HR Award – Activities 2025

3 June 2025: Postdoc club on design of experiments

The June IOCB Postdoc Club hosted Martin Otava from Johnson and Johnson, who gave a talk on Modern Approaches to Scientific Experimentation. He discussed how statistical tools – particularly Design of Experiments (DoE) – can be used to plan experiments more efficiently. These methods help identify which variables matter most and how they interact, enabling experiments to be more informative with fewer total runs.

29 May 2025: IOCB Family Day

IOCB hosted its second annual family day at Usedlost Ladronka for employees and their families. This was an opportunity to meet up in a relaxed atmosphere with kids and partners and enjoy a variety of activities, from trampolines and bowling to tasty food and good music. The event also featured the HR Award cup sporting event, this year focused on orienteering.

27 May 2025: PhD Peers on stress reduction techniques

The PhD Peers series, organized by students for students, hosted Michal Šmotek, a clinical psychologist, with a practical introductory talk on techniques that PhD students can use to deal with stress that is often associated with their situation.

20 May 2025: Postdoc club about career transitions

The IOCB Postdoc Club hosted Vladimír Nerandžič, who is Deputy Head of Clinical Development at PRO.MED.CS., and acts as a mentor in Charles University’s mentoring program. He shared his personal experience of transitioning from academia to industry.

19 May 2025: PhD workshop on leveraging supervisor support when writing

Fulbright scholar at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the CAS and PhD program coordinator at Colorado State University, Carol Wilusz, led an interactive workshop for PhD students on how to effectively leverage supervisor support when tackling scientific writing tasks.

15 May 2025: Fire extinguisher training for IOCB staff

14 May 2025: IOCB Green Club plant swap

IOCB’s Green Club organized the inaugural Green Swap, an occasion where colleagues were invited to bring spare vegetable seedlings, houseplant cuttings, mature plants, or small gardening paraphernalia – or to take some home to brighten their gardens. The event was well received and looks set to become a regular feature in the IOCB calendar.

7 May 2025: Mass spectrometry core facility workshop

The Mass spectrometry core facility organized a mini-workshop for IOCB researchers focused on small-molecules mass spectrometry and aiming at beginner and slightly more advanced colleagues. The session introduced the types of services offered.

28–29 April 2025: Lecture and career workshop by Prof. Cecília Arraiano

Women in Science at IOCB hosted Cecília Arraiano, a FEBS member and professor at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in Oeiras, Portugal. This was another installment in the Dana Hocková Lecture Series, and attendees heard not only an exciting scientific talk on RNA and RNases, but also a thought-provoking discussion on why the world needs science and why, in turn, science needs women. Particularly valuable for early-career researchers was the opportunity to discuss career paths and personal choices with the speaker informally, over lunch and during a post-workshop networking session.

Read more about the lecture and career workshop here.

29 April 2025: Postdoc club about data curation

The IOCB Postdoc Club hosted Sofie Dragoun Kolibová, a data curator from Immunai, who focused on the increasing importance of large amounts of data and data curation in scientific research and development.

24 April 2025: PhD Peers on doing a postdoc

The PhD Peers series continued with a discussion on the dos and don’ts of choosing a postdoc project, how to find one, and the practical aspects of living in a different country – led by an IOCB graduate Veronika Vetýšková.

23 April 2025: Discussion with Data steward

Marie Šafner, IOCB Prague’s data steward, continued the series of research data management breakfast seminars, meeting with individual research groups’ data management representatives. Topics discussed included electronic laboratory notebooks, intricacies of ASEP, and the core facilities request system currently under development.

8 April 2025: Workshop on “How to present like a star”

IOCB hosted Olga Medlíková, an experienced coach and presentation expert, who led a workshop on how to deliver engaging presentations, providing tips and techniques to effectively showcase expertise in specific research areas.

4 and 11 April 2025: Practical workshops on AI for postdocs and group leaders

IOCB hosted Dr. Michaela Liegertová, a biologist and expert on using AI in research, for several practical workshops. One workshop was specifically targeted at group leaders, while two additional sessions were organized by the Postdoc club for researchers in general.

2 April 2025: 2nd PhD breakfast

PhD representatives hosted another PhD breakfast, creating an opportunity for fellow students to meet, network, and share their study and research experiences.

27 March 2025: PhD Peers on Academic CV writing

The PhD peers series, organized and hosted by IOCB’s PhD representatives, continued with a discussion with Blanka Collis from the Research Support Office on preparing academic CVs. The session was followed by a CV clinic where individual CVs could be reviewed and discussed.

18 and 25 March 2025: Postdoc Clubs 

The IOCB Postdoc Club hosted former IOCB postdoc Valentina Cutano, who shared her experience working in an industrial setting at AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK. Additionally, Kryštof Šigut, founder of SigutLabs, discussed how to start a company on a tight budget and grow it into a much larger custom synthesis company.

12 March 2025: Practical workshop on body language and voice intonation 

The Postdoc club hosted Dr. Ondřej Lidický, a cancer biologist and biochemist with theater experience, who delivered a practical workshop focused on leveraging body language and voice intonation to benefit your presentations. 

27 February 2025: PhD peers

The PhD representatives introduced a new format of event featuring an invited speaker, the “PhD peers” series. In the first event of the series, PhD students hosted Tereza Ormsby of “Zeptej se vědce” (Ask a Science) to explain the mission of the organization, which provides fact-checked answers to scientific questions for the public, and how students can potentially get involved.

20 February 2025: Workshop with Data steward

Marie Šafner, the IOCB Prague’s data steward, hosted the first breakfast seminar with data management representatives from individual research groups. The session covered a range of topics, including ORCID, file and data organisation systems, and the Chemotion repository for samples, reactions, and related research data.

18 February 2025: 1st PhD breakfast and Postdoc club with IOCB social media manager

The PhD representatives organized the inaugural PhD breakfast, providing an opportunity for fellow students to meet, network, and share their study and research experience. With approximately 95 students in attendance, the event was a great success, and future gatherings are already being planned.

Meanwhile, the Postdoc club hosted IOCB Prague’s social media manager Ladislav Loukota, who introduced strategies for engaging specific target groups through different social media channels and tailoring messages for each platform.

11 February 2025: Women in Science host Ivana Mejdrová

The Women in Science at IOCB group welcomed medicinal chemist Dr. Ivana Mejdrová. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Ludwig Maximilian Universität in Munich, she is a past IOCB graduate and shared insights into the challenges of establishing an independent research group – an endeavor she is currently pursuing. The key takeaway was that things don’t always go as planned and that aspiring group leaders should start considering their future positions while finishing their PhD, as the clock on grant application deadlines begins ticking from the moment the doctorate is awarded.

February 2025: Lenka Žáková is the new ethical proxy

In a by-election, a new Ethical Proxy was elected at IOCB. A big thank you to Zuzana Kečkéšová, the outgoing Ethical proxy, for supporting her colleagues since 2019, and welcome to Lenka Žáková in her new role.

23–24 January 2025: Liblice brainstorming session

Over two days, the IOCB management met with most of the institute’s group leaders at Liblice Castle to discuss strategic directions, future plans, and feedback on various key topics.

21 January 2025: Postdoc club on moving from academia to a startup

Building on a previous discussion about working in a large pharmaceutical company, the IOCB Postdoc Club hosted i&i Prague project manager Roberto Fernandez Alvarez, who shared key insights on what to consider when transitioning to a startup.