Charles University Rector Václav Hampl Hands Out Bolzano Awards

On February 24^th, five Charles University students were awarded the annual Bolzano Awards for outstanding creative works in interdisciplinary research. “The decisive factor is the quality of the works and, for the most part, the recipients of the Bolzano Awards have been doctoral students, as is the case this year,” Charles University Rector, Professor Václav Hampl said at the 17^th annual award ceremony.

The diplomas were handed out during a ceremonial session of the Charles University Research Committee. In the social science category, PhDr. Vojtěch Bellig, Ph.D. was awarded for his thesis titled “Problems of Legitimacy of the National and Supranational Political System in Theory and Practice“. The work concentrates on the issue of relevance of the concepts of legitimacy and sovereignty in the context of development of contemporary society in an era of supranational integration processes. It also concerns the issues of the crisis of statehood as well as the “discourse” of the crisis of statehood and sovereignty and its significance in contemporary political and legal theory. In the same category, Mgr. David Svoboda, Ph.D. was awarded for his work “The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas: From the Concept of Being and Unity to the Concept of Whole and Part“. His work is centred around Aquinas’ teachings on the whole and part (known as mereology). Mereology is presented as an inspiring key to understanding Aquinas’ thought.

From among the 14 entrants in the natural science category, Mgr. Lucie Ducháčková and Mgr. Petr Vítek, Ph.D. were selected for their respective works “Properties of Bipyridine N,N'-Dioxides in the Gas Phase“ and „Identification of Microbial Pigments in Evaporites Using Raman Spectroscopy: Implications for Astrobiology“. Mgr. Vítek says his main motivation was to find the possibilities of identification of traces of potential life in evaporite sediments on the planet Mars.

In the category of medicine, Mgr. Lenka Krčmová, Ph.D. was awarded for her thesis “Development and Validation of Novel HPLC Methods for the Determination of Specific Analytes in Biological Material”. The developed methods presented in the dissertation have helped to broaden the spectrum of currently used examination methods as well as contributed to the implementation of novel approaches allowing the preparation of large sequences of samples of biological material. According to Mgr. Krčmová, the main significance of her work is the possibility to apply the methods both in clinical research and practice, not only by the personnel of the Research Laboratory of the Department of Gerontology and Metabolism and the doctors of the clinic at the University Hospital in Hradec Králové, but also oncologists from Oncology Departments at the Hradec Králové and Olomouc University Hospitals.

Named after the distinguished mathematician and philosopher Bernard Bolzano who taught at the university at the beginning of the 19^th century, the Bolzano Award seeks to promote scientific education and research training among Charles University students.

The competing works, submitted by the students themselves, are assessed by a special committee appointed by the Rector. 186 awards have been handed out so far in the 17-year history of the award which is accompanied by a monetary prize.

P.K.

Translation: Pavla Horáková