Promoting gender equality

Invitation to the event Holding Power Responsibly: Leadership, Integrity, and Safety in Higher Education

The event entitled Holding Power Responsibly: Leadership, Integrity, and Safety in Higher Education will take place under the auspices of the UK Ambassador, Mr Matt Field, on Friday 13 February 2026 from 10:00 to 13:00 at the British Embassy, Thunovská 14, Prague 1, on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The event is intended for university and research organisation leaders, ombudsmen, HR and others responsible for addressing gender equality and gender-based violence. It aims to translate research findings on professional boundaries into concrete actions and responsibilities of institutional leadership, share understanding of what constitutes good institutional practice (including setting rules for relationships in situations of power inequality), and discuss the implementation of codes of ethics and rules of professional boundaries in the Czech academic environment.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Anna Bull (University of York; The 1752 Group), a leading expert on issues of professional boundaries, power and institutional accountability in academia.

For more information and to register for the event, please click HERE.

E-course FI: Preventing Gender-Based Violence

What forms of violence are hidden under the term gender-based violence? Can you also encounter it in academia?

In the MU Information System, we have put together an interactive training course for male and female employees of the Faculty of Informatics that explains the phenomenon of gender-based violence and offers strategies on how to deal with it if they encounter it on campus. The author of the content is the Gender Information Centre Nora, o.p.s. The training materials were created within the project "Prevention of gender-based violence in the working environment of public research institutions and universities in the Czech Republic", which was financially supported by Norway through the Norway Grants.

The topics of the course include, for example, gender bias against women in academic and research environments, sexual harassment, psychological forms of gender-based violence, bias against women in the recruitment process, gender-balanced expression.

The Preventing Gender-Based Violence e-course can be found HERE.

Webinar on "Gendering Ethics and Integrity"

We are sharing an invitation to a webinar on Gendering Ethics and Integrity as part of the Gender+ & Intersectionality in Biomedical Research Thematic Hub. The session will focus on how ethics, research integrity, gender and intersectionality shape everyday research practice and contribute to institutional change. The webinar will take place on 10 December 2025 online between 1pm-3pm (CET) in English. It will be an interactive meeting format encouraging participatory sharing (it is not a frontal lecture).

The thematic Hub Gender+ & Intersectionality in Biomedical Research offers a space for collective participation, critical reflection and sharing of experiences on how structural inequalities affect the research environment and work-life balance.

The target audience is anyone working on equality and diversity and/or biomedical and other disciplines. Registration is required for the webinar: REGISTRATION.

Communities for Change workshop on applying an intersectional perspective to data collection and evaluation

On 9 December 2025 from 9 am to 1 pm, the 4th Community for Change workshop will take place in Vila Lanna (V Sadech 1/1, Prague 6), this time on the topic of applying an intersectional perspective in data collection and evaluation - examples of good practice. The workshop will focus on how to approach the design, distribution and evaluation of questionnaires in a way that takes into account an intersectional perspective and the survey results provide the institution with relevant and useful evidence for further decision-making and policy-making. Good practice will be shared by Mgr. Dita Jahodová, ombudsperson of the Faculty of Architecture of CTU, and Ing. Bohdana Šlégrová, HR Specialist and Head of the HR Development Department at Brno University of Technology.

The objectives of the workshop include:

• Learning about the possibilities of applying an intersectional perspective in data collection and evaluation.
• Sharing good practices in survey preparation and data collection and evaluation.
• Identifying the limitations and opportunities associated with collecting and evaluating data with an intersectional perspective.
• Collaborating to formulate practical recommendations for applying an intersectional approach in practice.

If you are interested in participating, you need to register HERE.

Joint Statement on Gender Equality in Higher Education, Research and Innovation

On 27 October 2025, Instruct-ERIC (a pan-European research infrastructure that makes cutting-edge technologies and methods in structural biology available to users; details on the Instruct-ERIC website) signed a joint declaration with all eleven European research institutions that have won the EU Gender Champion Award, committing to promote gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation.

"Attracting more women to academic careers and ensuring the highest standards of research quality are essential to strengthen the role of science in addressing societal and economic challenges. To achieve this, it is essential that we continue to promote gender equality in European and international cooperation." These words come from a joint statement that recognises real progress, from institutional changes through gender equality plans and better awareness of bias to strengthened responses to gender-based violence. It also highlights persistent challenges: unequal promotion, pay gaps and the lack of gender perspectives in research and innovation.

The full text of the declaration can be found HERE.

Results of the CAREER RESTART 2026 competition

The results of the Career Restart competition for 2026 were announced at the GAMU annual conference at CEITEC MU on 8 December 2025. The application period was from 1 September to 10 October 2025. Selected applicants will receive funding of CZK 500,000 per year for two years.

The aim of Career Restart is to create conditions for the integration of female and male researchers into research teams at MU after a career break (for example, due to parental leave, long-term illness or long-term care of a loved one). CAREER RESTART grants will facilitate and accelerate the return of talented young scientists to productive scientific careers and thus increase the percentage of their representation in independent/senior research positions. Detailed information can be found HERE.

Elizabeth Maria Karpukhina Busswood - one of the faces of this year's Faculty of Computer Science campaign

Meet one of the faces of this year's Faculty of Informatics MU candidate campaign, Elizabeth Maria Karpukhina Busswood. She has successfully completed her Bachelor's degree in Programming and Application Development and is now pursuing her postgraduate studies in Software Engineering. She says of her journey that she found at FI exactly what she expected from college - and so much more. New friends, cafes and the endless possibilities the college offers are among the main reasons she fell in love with Brno.

In her interview with Marta Vrlova from the FI MU Department of External Relations and Cooperation with Partners, you will find out what it is like to be part of the FI community, why she decided to study at FI, what she thinks characterises studying at FI and many other interesting facts and insights about FI.

The full article can be found on the FI website.

Invitation to the workshop: gender roles in working life

Discover how cultural patterns and stereotypes affect our work roles, decision-making and relationships - come to a workshop on gender roles in working life. Our work roles are not only shaped by skills and experience. Cultural patterns, societal expectations and stereotypes also play a significant role - often unconsciously. The first workshop in a series on gender in the workplace will offer a space to reflect on what it means to be a man or a woman in professional life and how these influences shape our decisions, relationships and career paths.

The workshop will take place on 21 November 2025 from 9 am to 1 pm under the guidance of the lecturer Assoc. Mgr. Lucie Jarkovská, Ph.D..

At the workshop you will get the opportunity to:

• reflect on your own attitudes and experiences,
• recognize unconscious biases that can influence work interactions,
• seek ways to create a more open and fairer working environment.

The application deadline is October 16, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. on the CERPEK MU website.

CAREER RESTART Grant Scheme for 2026

CAREER RESTART or Supporting the integration of post-career scientists and researchers into research teams at MU - call for 2026.

From 2020, the MU Grant Agency will implement the CAREER RESTART grant scheme, which aims to create conditions for the inclusion of scientists and researchers after a career break, for example due to parental leave, into research teams at MU. The CAREER RESTART grants will facilitate and accelerate the return of young talented scientists to productive scientific careers and thus increase the percentage of their representation in independent/senior research positions. Detailed information can be found in the September Newsletter of the FI Research and Project Support Department and on the MU Grant Agency website.