“Research cannot be fully planned and you never know what you will discover”, says the Creativity Award recipient, assistant professor Martin Čížek from the Charles University Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, the co-author of a paper published in the prestigious journal Science. The theoretical physicist, whose calculations influenced the models of the formation of first nebulas and starts after the Big Bang, is a fan of the Big Bang Theory TV show.

David Storch’s work at the Center for Theoretical Study focuses on macroecology and evolutionary ecology. He is currently involved in two projects investigating the processes that determine natural diversity.

The Charles University Faculty of Science decided to organize an adventure suburban camp for fearless boys and girls aged 6–15 who are interested in nature and sciences. For a whole week from August 15–20 a varied and entertaining programme was prepared for the kids.

Ninth World Shakespeare Congress will take place in Prague from 17 to 22 July 2011. The general theme is “Renaissance Shakespeare: Shakespeare Renaissances and the organisers are the International Shakespeare Association, Charles University and the National Theatre. The principal partners are the City of Prague and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Congress will be attended by approximately 600 Shakespeare scholars, Elizabethan literature and theatre specialists from all continents.

On April 27, 2010, RNDr. Jana Poltierová Vejpravová, Ph.D., received the prestigious Scopus Award for young scientists for her work which is a major contribution to experimental and theoretical description of spin states in solid-state matters. The awards were handed out for the first time in the Czech Republic by the largest publisher of scientific journals and databases, Elsevier Science.

Photo: Marie Čechová

On May 13, RNDr. Marie Kalbáčová, Ph.D. from the Institute of Inherited Metabolic Disorders of the Charles University 1st Faculty of Medicine, received the L'Oréal For Women in Science scholarship for her work “Interaction of Cells and Nanomaterials: New Perspectives of Implantology and Bioelectronics”.

The “Academic Lessons for Economic Policy” conference took place on May 12 in the building of the Institute of Economic Studies in Opletalova Street in Prague. Attracting great interest from students, experts and the general public, the conference also celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the Faculty of Social Sciences and 20 years of state-independent economics in the Czech Republic.

The autumn course named “The sociologist as an involved observer, or How to write sociology for the media”, which took place in September 20 – 25 in the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Hollar building, was a joint project of the Faculty’s Institute of Sociology (ISS) and the Lidové Noviny newspaper (LN). It was focused at doctoral and advanced graduate students of sociology and related disciplines. Jan Maršálek from the ISS served as the project’s coordinator.

Between September 22-25, Prague hosted the annual meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE). Dr. Jan Lebl, head of the Paediatric Clinic of the Charles University 2nd Faculty of Medicine led the organisation team and was appointed the president of Society for this year.

The fourth annual Scientia Pragensis event took place as usually on the last Friday of November at the University of Economics, Prague. The science day hosted speakers from Prague’s institutions of higher education, who gave talks about the most recent developments and findings in their fields. Charles University was represented by Dr. Václav Matoušek from the Faculty of Humanities and Professor Zdeněk Sedláček from the 2nd Faculty of Medicine.