UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities and is ranked 358th in the world.

For the fouth time in a row, UCT Prague defended its second place among Czech universities in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2023. 

The excellent result in the QS World University Rankings 2023 was most influenced by UCT Prague’s small student-to-academic instructor ratio. Individual support for education and the inherent involvement of students in the research process even earned UCT 29th place in the world and first in Czechia in this aspect of rankings system evaluation process.

“The fourth success in a row is, of course, a nice outcome of all the staff and students of our university. We strive to build a supportive and fair environment for everyone, where everyone can participate in scientific activities. But I understand that the ranking is just a number. It is more important that we work on ourselves and continue to improve,” said Pavel Matějka, UCT Prague Rector.

The international environment of the university, with a high number of students (by Czech standards) from abroad in recent years, contributed to the good ranking. The university has also recently attracted international academics who have linked their careers to UCT Prague. After last year, which was greatly affected by the pandemic situation, these indicators have increased again. In the overall result, this means that UCT Prague is ranked 230th in this criterion.

Other Czech universities were also successful in this year’s edition of the rankings. The largest Czech university, Charles University, placed in the 288-290 world ranking range. CTU Prague moved to the 378-379 ranking range; Masaryk University achieved 551-560; Palacký University in Olomouc, 651-700. A total of 16 Czech universities were ranked.

The full list of rankings and a description of the QS methodology can be found on the QS World University Rankings 2023 website.

On Tuesday, 6 December 2022, the CzechInno Association announced the winners of the twelfth Visionaries awards. During the gala evening, innovators in the fields of saving natural resources (energy and environmental aspects), the circular economy and innovative waste management were given prizes for their accomplishments.

The title “Visionary 2022” was awarded to six laureates, and the expert jury gave eleven innovations honourable mentions. “Visionaries 2022” with ties to UCT Prague include:

Ing. Milan Petrák, director of UCT Prague’s Technopark Kralupy, for his lifelong contribution in the field of implementing the results of chemical research into industrial practice.

Prof. Martin Fusek, IOCB TECH, s.r.o. Director, for his lifetime contribution in the field of technology transfer support. Professor Fusek regularly lectures to UCT Prague doctoral students on the problematics of technology transfer.

The award ceremony took place in the Žižkov Tower Park Prague conference centre.

The goal of the Visionaries project, already in its twelfth year, is to honour creators of innovative products, devices, procedures, or services developed by entrepreneurs and researchers working within both Czech private companies and research organizations, as well as to recognize outstanding individual endeavours and accomplishments. Its purpose further is to spur the potential for Czech businesses and organizations to be innovative and to help successfully commercialize innovative ideas created recently. In this regard, CzechInno finds it to be especially important that the general public learns about new innovations so that they can be entered into real life to the extent possible.

A complete account of this year laureates and more information can be found on the CzechInno website.

UCT Prague welcomed students of international study programme ATHENS on Monday November 14^th. 

ATHENS or Advanced Technology Higher Education Network, is an international programme started in 1997. Universities participating in this programme organize week-long intensive courses in technological fields. 

The Faculty of Environmental Technology and the Faculty of Chemical Engineering regularly offer courses Environmental Technology and Digital Signal and Image Processing with Applications.

More information about ATHENS programme:

• for international students willing to come to UCT Prague for ATHENS

• for UCT Prague students willing to study in ATHENS programme at partner University

Last month, I visited Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy, the European Commission's Joint Research Center, and the third biggest European Commission site. There is a tradition to invite a group of young scientists from the country of the European Union (EU) that holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union to visit the JRC Ispra, and I had the honor of being selected as one of ten young scientists currently studying or working in the Czech Republic to participate in this visit. The visit lasted three days, during which we had the opportunity to know the excellent research infrastructures of the JRC and how they are organized in order to support EU policies with scientific evidence. Research on artificial intelligence, population and migration, and detection of nanoplastic pollution are examples of research interest for the EU.

The whole plan of activities during these three was greatly enriching, but for me, the highlight goes to the shadow day in one of the units of our interest according to our research area. Since I am currently interested in research on materials for attenuating the undesired effects associated with electromagnetic pollution, I spent a day in the European Microwave Signature Laboratory (EMSL) shadowing some of the researchers that work there. It was a great opportunity to see how those researchers contribute directly to EU policy-making and for establishing contacts that may be useful in the course of my research at UCT Prague.

Given this experience, the best advice I can give to those who are always in doubt about whether or not it is worth it to apply for these calls is: apply! It is an excellent opportunity to visit top research centres and, most importantly, to know different working methods and researchers with different perspectives of ours, aspects that can make difference in our research.

On Wednesday 26 October 2022 in Brussels, the Newely project received the Best Innovation Award at the Clean Hydrogen JU Awards 2022 ceremony.

UCT Prague’s Department of Inorganic Technology is participating in the H2020 Newely (Next Generation Water Electrolyser) project together with partners from six countries around the world.

This project deals with the development and testing of components for the next generation of Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysers (AEMWE). With the innovations on the membrane, electrodes and stack design, the NEWELY prototype will become the most efficient and cost-competitive AEMWE by 2023. NEWELY will be an important breakthrough that will enable the economic adoption of green hydrogen energy storage solutions in Europe and in the world for turning to more sustainable energy systems. That is also why the project is co-financed with European Union funds.

For more information, you can visit NEWELY’s website,