Over the last few years, more and more young people in the Czech Republic have taken up longboarding, a hobby and sport related to skateboarding but different in many respects. Longboards, as the name suggests, utilise a longer deck but feel very different, offering a more stable ride on softer polyurethane wheels.

Tracy Okine, an American Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar,  began her scientific and cultural exchange in the Czech Republic in January of this year, in the midst of the third wave. In Forum, she writes about what inspired her to conduct research in Prague.

Three brothers, all slalom canoeists; two have competed for the Czech Republic. That's the Hegers. Vojtěch, the middle brother, clinched a spot in canoe slalom for the Czech Republic in the upcoming Olympics. But he won’t be heading to Tokyo this summer.

“Have you ever imagined what life would be like if it evolved in a cold ocean beneath an impenetrable shell of ice, or on a world whose haze obscured the universe beyond?” That is a question posed by members of EAI such as Julie Nováková, a biologist and PhD student at Charles University, launching a campaign to publish a new sci-fi anthology.

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.

The idea to sew face masks came to her long before they were widely needed during the pandemic: Faculty of Arts student Kristýna Šimralová attended a lecture on opportunities for the Deaf, showing how even tough barriers can be overcome. She opted to make face masks with a clear window, which make it easier to read lips.

CU student and Slavia Prague hockey player Jaroslav Brož had never had such a long break: not until the outbreak of Covid-19. As the country locked down in March, no one knew what would come next.

Lenka Štěrbová began swimming when she was four; 12 years later, she became the youngest Czech to swim the English Channel. Today, she dreams of taking on the Channel again but just a little later in her sports career. This time there and back.

Originally, she wanted to be a ballerina but 24-year-old Lucie Ledvinová, a fifth-year student at CU’s First Faculty of Medicine, choose field hockey cleats over pointe shoes. Ledvinová, who is with the top flight club SK Slavia Prague, has been playing the game since she was a pre-schooler.

Students at Charles University’s medical faculties wasted little time pooling their strengths in the face of the emerging crisis.