Speakers at a one-day conference at Charles University focusing on the pandemic more than a year on agreed: an outbreak  such as the one we have seen was a ticking time bomb. Despite how prepared we might be in terms of knowledge, virologist Ladislav Machala said globalisation had shown we have never been “more vulnerable.“

On Tuesday, Charles University welcomed renowned political scientist Ivan Krastev to deliver a famous lecture: A Hall of Broken Mirrors at the Patriots’ Hall at the historic Carolinum building. The talk reflected on the future of the international order in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

"Our long-term research is devoted to the development of new technologies for the screening of pregnancy complications during the first trimester," says Ilona Hromadníková, a physician/scientist from the Third Faculty of Medicine.

For the first time in its centuries-long history, Charles University will be led by a woman. Friday's election, which saw voting by CU’s Academic Senate, was won by the incumbent vice-rector for education, Milena Králíčková, who finished comfortably ahead of the only other candidate, Michal Stehlík, the former dean of the Faculty of Arts.

"I have always been attracted to science from a medical point of view. The choice of virology was a combination of relevance to human health and the technical possibilities of that time," says Professor Hans-Georg Kraeusslich, explaining why he became a virologist. Professor Kraeusslich was recently honoured by Charles University. 

“At Kampus Hybernská we are offering all Charles University faculties and components a common space to meet each other as well as city partners or others in the application sphere,” says Marcel Kraus, project manager of Hyb4City since January of this year.

“My respect for the novel coronavirus grew proportionately the more we learned,” recalls Dr. Milan Trojánek from the Second Faculty of Medicine and Bulovka University Hospital. He admits there were many aspects of the virus that caught the medical profession by surprise.

The inauguration of Professor Milena Králíčková, the new Rector of Charles University, took place on 3 March 2022 at the historic Carolinum. She succeeds Professor Tomáš Zima who served for two consecutive terms. The new rector's term of office will last until 31 January 2026.

“The Russian occupiers are dropping bombs on civilians,” says Tamara Bardina from Chernihiv, Ukraine, a student at Charles University. Her indignation was in immediate response to the invasion on 24 February. Since, the situation in Ukraine has only grown worse.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a key lecture at Charles University on Monday on the future of Europe and the European Union. A response, in no small part, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which shook up decades of security strategy. 

"The era of superspecialists is coming to an end, the future belongs to graduates who are able to connect individual disciplines and find solutions to complex problems," says molecular biologist Jan Černý from the Faculty of Science.

Prague’s Charles University is proud to have hosted its first Cleveringa lecture at the Patriotic Hall this week, commemorating a famous courageous protest speech by Professor Rudolph Pabus Cleveringa on November 26, 1940 at Leiden University against the dismissal of Jewish colleagues. The speech led to a student strike and closure of the university by the Nazis.

Even as a little girl she dreamed of being a doctor one day and later admired the organisation Doctors without Borders. Now, med student Markéta Malecová is a few months away from completing her studies and becoming a doctor herself. She has already made an impact, helping children at a very special hospital in Uganda.

It was apparent that the complete but darkened skeleton of a small whale at the Museum of Human and Comparative Anatomy would eventually fall apart. But restorers achieved something remarkable: returning the skeleton – one of only two in the Czech Republic – to its former glory, while also preserving soft tissue. The team was headed by anthropologist and anatomist Andrej Shbat.

TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has been searching the sky for exoplanets outside our solar system since 2018. Charles University’s Petr Zasche was part of the international team that made a new sensational find: an eclipsing six-star system.

Science communication – raising  awareness and understanding among the general public, while capturing the thrill of successful science – is something of an art. It isn’t always easy to communicate effectively. But British experts agree, it is essential and it's important to get it right.

More than 160 researchers have received support through the ground-breaking Primus programme ( launched in 2017) enabling them to establish independent labs focused on innovative frontier research. 

Dictionary.com chose “woman” as its word of the year for 2022, an apt choice which could apply to Charles University. In February, for the first time in its history, the position of rector was taken up by a woman: professor and  scientist Milena Králíčková. The events of 2022 demonstrated the importance and necessity of science more than ever.

"We explore the extremes of the vertebrate eye. Deep-sea fish are very interesting in that they have many extreme adaptations, from which we can then draw conclusions for our human ventricular eye," explains evolutionary biologist Zuzana Musilová from the Faculty of Science of Charles University. More in one minute.

We are here outside the famous Carolinum – the heart and soul of Charles University in Prague. This year the university has been marking 100 years since the founding of Czechoslovakia and recently opened an exhibition entitled “Czechoslovakia in 100 objects”.