“I am very happy to sign these agreements. Joint workplaces will be created, mutual mobility will be strengthened and we will solve common tasks,” said Róbert Zsembera, Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for the Development of Human Resources in the Nuclear Sector, at the joint meeting.
Specifically, the agreement envisages the establishment of a joint research laboratory for isotope analysis using the LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) method, the creation of joint research teams and the preparation of research projects. The cooperation will also include joint publication outputs, the supervision of final and qualification theses and the involvement of experts from both universities in teaching and educational activities.
In addition to joint meetings and the signing of contracts, the delegation of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic also had an excursion to the research reactors of the Czech Technical University of Technology. “With this, you have launched a nuclear renaissance in the Czech Republic,” said Alena Sabelová, State Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic for the Recovery Plan and Knowledge Economy, while looking inside the youngest nuclear reactor in the Czech Republic, VR-2.
“We can envy CTU a lot. It is great that you have such a concentrated faculty directly on nuclear energy. Thank you very much for the welcome and for the inspiration, perhaps something like this will be created in Slovakia as well. So far, we are very fragmented in this regard,” praised the Czech side, Mr. Zsembera.
“We also have something to learn from you. We greatly admire what you have achieved in Slovakia in this area – the fact that your government was able to allocate one hundred million euros for an action plan to support nuclear education. The Czech Republic is totally failing in supporting the education of technicians and engineers, including nuclear ones,” responded the Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Technology of CTU, Assoc. Prof. Václav Čuba.
Representatives of both sides agreed that there is a need to coordinate as much as possible within Europe in the field of nuclear education and highlighted the closeness of the two countries. According to the outcomes of the negotiations, colleagues from Poland, Hungary, Great Britain and the Nordic countries could also become close allies - thanks to the connection, there is a greater possibility of obtaining European funds, for example from the Horizon Europe programs.
One of the important topics was the popularization of science and technology among young children. "The alpha and omega is a communication campaign. If we cannot reach children in kindergarten or primary school and they do not have the basics, then we can build on our heads, but we simply will not have those people," concludes the plenipotentiary of the Slovak government, Mr. Zsembera.
Delegation of the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic:
Róbert Zsembera, Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for the Development of Human Resources in the Nuclear Sector
Alena Sabelová, State Secretary, Delegation of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic for the Recovery Plan and the Knowledge Economy
Michal Galamboš, Head of the Department of Nuclear Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Comenius University in Bratislava
Veronika Drábová, Director of the Department of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for the Development of Human Resources in the Nuclear Sector
Katarína Šmálová, Deputy Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the Czech Republic
Ľuboslava Hankovská, Office of the State Secretary, Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic
CTU Representatives
Václav Čuba, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Czech Republic
Romana Pikulová, Chancellor of the Czech University of Technology in Prague
Lenka Burgerová, Vice-Rector for Campuses and Building Infrastructure Czech Technical University in Prague
Jan Rataj, Head of the Department of Nuclear Reactors, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, Czech Technical University in Prague
Mojmír Němec, Head of the Department of Nuclear Chemistry, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, Czech Technical University in Prague
Alena Zavadilová, Researcher, Department of Nuclear Chemistry, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, Czech Technical University in Prague
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