball for UCT Prague. How long?</strong></h5>
<p>I started playing right after coming to the university in 1981 and quit in around 2005. In addition to the game itself, I enjoyed the incredibly diverse team, which included assistants, students, both Associate and Full Professors. In order to win, we had to be able to cooperate and communicate on the basketball court as we went, often suppressing our egos. For me, it was a valuable school for managerial skills as well as a great way to relax.</p>
<h5><strong>How do you relieve stress and work commitments these days?</strong></h5>
<p>I like to disappear into nature where I don’t have to think about anything. I also like to go to concerts and prefer quality over genre. Even cooking is a chemical discipline, so I’m happy to get behind the stove on weekends. I’ve also been taking nature and landscape photos all my life, and many of my shots are used in bookmark designs. Thanks to this, I have a rather funny deviation: I often perceive the surrounding world as a panorama, in 1:3 or 3:1 format (laughs).</p>


The world around us is changing and we have to react

<p><strong>Alexandr Malijevský, now a full professor, joined UCT Prague in 2000 as a doctoral student. He completed his Master&#39;s degree at the Charles University Faculty of Mathematics and Physics , where he studied theoretical physics. Since 2006, he has also worked at the Institute of Chemical Processes Fundamentals  at the Czech Academy of Sciences. He conducted postdoctoral research at Imperial College London for two years  and eventually found his workplace of choice at <a href="https://gcms.labrulez.com/companies/11"><strong>UCT Prague</strong></a>, where he was appointed a full professorship at the end of 2023. The line between his personal life and his research activities is often blurred; in his free time, he likes to play chess.</strong></p>
<h5><strong>What brought you to UCT Prague from Charles University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Physics?</strong></h5>
<p>I have asked myself this question more than once, given that my research fits into physics more than chemistry. My life path started out very straight, and I inclined towards mathematics in primary school. Next came high school, where I focused on mathematics and physics, and then Charles University‘s Department of Mathematics and Physics, where I studied theoretical physics. At Charles, I became one of the many „victims“ of the beauty of probably the most elegant physical theory ever, Einstein‘s theory of general relativity, and was also charmed by the professor who lectured on this topic, Professor Bičák. I did my Master thesis with him on a topic related to the problem of the energy of a gravitational field. This research was undeniably engaging, as were my discussions with Bičák, and I always looked forward to those, even if they sometimes only happened once in a couple of months, depending on the length of his many stays abroad. We would talk about domestic and international politics, the Březin brothers, religion, music, and so on. And if there was any time left, we‘d chat a little about my calculations too. I look back fondly to those times. However, after defending my Master thesis, I wasn‘t sure if I should continue in this direction, because the theory is quite well developed. The idea that I would be able to come up with something truly new was kind of naive. That‘s when my father, who was a professor at the UCT Prague Department of Physical Chemistry, noticed my hesitation. He mentioned to me a modern theory within the statistical mechanics of fluids that seemed very promising in terms of future research possibilities. I read something about it, it piqued my curiosity, so I decided to do my doctorate at UCT Prague‘s Department of Physical Chemistry. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but it worked out as time went on.</p>
<h5><strong>What was the hardest part of making the transition to UCT Prague?</strong></h5>
<p>I had to get used to a different environment. In short, the mentality here is different, more focused on „performances“ and a bit of PR flair (these things are not interesting to me, even today). More than once, I was criticized for „not showing up much“. Many of my colleagues did not have a problem with this. And then, the level of UCT Prague students was somewhat different, especially where mathematics was concerned, which is totally understandable. I had to adapt. For example, it took me some time to align my research within the field of food technology. After an initial misunderstanding, I understood that I should start each exercise giving colleagues a gentle mathematical introduction, and then it settled down. On the other hand, my non-chemical background and technical ineptitude sometimes showed. For example, during laboratory exercises, which I also had to lead, this was sometimes quite adventurous.</p>
<h5><strong>What was it like starting work in a completely new field?</strong></h5>
<p>At that time, no one in the Czech Republic was dealing with the aforementioned theory, the subject of my doctoral thesis, so I was not assigned a classical supervisor with focused expertise in the field. I had to read a lot at first and gain a bit more knowledge on the topic. But the hardest thing was that, at the beginning, I didn’t know what exactly to aim for, i.e. what specific issue to focus my research on. Trips abroad helped me a lot, and I always tried to absorb as much as possible during these visits. All of this, at the same time, led to the fact that my work lacked a systematic nature for quite a while. I did a lot of work yet without getting the full picture. I only started to have greater consistency in my research efforts over time.</p>
<h5><strong>Are you happy or do you regret the transition, in retrospect?</strong></h5>
<p>A person would need to live two lives, or at least parts of them, in order to be able to evaluate which of the two fundamental decisions was the right one. We don’t have this option, so we can either complain about our life choices or, on the contrary, rejoice about them in the spirit of Nietzsche’s amor fati. I have every reason to be happy. I have both scientific and pedagogical freedom here. I was never assigned to teach a class that would take me beyond my comfort zone. No one is interfering with my research. Before I left for a postdoc at Imperial College London, I was still in touch with Charles University’s Department of Mathematics and Physics, but then I definitely decided to focus on just one field and to fully devote myself to it. By the way, I have visited Charles a few times recently (for example, I gave a popularization lecture there earlier this year), and I can’t say I miss the atmosphere there.</p>
<h5><strong>How would you describe your experience at Imperial College London and what did you take away from your time there?</strong></h5>
<p>It was definitely a great experience. Very positive in many ways, because you get a glimpse of how one of the most famous universities in the world works behind the scenes. For example, the great thing was that you don‘t have to travel anywhere to meet the best scholars in your field (and not only your field!); they „come to you“. But in time you discover that all that glitters is not gold. I had my first strange experience quite early on, after I handed over an almost finished manuscript of an article to my boss (in the first weeks there, I usually spent about fifteen hours a day, including weekends, at the university). I was told I must have co-authors for a manuscript on which I worked entirely alone. With genuine surprise, I asked what the contribution of the co-authors was supposed to have been. The answer surprised me: their contribution was to the writing of the grant project from which I was funded. This is apparently a common practice, but I refused to accept this argument. The article was shelved following this discussion and published only many years later. By the way, I still don‘t understand the practice of arbitrary attribution for articles in general; I would feel awkward and uncomfortable to be attributed to a work that I hadn‘t contributed to. What if someone asks me something from that article?</p>
<p>But to return to the more positive experiences. Over time, I established the cooperation with the Mathematical Physics Group, from whom I learned a lot. This collaboration actually continues to this day.</p>
<h5><strong>What were others differences compared to our academic environment?</strong></h5>
<p>I was used to more directness. I understand academia as being a specific independent environment that should be free-spirited and healthily confrontational. But I discovered there that criticism of opinions, within seminar lectures, for example, could be taken quite offensively and as an indication of a lack of respect. The pursuit of scientific debate was sometimes mistaken for a personal attack. But I would not like to generalize too much; it could have been a completely local experience.</p>
<p>Because I still visit Imperial College regularly, I notice the developments there over the years. And I can say that I’m not always very happy, and I observe the same (delayed) trends here as well. I mean, a kind of activism that jumps on modern political issues and that sometimes stands in stark contrast to the interpretation of an academic environment as I described it above.</p>
<h5><strong>Can you introduce us to your team’s research?</strong></h5>
<p>Very generally: we deal with the description of many-particle systems. We know that matter consists of an enormous number of interacting microparticles whose motion cannot be described deterministically. However, we do not need to know the state of each individual particle to describe a given system, but we are interested in how such a system behaves collectively, i.e. as a whole. For such a description, we use the methods of statistical physics, in the language of probabilities, mean values, fluctuations, correlations, and the like. With the help of appropriate microscopic models, we can predict the macroscopic properties of the system, and this relationship between the micro- and macroworld allows us to interpret the observed phenomena. We then specifically deal with, for example, the description of the phase behaviour of systems in an extremely limited environment, which is dramatically different from our normal experience. Here, theory typically precedes experiments.</p>
<p><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/VSCHT_Zivot_je_vyborny_model_pro_sachy_Alexandr_Malijevsky_68112d8717.jpg" alt="UCT Prague: Alexandr Malijevský."/></p>
<h5><strong>How is your work useful for society and what real applications does it have?</strong></h5>
<p>I am engaged in basic research, the primary motivation of which is a deeper understanding of natural laws. As for its technological application, that is a job for our engineering colleagues, for whom, it can be said, we are preparing a good terrain. Nevertheless, it could be said that our research does have the potential to be applied in modern nanotechnology.</p>
<p>Concerning my teaching, I see my primary role as motivating enthusiastic students who don’t just want a degree, but who genuinely want to pursue science and who have the capacity for this.</p>
<h5><strong>What classes do you teach?</strong></h5>
<p>I currently teach Mathematical Methods for Physical Chemistry and Advanced Methods of Mathematical Methods for Physical Chemistry, Statistical Thermodynamics, and an Introduction to the Modern Theory of Phase Transitions. These are courses for Master’s and doctoral levels students.</p>
<h5><strong>Which of them are popular among students, and which courses are rather challenging?</strong></h5>
<p>Challenging for me or for students? For me, the beginnings of lectures are the most challenging, regardless of what course it is. You are fully concentrated on solving a problem, but then you have to interrupt it and refocus on something completely different. This eventually engulfs me, so I completely refocus on the lecture and try to do my best. I usually end up with a sweaty shirt and strained vocal cords. They say that I speak quite loudly, but at least no one falls asleep. As for feedback, it depends more on the students than the specific class. In any case, whenever a student mentions your lecture in a favourable manner, it gives you satisfaction.</p>
<h5><strong>What was your primary motivation to become a professor?</strong></h5>
<p>The title of professor is (in addition to DSc.) the highest academic rank. In order to fulfil its prerequisites, you need to conduct long-term pedagogical and scientific work. And you do it because you enjoy it and you see the point of it. All the other benefits of this title, including promotion to a higher pay grade, may be nice, but for me they are not motivating enough. As for social prestige, if you look around and see who is also a full professor (including, for example, candidates for the high political appointments and the circumstances they obtained their titles), you start having some doubts about that prestige. What I am happy about, however, is a certain sense of freedom that comes from knowing that I no longer have to prove to anyone that my work is meaningful and that I am doing it well.</p>
<h5><strong>How about your personal life, what do you like to do in your free time?</strong></h5>
<p>The ideal state is for me is actually when I have no personal life. When the problem I’m working on becomes so engrossing that it wakes me up at night, and in the morning, when I can’t wait to continue solving it. Fortunately, this does not happen very often; it would not even be sustainable in the long term, to state it in modern terminology. Thus all I usually do in my free time is living normally. Or normally…I used to play chess a lot during my studies, now I am returning to it, very slowly and within my severely limited schedule. What fascinates me about chess is its parallel with real life: in both life and in chess, you are looking for (or at least you should be looking for) the optimal moves, regardless of the position you are in, trying to predict the consequences of your moves as far as possible. However, it’s often the case that there is objectively no best move; so you choose the one that is at hand, which causes the complexity on both playing fields. As a theorist, I can responsibly declare: life is an excellent model for chess.</p>


Life is an excellent model for chess

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