Women in IT

Women in IT or inspiring women at FI

The Faculty of Informatics (FI) strives to motivate and inspire all "IT women" - women in academic positions, women researchers, women students, women in leadership positions, and women in all non-academic and non-scientific positions. Meet the inspiring women at FI who work in all our departments, the Centre for Education, Research and Innovation in Information and Communication Technologies and the Centre for Computing, as well as the women speakers at the Computer Science Colloquium.

Mgr. Anna Řechtáčková
student of the 1st year of the doctoral study programme

Department of Programming Theory

My master's thesis inspired me to pursue science (at least as part of my PhD). I was lucky - I found a topic connecting the areas of computer science and FI activities that I like the most: programming and its teaching, and the development of an automatic tool that will save people time. So when I was deciding what to do after my Master's degree, the choice was clear. Financially it would be more appealing to develop software solutions for exclusive German clients, but this way I get to see how my work helps. I'm now researching how to effectively teach students to write more readable code, and I'm developing a tool called EduLint that automatically gives them feedback. What I especially appreciate about FI is the helpfulness of teachers to incorporate my tool into their teaching and their willingness to discuss their perspective on teaching programming. Thanks to this, my project already gives additional feedback to more than 500 students every year, and through faculty contacts we have recently managed to incorporate the project into the Umíme informatiku platform, which is used by primary and secondary school students across the Czech Republic.

doc. Ing. RNDr. Barbora Bühnová, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for External Relations and Cooperation with Partners, Associate Professor

Department of Computer Systems and Communications

At FI, I greatly appreciate the environment and support for cutting-edge research. Among the support that is crucial for me and my team is the opportunity to travel and collaborate with experts from all over the world. It gives me the opportunity to be part of an international research community and to actively participate in the organization of leading conferences in my field, which are software architectures and trust aspects in complex autonomous systems. Another valuable element for me at FI is the freedom in the direction of research, which is important for maintaining the relevance of research both in relation to current scientific knowledge and in relation to the needs of practice, with which we are in close contact thanks to the FI MU Industrial Partners Association, which I have the opportunity to lead. Thanks to this freedom, in recent years I have also had the opportunity to participate in several scientific studies to promote girls' interest in computer science (in cooperation with Czechitas), a topic that I now often present at international conferences, although it is aside from my main research.

Assoc. RNDr. Barbora Kozlíková, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral Studies, Associate Professor

Department of Visual Informatics

I "grew up" at FI: I started my undergraduate studies here in 2001, and although I left for industry for a while after my PhD, I was happy to return and start my academic career here. I really appreciate the friendly working environment and the inspiration that comes from colleagues and students, which drives me forward. My position now means a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of fun and freedom in my research interests. Every day is different and full of new challenges. I am very grateful for the opportunity to start my own research group in visualization and for all the support I and my students receive. Recent research topics in our group include the exciting project "The SMC5/6 complex in nucleome organization", supported by the Ministry of Education, and more recently a project supported by the GA Czech Republic, which aims to design new visual interactive representations of chromatin fibers to help understand the complex arrangement of DNA strands in our cells. We hope that our proposed outputs will support biochemists in their research tasks.

Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Simone Kriglstein
Associate Professor

Department of Visual Informatics

My position at FI allows me to combine my two passions as a Human-Computer Interaction researcher: Design and Games. I really appreciate at FI the opportunity and freedom to contribute to different projects in the field of Human-Computer Interaction and Games User Research. In particular, I enjoy working with students, PhD students, young researchers and colleagues on exciting research questions and topics which allows me to pursue my research in the area of Games User Research at FI. I would especially like to emphasize the helpful and collegial environment at FI, which supported me and my research from the very beginning. I'm also very passionate about mentorship to support students in their academic career journey. At FI there is, for example, the possibility to get a PhD scholarship, which is a great initiative for PhD students to get started and develop their own PhD projects.
Photo: Natalie Denk

RNDr. Zuzana Nevěřilová, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing

FI fills most of my life. It was my first choice after high school because of my major in natural language processing. I am a proud graduate and after several years in industry, I am happy to be back here. Thanks to the boom of neural networks, my field has changed significantly and started to interest many people outside of computer science. I enjoy watching these transformations and it is also a great challenge to stay up to date. What I appreciate about FI is that I can continue to develop my skills. It's also great that I can choose to stay in computer science or apply it elsewhere. In natural language processing, we are connecting computer science with other fields, and finding out how non-informaticians think. We're able to solve problems we didn't know were bothering someone. But the most important thing in my work is the people around me, and there are many inspiring ones at FI.

Mgr. Magdaléna Kejstová
Research Associate

Department of Visual Informatics

My educational journey at FI started with a Bachelor's degree, which was my first and only choice after high school. The main reason was that I had the opportunity to combine subjects from all faculties and gain a broader range of knowledge beyond my core curriculum. I studied Visual Computing and now my PhD allows me to combine multiple disciplines in one project - UX design, visualization, games and development. The project I am working on under the supervision of Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Simone Kriglstein, in collaboration with the Austrian Computer Society and the University of St. Polten, called Vis4School, focuses on the development of digital learning materials. These materials, including animations, tutorial videos and an educational game, are designed to teach high school students about data visualizations - how to interpret and construct them. What I appreciate about our lab is the freedom and friendly working environment along with the endless opportunities to learn new things.

Karolína Dočkalová Burská, PhD
Specialist

Centre for Education, Research and Innovation in Information and Communication Technologies

I see the main benefit of my studies and research position in the possibility of self-realization. It is common practice at FI to collaborate on diverse projects across disciplines and outside the country. I am working on visual analytics for cybersecurity education and I am also finishing my PhD in this area. I enjoy pursuing work that is meaningful to me, can take me somewhere and where I can develop and find my own paths. And if you want to get out of your social bubble and are not afraid to step out of your comfort zone, there are plenty of opportunities in workshops, internships or conferences thanks to the chance to travel to these international meetings and have fun with people who are passionate about their field and can contribute to opening up new perspectives and opportunities. Last but not least, I can also help guide other students, whether through teaching or thesis supervision, to find what they enjoy and help them find meaningful employment.

Mgr. Jana Blahošová
Mgr. Michaela Lebedíková
Researcher

Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing

At FI, we work as social scientists in an interdisciplinary team looking at the impact of technology on user well-being. We are currently part of the GACR EXPRO project Modeling the future: Understanding the impact of technology on adolescent's well-being (more about what we specifically do at FI HERE). In this project we have the opportunity to combine our expertise as social scientists with our colleagues as computer scientists, which is what we value most about our work. For example, together we developed a unique mobile app designed to collect objective data from adolescents' phones, which our participants then downloaded to their phones from Google Play. We also find the collaboration in the field of machine learning fascinating. We developed annotation manuals based on social science findings and trained annotators who then searched for occurrences of risky behaviors and social support in the adolescents' conversations. Our informatics colleagues then trained machine learning models on this data that have the potential to detect these phenomena in everyday conversation.

RNDr. Katarína Furmanová, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Department of Visual Informatics

I did my entire undergraduate studies at FI and after a post-doctoral position abroad, I was happy to come back here. As a student, what I valued most about FI was the opportunity to choose from a wide range of courses and to get involved in practical and research projects during my studies, which ultimately led me to stay in academia. Opportunities to travel, gain experience from abroad, and establish collaborations with other research groups also played a role. I am glad that FI supports these activities. It is also important for me because I am doing research in the field of biomedical visualisation, which requires collaboration with experts from other fields. This brings with it some challenges but at the same time I am constantly learning something new and educating myself in other areas. This is what I really enjoy about my job and I am grateful to be able to work in an environment that allows me to further develop myself in this way and share my experiences with students.

Hind Bangui PhD
Research Associate - Postdoc

Department of Computer Systems and Communications

At FI, I work as a Researcher. My primary research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, and Smart Environments. FI gives me a valuable opportunity to join a good and flexible international research community. Also, FI supports me in overcoming challenges and advancing progress in my research by helping me participate in international scientific events and meet scientists around the world whose work fits into my research. These valuable opportunities make FI an inspiration to me and to any woman scientist who wants to step out of her comfort zone.

Mgr. Lucia Hradecká
Winner of Brno Ph.D. talent 2022, student of the 2nd year of the doctoral programme

Department of Visual Informatics

I have been involved in research activities at FI since the beginning of my Master's studies. Thanks to this, I got an idea of what kind of research is done at FI and the desire to continue it after my Master's degree. My PhD studies at FI give me opportunities that I would hardly find in the private sector: flexibility and freedom in my research, support for research stays abroad and the possibility to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects with other groups. At FI I also have the opportunity to work in a team of curious people who like to push their horizons and in a supportive atmosphere. In addition, the faculty encourages the dissemination of research awareness among individual researchers or groups through lectures and discussions, which allows me to broaden my horizons beyond my research area. Overall, this allows me to arrange my work schedule in a way that suits me best: finding the right balance of research and learning, exploring in depth and expanding my general overview, and to some extent, who and what I will collaborate with.

Iris Kico, Ph.D.
PhD graduate

Department of Machine Learning and Data Processing

As a PhD student at FI, I appreciate the opportunity to work in a supportive environment where I have freedom in my research that combines different research areas, like human-computer interaction, data analysis, and machine learning. During my PhD studies, I have had the chance to use high-end equipment for experiments. However, more importantly, I have met and worked with many great colleagues and scientists. I have participated in and contributed to several projects where I had an opportunity to travel, present my work at international conferences, and broaden my knowledge. Another great thing about FI is that the PhD students are financially supported, and their work is well recognized. I am grateful to be a part of this great community where I have always felt seen and welcome.

Mgr. Kristýna Pekárková
3rd year PhD student, research assistant

Department of Programming Theory

Thanks to the DIMEA lab, I got involved in research at FI during my undergraduate studies - first by participating in seminars and lectures and later by collaborating on papers with lab members and co-authors from abroad. This led to my decision to continue my research in theoretical computer science not only at the master's level, but also later at the doctoral level. Being able to get involved in research relatively early on made it easier for me to get a feel for how it works. It also gave me the opportunity to gain many contacts at universities and research institutions abroad. This helped me a lot at the beginning of my PhD studies, and I think that the support of the faculty and the individual labs in getting students involved in research activities and in participating in international research visits, lectures and conferences is very important. I am very happy to be studying at a faculty that creates and supports an environment for this collaboration.

Mgr. Dana Kozlová
ICT Specialist

Computer Technology Centre

I joined the Faculty of Informatics, more precisely the MU Information System team, in 2008, when I was still a library student. I started as a user support and I always enjoyed my work, as it combines everything I like - communication with people, problem solving, giving practical advice and information technology. Later I became the coordinator of the IS-technician team and started to participate more in the development of the IS. I like that every day brings new challenges and the opportunity to learn something new. Developments in IT have taken a frantic pace, but this has created new opportunities to make our users' daily work and responsibilities easier and our vision of an "e-university" is becoming clearer. I really appreciate my colleagues and the fact that I get to meet intelligent and inspiring people at work. For many of us, working for IS is a "matter of the heart" and we are doing our best to ensure that it continues to develop and remains (dare I immodestly say) the best learning system in the country.

Mgr. Kamila Urban, PhD.
Lecturer at the FI MU Informatics Colloquium

Researcher, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University / Institute of Psychology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i.

I came to the Faculty of Informatics thanks to an invitation to lecture at the Informatics Colloquium on metacognition and effective learning and teaching. Since I have been doing research on metacognition for several years, i.e. whether students are aware of their learning strengths and weaknesses, whether they plan their problem-solving procedure, whether they accurately monitor their understanding and whether they are able to evaluate their learning performance, I was approached to give a talk on this topic at the Department of Computer Science, but from the perspective of how teachers could develop metacognition in their students. Students in the computer science department have to solve a number of problem problems that require, in addition to domain-specific knowledge, well-developed metacognition in order to solve the problems correctly. I am always happy to offer teachers ideas on how to develop metacognition in their students, because the students will then gain not only knowledge but also skills that will help them in their future learning outside of school.

Employee benefits at the Faculty of Computer Science MU

We support the harmonization of work, personal and family life of FI employees. FI has flexible working hours and occasional home office work, part-time work is supported, and employees can place their children in the Elanek children's group in the MU building on Komenský náměstí. Obligations, advice and useful links on maternity, paternity and parental leave are available in interactive form on the MU Employee Portal or in the Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave Handbook (available only after logging in).

We also strive to improve employee wellbeing. As of April 2023, the employee benefits offer has been extended to include psychological counselling and accompanying and child Multisportcards. However, there is still room for improvement, you can send us your suggestions at pers@fi.muni.cz.

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