The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) will fund 10 new EXPRO projects and 23 JUNIOR STAR projects starting next year. These prestigious schemes both aim to promote scientific excellence through superior conditions – EXPRO is designed for seasoned scientists who have a groundbreaking idea, whereas JUNIOR STAR will allow outstanding scientists in their early careers to pursue their own research topics. The five-year projects will receive a total of almost one billion crowns.
“Only the best of the best projects receive funding within EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR, reviewed and recommended by international evaluation panels. Their investigators will enjoy better terms of funding during the five-year project period,” says Petr Baldrian, GACR President. “It is also important what these projects are supposed to bring – EXPRO is expected to deliver a breakthrough in a given scientific field, and JUNIOR STAR fosters the rise of a new, independent scientific generation.” Projects will, for example, focus on the development of new detector systems for particle identification, contribute to more efficient plant breeding through a more detailed understanding of evolutionary forces, improve the regulatory framework involving artificial intelligence, explore ways to reduce environmental burdens, and design more effective cancer therapies.
The evaluation process involves foreign scientists only. It takes place in two phases – each project that receives funding is first reviewed by six subject-matter experts, and it is then discussed in detail at a meeting of the Discipline Committee.
EXPRO
The aim of the EXPRO grants is to facilitate the development of excellent research, to set standards for excellent science, and to help overcome the barriers inhibiting the success of project proposals submitted to the highly prestigious European ERC grant programme. One of the obligations of the investigators is to apply for an ERC grant. The cost of EXPRO projects, which are mainly designed for seasoned researchers, can reach up to CZK 50 million over five years. The EXPRO grant calls will now be launched in even-numbered years only.
In this year’s tender, out of the ten winning projects, three will be carried out at the Masaryk University in Brno, two each at institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Czech Technical University in Prague, and the Charles University. One grant has also been awarded to scientists from the Palacký University in Olomouc. Over CZK 450 million will be allocated to these projects.
EXPRO Projects to be Funded 2023 onwards
| Reg. number | Applicant | Project Name | Research Organization | Discipline Committee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-04754X | Mgr. et Mgr. Dalibor Blažek, Ph.D. | Identification and characterization of a new pathway regulating pre-mRNA splicing | Masarykova univerzita, Středoevropský technologický institut | EX4 |
| 23-04949X | doc. RNDr. Pavel Valtr, Dr. | Fundamental questions of discrete geometry | Univerzita Karlova, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta | EX1 |
| 23-05692X | Mgr. Eva Šlesingerová, Ph.D. | Robots, Computing the Human, and Autism/Cultural Imaginations of Autism Diagnosis and Emotion AI | Masarykova univerzita, Fakulta sociálních studií | EX7 |
| 23-06479X | prof. RNDr. Julius Lukeš, CSc. | What do the most abundant oceanic protistan proteins actually do? | Biologické centrum AV ČR, v.v.i. | EX5 |
| 23-07085X | Mgr. Jiří Dědeček, CSc., DSc. | Splitting of molecular nitrogen | Ústav fyzikální chemie J. Heyrovského AV ČR, v.v.i. | EX3 |
| 23-07580X | Jan Vitek, Phd | Rigorous Engineering of Data Analysis Pipelines (RiGiD) | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Fakulta informačních technologií | EX8 |
| 23-07969X | Mgr, Karel Říha, Ph.D. | Biomolecular condensates in plant germline differentiation | Masarykova univerzita, Středoevropský technologický institut | EX5 |
| 23-07973X | Dr. rer. nat. Torsten Sattler | A Unified 3D Map Representation | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Český institut informatiky, robotiky a kybernetiky | EX8 |
| 23-07984X | Jan Weinzettel, Ph.D. | PATHWAYS TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY | Univerzita Karlova, Centrum pro otázky životního prostředí | EX6 |
| 23-08019X | Prof.Dr. Patrik Schmuki | Single-Atom-based 2D-Photocatalysts | Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Český institut výzkumu a pokročilých technologií | EX2 |
JUNIOR STAR
The JUNIOR STAR grants are designed for excellent early-career scientists who completed their Ph.D. no more than 8 years ago, have already published in prestigious international journals, and have had significant international experience. The five-year projects with up to CZK 25 million in funding will give them the opportunity to become independent scientists and possibly to start their own research group to bring new research topics to the world of Czech science.
Starting next year, a total of 23 JUNIOR STAR projects will receive new funding, most of them at the Charles University (5 projects), the Czech Technical University in Prague (4 projects), the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (4 projects), and institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences (3 projects). More than half a billion Czech crowns is earmarked for these projects over the next five years.
JUNIOR STAR Projects to be Funded 2023 onwards
| Reg. number | Applicant | Project Name | Research Organization | Discipline Committee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-04740M | doc. Mgr. Zbyněk Heger, Ph.D. | Hybrid biocompatible nanocatalysts for extracellular bioorthogonal activation of prodrugs | Mendelova univerzita v Brně, Agronomická fakulta | EX4 |
| 23-04869M | Dr. rer. nat. Benedikt Bergmann | Particle identification in high-energy physics experiments and space with advanced detection systems | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Ústav technické a experimentální fyziky ČVUT | EX1 |
| 23-04921M | RNDr. Petr Šácha, Ph.D. | Unravelling climate impacts of atmospheric internal gravity waves. | Univerzita Karlova, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta | EX1 |
| 23-04962M | RNDr. Vojtěch Vyklický, Ph.D. | NMDA receptor conformational dynamics: from structure to function and pharmacology | Fyziologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. | EX4 |
| 23-05027M | Ing. Jakub Cikhardt, Ph.D. | Strong electromagnetic pulses: their generation, characterization and control | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Fakulta elektrotechnická | EX8 |
| 23-05107M | Dr. Erin Claire Carson, Ph.D. | Inexact Matrix Computations for the Exascale Era | Univerzita Karlova, Matematicko-fyzikální fakulta | EX8 |
| 23-05119M | Ing. Andrea Konečná, Ph.D. | Shaped beams for a new era of electron microscopy and spectroscopy | Vysoké učení technické v Brně, Fakulta strojního inženýrství | EX2 |
| 23-05194M | doc. Ing. Ondřej Jankovský, Ph.D. | High-strength and water-resistant MOC composites with secondary fillers: contribution of 2D carbon-based nanomaterials and their combinations | Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, Fakulta chemické technologie | EX8 |
| 23-05227M | doc. PhDr. Zuzana Iršová Havránková, Ph.D. | Spurious Precision in Meta-Analysis of Social Science Research (METASPUR) | Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd | EX6 |
| 23-05336M | Mgr. et Mgr. Pavla Perlíková, Ph.D. | Development of actin polymerization inhibitors as potential migrastatics | Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, Fakulta chemické technologie | EX3 |
| 23-05476M | Ing. Ctirad Červinka, Ph. D. | Making ab initio modelling possible for disordered molecular semi-conductive materials | Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, Fakulta chemicko-inženýrská | EX3 |
| 23-06162M | Ing. Robert Pěnička, Ph.D. | TOPFLIGHT: Trajectory and Mission Planning for Agile Flight of Aerial Robots in Cluttered Environments | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Fakulta elektrotechnická | EX8 |
| 23-06540M | Elías Fuentes Guillén | Normalisation and Emergence: Rethinking the Dynamics of Mathematics The case of Prague in the First Half of the 19th Century | Filosofický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. | EX7 |
| 23-06781M | Bruno de la Torre, Ph.D. | Atomic-scale control and visualization of charge delocalization in light-harvesting molecular nanomodels | Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Český institut výzkumu a pokročilých technologií | EX2 |
| 23-06815M | Dr. Jan Volec | Extremal and probabilistic combinatorics | České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Fakulta jaderná a fyzikálně inženýrská | EX1 |
| 23-06977M | Peter Fabian | Analysis of the craniofacial skeletal stem cell niche | Masarykova univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta | EX5 |
| 23-07108M | Mgr. Ondřej Srba, Ph.D. | Changing Adaptive Strategies of Mobile Pastoralists in Mongolia: Dynamics in Community Histories and Movement Patterns Documented Through Oral Sources | Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta | EX7 |
| 23-07204M | Filip Kolář | Mechanisms driving convergent genome evolution in natural populations | Univerzita Karlova, Přírodovědecká fakulta | EX5 |
| 23-07283M | Mgr. Aleš Kudrnáč, Ph.D. | The dynamics of adolescents‘ attitudes toward outgroups | Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i. | EX6 |
| 23-07419M | Sven Hoeppner, M.Sc., LL.M., Ph.D. | Human-Machine Transactions: Behavioral Micro-foundations and Legal Implications | Univerzita Karlova, Právnická fakulta | EX6 |
| 23-07692M | RNDr. Vojtěch Kubelka, Ph.D. | Animal migrations in a changing world – Movements for reproduction to higher latitudes: still advantageous strategy or maladaptive behaviour? | Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Přírodovědecká fakulta | EX5 |
| 23-08010M | Aleš Buček | Trajectories of genome evolution in convergent organisms | Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze, Fakulta tropického zemědělství | EX5 |
| 23-08083M | Ing. Martin Veselý, Ph.D. | Synthesis and Property Tuning of Layered Low-Dimensional Materials Beyond Graphene – Utilization in Fundamental Research of Heterogeneous Catalysts | Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická v Praze, Fakulta chemické technologie | EX3 |
The evaluation of EXPRO and JUNIOR STAR project proposals will be made available to proposers in GRIS in the coming days.