Starting next January, the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) will fund seventeen new JUNIOR STAR projects. The highly selective tender is aimed at excellent early-career scientists coming to the Czech Republic from abroad or with significant international experience. With an exceptional funding amount of CZK 25 million for 5 years, the scientists will be able to build new scientific teams and focus on new areas of research.
“The JUNIOR STAR scheme is a unique opportunity for early-career scientists to gain scientific independence and enrich the Czech environment with new research topics. The interest in these grants is enormous. However, we can only afford to fund the best of the best,” said GACR President Prof. Petr Baldrian. “This is the fourth year of this grant scheme. We are delighted that it allows us to attract scientists from prestigious universities abroad to work for Czech science. These are, for example, scientists working in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Norway or Germany. We believe that the researchers have the potential to answer important questions in their field of research and build new teams that will enrich Czech science.”
Projects in all areas of basic research are eligible for funding. Scientists in the new projects will focus, for example, on accelerating drug development, optimising 3D printing of alloys, computer vision using neural networks, and the impact of bilingualism in the first year of human life.
JUNIOR STAR 2024 Projects
| Registration No. | Applicant | Title | Organization | Number of years | Discipline Committee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-10275M | Mgr. et Mgr. Veronika Dulíková, Ph.D. | Titles and bones of ancient Egyptian officials: New mathematical approach to analysing Old Kingdom data | Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakulta | 5 | EX7 |
| 24-10298M | Ing. Vít Svoboda, Dr. sc. ETH Zurich | Probing Chiral Dynamics on Femtosecond Timescales | Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, Fakulta chemicko-inženýrská | 5 | EX3 |
| 24-10599M | RNDr. Michal Zajaček, PhD. | Stars in galactic nuclei: interrelation with massive black holes | Masarykova univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta | 5 | EX1 |
| 24-10738M | Ing. Lukáš Neumann, Ph.D. | Inductive Biases of Deep Neural Networks in Computer Vision | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Fakulta elektrotechnická | 5 | EX8 |
| 24-11058M | Mgr. Milan Heczko, Ph.D. | Design and optimization of 3D printable oxide-dispersion-strengthened multi-principal element alloys for extreme environments | Ústav fyziky materiálů AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX8 |
| 24-11139M | Nikola Paillereau, Ph. D. | The effect of bilingualism on speech perception and production in the first year of life | Psychologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX6 |
| 24-11259M | RNDr. Ondřej Černý, Ph.D. | Salmonella effector network inhibiting T cell immunity | Mikrobiologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX4 |
| 24-11562M | Paulo Paioti | Catalytic Stereoselective Synthesis of Elusive Atropisomers for Accelerating Drug Discovery | Ústav organické chemie a biochemie AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX3 |
| 24-11622M | Mgr. Martin Lang, Ph.D. | Computing Religious Devotion: How Reinforcing Supernatural Beliefs Affects Normative Models in the Mind | Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta | 5 | EX6 |
| 24-12183M | Klára Marečková, Ph.D., M.Sc. | Prenatal Programming of Child's Brain and Behavior: Novel Insights into the Mechanisms of the Intergenerational Transmission | Masarykova univerzita, Středoevropský technologický institut | 5 | EX4 |
| 24-11702M | RNDr Martin Rejhon, PhD | Tunable graphene/SiC optoelectronics | Univerzita Karlova, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta | 5 | EX2 |
| 24-11761M | Mgr. Lenka Gahurová, Ph.D. | Transposons and ovulatory cycles – key players in long-term female fertility? | Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Přírodovědecká fakulta | 5 | EX5 |
| 24-11928M | Dr Vinicius Tadeu Santana | Control of quantum phases and entanglement by magnetic field in molecular systems | Vysoké učení technické v Brně, Středoevropský technologický institut | 5 | EX2 |
| 24-12359M | Ing. Rafael Navrátil, Ph.D. | Innovative synthetic methods enabled by transition metal catalysis and electrochemistry | Univerzita Karlova, Přírodovědecká fakulta | 5 | EX3 |
| 24-12400M | Jan Váňa | The Sociology of Literature Revisited: Towards Epistemological Symmetry within Literature-and-Society Research | Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX7 |
| 24-12591M | Samuel Walker Braunfeld | Model theory, structural combinatorics, and algorithms | Univerzita Karlova, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta | 5 | EX1 |
| 24-12912M | Maria-Cecilia Chiriac | High-throughput host detection and cultivation of freshwater CPRs (‘Ca. Patescibacteria’) | Biologické centrum AV ČR, v.v.i. | 5 | EX5 |
Announcement of the results of the JUNIOR STAR – 2024 (pdf)
JUNIOR STAR grants are evaluated exclusively by international scientists who guarantee the expertise and objectivity of the evaluation. Each project receives four reviews from members of the international discipline committees and additional ones from external reviewers, on the basis of which the evaluation panels propose the best projects for funding.
The publication of the results of the Standard Projects and POSTDOC INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP tenders will take place on 30 November 2023.