On October 8, the 2020/2021 academic year was ceremoniously launched at Masaryk University. Rather untraditionally, the launch took place online, together with the Dies Academicus (academic day) celebration. The Dies Academicus usually takes place in mid-May and includes granting the Masaryk University Rector's Award to the best scientists, teachers, and students. However, due to the COVID-19 situation, this year's awards will be presented to the winners individually.
Among the recipients is the director of RECETOX, prof. Jana Klánová who will receive the award for her "Extraordinary Results in the International Grant Competition."
In 2019, Jana Klánová was responsible for obtaining three highly prestigious European projects from the H2020 Widening program. The projects focus on supporting the development of centres of excellence in new EU member states, strengthening cooperation with advanced research institutions from abroad, and supporting scientific excellence through exceptional science and research. Thanks to the exceptional abilities of prof. Klánová, RECETOX, has become the only European institution to have succeeded in all three calls simultaneously, an unprecedented achievement.
Among the projects is the CETOCOEN Excellence from the H2020 TEAMING call. A total of 208 projects from across the European Union applied for this two-phase call, with only 30 of them (6 projects from the Czech Republic) selected in the first phase (preparation). Based on the results of the first phase, only two projects from the Czech Republic, one of which is the CETOCOEN Excellence were awarded the second phase.
The two other H2020projects are the R-Exposome project from the ERA-Chair call, which supports bringing a top international scientist to the RECETOX centre, and the URBAN-X project from the TWINNING call, which is focused primarily on cooperation with European universities and scientific mobility.