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Marie Vestenická from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University dominated this year’s Czech round of the Falling Walls Lab international science competition. The double winner – as determined by both the expert jury and a public vote – will present her project in November at the Falling Walls Lab world final in Berlin before an international panel of experts, alongside other finalists from around the world.
She succeeded in a competition featuring a total of fourteen projects aiming to break down the metaphorical walls of human knowledge, technology and society. A key feature of the competition is the strict three-minute time limit within which students, innovators and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to present their ideas.
During Tuesday’s Czech national round at the National Technical Library, presentations covered topics ranging from efficient delivery of medication to affected tissues, through generative algorithms in industrial design, to speeding up sample analysis both in healthcare and everyday life. The winning project, titled “Breaking the Wall of Math Complexity”, rejuvenates teaching methods by utilising the latest tools of digital humanities as well as the purely traditional method of imparting knowledge through storytelling. Among other things, it demonstrates the importance of the teaching process itself, not only for students’ measurable results but also for their own enduring interest in the subject.
The Falling Walls Lab international competition is organised by the Falling Walls Foundation with the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The Prague event was also attended by German physicist Dr Jürgen Mlynek, co-founder of Falling Walls, and Peter Reuss, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague. Charles University is an academic partner of the event.
STORY BY: Jan Borek
PHOTO: Viktor Černoch