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Prestigious Rector's Prize, Bolzano Award given to exceptional students, researchers

The Hall of Patriots at the Carolinum on Tuesday 16 April 2024, saw the awarding of exceptionally talented and creative students, graduates and alumni. The Bolzano Award and the Rector's Prize were handed out in the traditional April ceremony by CU’s Rector Milena Králíčková. Thirteen people received awards in a special ceremony.

As in previous years, this year’s ceremony was also attended in many cases by recipients’ parents, siblings, partners and friends. Some deans and vice-deans also came to greet successful faculty representatives.

“It is a great honour again to welcome our most successful students. Every year, with the now traditional awards - the Bolzano Prize and the Rector's Prize - we express our gratitude to students, graduates and alumni for their exceptional work, which makes our university proud,” Milena Králíčková, the rector of Charles University, explained in opening remarks. “It is a challenging period not only for us, but for the whole of society. Nevertheless, we are able to achieve excellent results in the field of science, attract talents from all over the world and make discoveries that push the current boundaries of scientific knowledge... I look forward to your continuing to use the education you have received at Charles University into the future for the benefit of our society. May you enjoy your professional career and happily remember your studies at Charles University,” she added.

The rector was followed by Markéta Martínková, Vice-Rector for Education, and Jan Polák, Vice-Rector for Concept and Quality of Education, who introduced this year’s award recipients.

• CU RECTOR'S PRIZE FOR THE BEST GRADUATES FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023

is awarded to outstanding students of a Bachelor's or Master's degree programme at the end of their studies who have achieved outstanding results in scientific, research, sporting or cultural activities during their studies.

►The Karel Weigner Award for the best graduates of medical programmes was awarded to:

MUDr. Veronika Viktoria Matraszek (Third Faculty of Medicine)

Veronika Viktoria Matraszek graduated from the Master's degree programme in General Medicine.

Throughout her studies she was involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities. For example, she became part of the Third Faculty of Medicine's Volunteer Coordination Team, which was dedicated to linking the help from hospitals and the offer from students during the coronavirus pandemic - she also worked as an orderly and nurse at the central reception of the internal medicine clinics at the Královské Vinohrady University Hospital. In 2022, she also went on the Itibo humanitarian mission to Kenya. With her research paper The importance of anti-cardiolipin antibodies (ACLA) in pregnancy, she won second place in the clinical section at the Student Conference organized by the Third Faculty of Medicine.

In the academic year 2023/2024, she is studying for her PhD in Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology.

Bc. Valentýna Solařová (Third Faculty of Medicine)

Valentýna Solařová graduated from the Bachelor's degree programme Specialization in Health Care, specialization in Physiotherapy.

The graduate was not only an excellent student, but also represented Charles University with her extracurricular activities. Her most valuable sporting achievements are the title of Junior World Champion in 2016 and 4th place at the Senior World Under-23 Championships in 2021 in rowing. In 2022 she won the Academic European Championships and in 2023 she represented the Czech Republic at the Universiade in China. For the third time in a row, she also won the Prague Mayor's Cup for Charles University in both the Academic Eights race and the main race. In addition to her academic and sporting duties, she devotes her time to junior athletes and people with physical disabilities.

In the 2023/2024 academic year, Valentýna Solařová is pursuing a graduate degree in Applied Physiology at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport.

►The Jaroslav Heyrovský Prize for the best graduates of science programmes was awarded to:

Mgr. Martin Orságh (Faculty of Science)

Graduated from the Master's programme Macromolecular Chemistry with an overall average of 1.0.

His master thesis Synthesis of triblock terpolymers as a way to prepare smart nanosystems for targeted drug transport made an extraordinary contribution in the field of synthesis of block copolymers responsive to external stimuli. These and similar systems in the near future may represent a breakthrough in nanotechnology for medical applications. In addition to his MSc project, he has been involved in quite a number of other projects outside the Soft Matter research group. The results of some of these projects have already been published in international journals.In the academic year 2023/2024 he is studying for a PhD in Macromolecular Chemistry.

Bc. Samuel Jankových (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics)

Graduated from the Bachelor of Science in Physics program, as of June 21, 2023, with an overall grade point average of 1.0.

He defended his bachelor thesis on the recognition of quark or gluon origin of jets in data from the ATLAS experiment at CERN. He uses state-of-the-art machine learning techniques for his work. The problem of recognising the origin of jets - ejections of particles born in collisions of accelerated protons - is very difficult because the differences between the properties of jets produced from quarks and gluons are very small. Therefore, deep neural networks represent a great opportunity for this task. In the ATLAS experiment, he was the first to seize this opportunity, showing that state-of-the-art machine learning techniques truly outperform previously used methods, and that his programming and computational skills surpass those of typical PhD students.In the academic year 2023/2024, Samuel Jankových is studying for an advanced Master's degree in Particle and Nuclear Physics.

►The Karel Engliš Prize for the best graduates of social sciences and humanities programmes was awarded to:

Mgr. Kristina Doležalová (Faculty of Arts)

Kristina Doležalová graduated from the Master's degree programme in Historical Sciences, majoring in Classical Archaeology.

In her master thesis The tale of volcanic rocks. Assessing the grinding stones and their chaîne opératoire in 2nd Millennium BC Western Anatolia, she treated in an interdisciplinary way a large finds assemblage of 385 grinding stones from a major fortified highland site in western Turkey, studied for a long time by an international team. The work is an example of the combination of archaeological and geological-petrographic approaches with the application of the latest methodological techniques. The thesis reaches the parameters and quality more common in dissertation theses, for this reason and because of the complexity of the topic, the supervisor of the thesis turned directly to two opponents, who were extremely satisfied and recommended to publish the thesis practically as submitted.Kristina Doležalová is studying for a PhD in Classical Archaeology in the academic year 2023/2024.

Jakub Kozák (Faculty of Arts)

Jakub Kozák graduated from the Bachelor's degree programme in Greek and Latin Studies, majoring in Latin and Culture of Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

He studied with excellent grades throughout his studies. He is fluent in Latin, Greek, palaeography and digital humanities, speaks fluent English and German, and reads in several other languages. He has successfully published two scholarly studies which are valuable contributions to the understanding of manuscript culture and the reception of antiquity in the late Middle Ages. He has worked with, and successfully interpreted, manuscript material that is largely unknown. He has presented his scientific results at several international and national forums. He has also participated in the preparation of two exhibitions, including the production of a video, Pexeso memory game and other accompanying materials, and the realization of guided tours and popularization lectures.In the academic year 2023/2024, Jakub Kozák is pursuing an advanced Master's degree in Greek and Latin Studies.

► The Václav Příhoda Prize for the best graduates of the teacher training course was awarded to:

Mgr. Oldřich Mokruša (Faculty of Science)

Oldřich Mokruša graduated from the Master's degree programme Teaching Geography for Secondary Schools.

He achieved excellent results especially in the courses of the pedagogical-psychological block and also in didactic subjects, or aimed at the use of modern technologies in teaching. He prepared an exceptionally high quality diploma thesis on the Influence of the use of 3D models in teaching on pupils' conceptions of contours. This work continued the long-term research focus of the department in the field of map work in education, combining theoretical approaches in the field of map work with current knowledge in the field of constructivism (i.e. pupils' misconceptions) and current trends in the use of technology in education. This combination of backgrounds results, among other things, in a professional discussion of a rather extensive body of Czech and foreign literature. The results of the thesis will be submitted to the peer-review process of foreign impacted journals.

Bc. Klára Koběrská (Faculty of Science)

Klára Koběrská graduated from the Bachelor's degree programme in Chemistry with a focus on Education - Biology.She successfully completed her studies by defending her bachelor thesis entitled

Chemical experiments in the home environment and their didactic treatment. Her thesis focused on experiments that students can perform safely outside the chemistry laboratory. Through extensive research she evaluated the available didactic materials for home experiments and based on this she created a set of Chemical Experiments at Home. These were not only evaluated by primary and secondary school teachers, but also implemented by pupils, who rated the work as beneficial and would recommend the set of worksheets for use in teaching. She is actively involved in activities related to education outside her studies - she works as a lecturer at suburban camps, she is involved in educational programs for pupils at the Prague Zoo, and she is a youth leader in the Catholic Light - Life movement.

► The Josef Dobrovsky Award for the best graduates of theology programs went to:

Mgr. Radka Franců (Protestant Theological Faculty)

The topic of her master thesis was spirituality and spiritual accompaniment of people with intellectual disabilities, an area that receives relatively little attention. She has been working on the topic from the point of view of her long-term practice as well as theoretically. She found that the spiritual needs of people with intellectual disabilities do not differ from the rest of the population. She also draws from this the insight that concern and support in this area has an important impact on quality of life. The author had to overcome a number of difficulties - finding new ways of communication, working with people where long-term, continuous work is needed, applying the method of participatory research with a specific group, etc. The results of the work can serve well, for example, in the training of workers in the field or for other students who are preparing to work with people with intellectual disabilities.

PharmDr.Bc. Pavel Rychetský (Catholic Theological Faculty)

Graduated from the Bachelor's degree programme in Theology, majoring in Theological Studies.

In his bachelor thesis he focused on the figure of the Lamb and the events around him in the Book of Revelation, both in terms of its connection to the Old Testament background (images, allusions, quotations, ideological context) and in terms of its significance for the book and its message. The author has demonstrated a great ability to work with the biblical text and the scholarly literature, and a capacity for analysis and synthesis. The quality of the work exceeds the level required of a bachelor's thesis. In the academic year 2023/2024, the author is studying for a follow-up Master's degree in Theological Studies.

• THE BOLZANO AWARD

is awarded for exceptionally innovative works with outstanding creative content and usually with an interdisciplinary thematic overlap developed by the applicant during the course of his/her studies. It is an award for individuals from among the students and graduates of Charles University.

The winner in the science category was Mgr. Šimon Midlík, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University for his work Quantum fluid dynamics and quantum turbulence probed using micro- and nano- resonators.

His paper presents a large-scale study of quantum fluid dynamics using submerged mechanical resonators with dimensions smaller than a millimetre. These detectors have been used to probe both the normal and superfluid liquid phases of both helium isotopes over a wide temperature range from 2.17 K to ≈150 μK. The work includes further characterization of the initial instability that arises in oscillatory flows excited either mechanically or thermally, and its origin in the normal or superfluid helium component can be identified. based on a suitable dimensionless parameter. These measurements allow us to explain the ambiguities in determining the critical velocity in previous experiments dealing with oscillating counterflow. The resonators have great potential for studying quantum fluids at the level of individual quantum vortices and their dynamics, which should lead to an understanding of fundamental questions of energy dissipation (irreversible energy change to another) at temperatures near absolute zero.

The winner in the biomedical category was MUDr. MgA. Pavla Tichá, Ph.D. from the Third Faculty of Medicine of Charles University for her work Objective and subjective factors in the evaluation of breast reconstruction results after a mastectomy.

For patients after a mastectomy, breast reconstruction represents a hope of return to their personal and social life. In the last decade, we have seen an upward trend in the number of successful breast reconstructions. Reconstruction can be achieved by a variety of methods, which differ from each other both in their indication criteria and their results. In addition to objective evaluation of clinical data, subjective assessment of patients' satisfaction with the outcome of surgery and their quality of life in the form of self-assessment questionnaires should be an integral part of the evaluation of these results.

The aim of this study was to compare early postoperative and long-term clinical outcomes, and satisfaction and quality of life in patients with implant reconstruction, autologous abdominal flap reconstruction and combined reconstruction.

The winner in the social science category, including theological disciplines, was Mgr. et Mgr. Klára Andresová, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University for her thesis The Spread of Military Theory in the Early Modern Period: Military manuals printed in Central Europe between 1550-1650.

Her thesis traces the Central European transformations of military science from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. The research presented here subscribes to the so-called cultural history of the military and to the New Military History movement, whose characteristics include the ambition to apply to military research the methods common in research on topics in non-military history and to view military history through the lens of sources that have been little or not previously mined. Research methods included primarily retrospective bibliography, but also other quantitative and qualitative methods such as prosopography and analysis of text, typography and illustrations. The thesis looks at the genre under study from several perspectives, the core of the text being a proposed typology of early modern military manuals according to content and form. Attention is also focused on the illustrations of military manuals, both the depictions in the text and the introductory illustrations. Space is devoted to the graphic techniques used, the typology of illustrations and the pictorial subjects.

Text: Marcela Uhlíková

Photos: Hynek Glos

Date: 16. 4. 2024