Earlier this week, much of the Czech Republic woke up to the acrid smell of smoke. Not from a fire in the neighbourhood or one town over but more than a hundred kilometres away: in Hřensko and the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. The scale of the fire shocked the country.

As of 1 July, the Czech Republic has taken up the Council of the EU presidency, a time when the bloc faces key issues of international importance. Charles University is contributing to the public discussion through a debate series entitled Task Europe.

An archaeological team from the Czech Institute of Egyptology discovered the tomb of an ancient Egyptian dignitary during fieldwork in Egypt, in the spring of 2022. Although it was already looted in antiquity, the site is neverthless invaluable.

Hillel J. Kieval is an historian at Washington University in St. Louis. An expert on the history of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia, Kieval taught a course at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University this semester based on his newest book: Blood Inscriptions: Science, Modernity, and Ritual Murder at Europe's Fin de Siecle.

Few experts in the social sciences have influenced their field as much as Leopold Pospíšil, whose memoir was published last month by Charles University’s Karolinum Press. During his storied career, the anthropologist befriended the Inuit in Alaska and the Kapauku in Papua New Guinea.

Over the course of a single year, Charles Games – the creators of titles like Attentát 1942 – launched Train to Sachsenhausen based on witness testimonies of the events of 1939 - the takeover of Bohemia and Moravia by the Nazis and the closure of Czech Universities. 

Children and adolescents in orphanages are encouraged to be independent-minded. However, they often lack personal ties, role models and ordinary experience from daily life. The Patron programme, in cooperation with CU, is helping many get a better start, by providing mentors who can help them navigate some of the pitfalls of everyday life.

What are the main challenges children and teachers have to face in our schools due to an unprecedented inflow of Ukrainian children and youth into our educational system? In Talking Economics, Katarína Stehlíková talks to Daniel Münich 

In a fortnight, Czechs will take up the presidency of the Council of the EU, prompting an official visit to Prague by the president of the EP, Roberta Metsola. She was the main guest in a debate at Charles University on the future of Europe.

The Czech Republic boasts 14 institutes of forensic medicine across the country; Prague alone is home to four. The Institute of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of the First Medical Faculty of Charles University is the oldest. But with one of the youngest chief physicians: Klára Neureutterová.

When she was born, Dominika Hysková says she was a whirlwind that swept into her otherwise largely quiet family. She is eloquent and full of energy and her enthusiasm as the sole female student studying Military Physical Education in Czechia is contagious. One question? Which military unit she’ll serve with upon completing her Master’s degree.

What are the main causes of high inflation? Will the inflation go back to lower levels? Katarína Stehlíková asked economist Dana Hájková these questions and more in the latest episode of Talking Economics, produced and recorded at CERGE-EI.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been ongoing for 100 days. There are no signs of the conflict abating – just the opposite. Support for Ukrainians is enormous. Charles University is among those helping, aiding Ukrainian students and academics and more.

Anežka Kuzmičová is a researcher at Charles University who, for the last two years, has conducted creative research into children’s reading. Scientists often study or emphasise literacy and language acquisition but there has been relatively little study of what children actually experience as they read.

Zuzana Schreiberová is a graduate of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University and director of the Multicultural Centre Prague (MKC Prague). During her studies, she volunteered and helped people fleeing the war in Syria and Iraq. She now passes on her experience to others helping Ukrainians who fled the war.

“Being a tour guide at the historic Kuks Hospital taught me a lot,” says Jaroslav Matějka, a third-year student at the Third Faculty of Medicine of Charles University. Above all, he credits it with teaching him how to communicate better with others.

“I want to be as productive and helpful within society as possible,” says Quynh Anh Vu, a Hanoi native and graduate of the Faculty of Pharmacy. Quynh Anh received the Rector's Award recognising the best science graduates in April.

After a two year break, the Rector’s Sports Day made a big comeback last week at Charles University. Classic sports s featured prominently. Students and lecturers gave up the classroom for activity outside on what turned out to be a beautiful day in May.

Charles University, in conjunction with the French Embassy, the Education Ministry, DZS and Erasmus+, has just hosted a conference on the importance of university alliances. More and more, alliances are gaining recognition as crucial for universities in Europe.

“Having children during one’s studies is not a sign of resignation about one’s academic ambitions,” says Aneta Ženíšková, a Ph.D. student at Charles University and a mother of three. Ženíšková is the founder of the new Association of Student Parents.