Karel Dušek Fund

Karel Dušek received his M.Sc. degree from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague in 1953 and his Ph.D. from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of Czechoslovak of the Academy of Sciences in 1958. Before he joined the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965, he worked for the Research Institute of Synthetic Resins and Lacquers in Pardubice (now SYNPO, Inc.).

His main research interest has been in the formation, structure, and properties of cross-linked polymers and polymer gels.

Karel Dušek published about 320 peer-reviewed papers that have received over 10100 citations, his H-index is 47. The article Structure and elasticity of non-crystalline polymer networks (Dusek, Prins), Adv. Polym. Sci. 1969, 6, 1 is the most cited one (over 700 citations).

Karel Dušek was a Professor of Macromolecular Chemistry and spent shorter times as visiting professor at universities in France, U.S.A, and U.K. since 1996, Karel Dušek is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Bioengineering of the University of Utah. In 1994, Karel Dušek was elected founding member of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. At present Karel Dušek is Emeritus Principal Scientist of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

CV available at: https://www.imc.cas.cz/events/karel-dusek/home

Dr. Ing. Miroslava Dušková Smrčková

chair of the administrative council

Graduated in Technology and Processing of Macromolecular Substances at the University of Technology in Prague, where she also defended her doctoral thesis in the field of accelerated vulcanization of rubber. In 1996-1998 she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University in Montreal, where she worked on the synthesis of polymers for paper technology. Before that, she worked briefly in research department of Silon Planá nad Lužnicí company, where she worked on the mechanical properties of polymer composites. In 1999, she joined the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she invetsigates preparation, structure and properties of macromolecular networks and macromolecular materials such as thermosets or hydrogels. Since 2015, she has headed the Department of Polymer Networks and Gels. She is involved in obtaining and solving national and international projects in both basic and applied research.

Ing. Ivan Dobáš, CSc.

member of the administrative council

He graduated in Organic Technology at the University of Chemical Technology in Pardubice. In 1969 he completed his postgraduate studies in organic chemistry at the same school. Since that year he worked as a researcher at the Research Institute of Synthetic Resins and Varnishes and then at Synpo a. s. until his retirement. Since 1993, he has worked in this company as Head of Research II and 1st Deputy Director. Former member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Chemical Technology of the University of Pardubice and former member of the Council of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the CAS. Author of 35 publications in international journals, 37 Author’s Certificates and two patents. Active participant in international conferences and symposia in the field of polymer chemistry.

Ing. Jana Klímová Ph.D.

member of the administrative council

She graduated in Computer Science at the Faculty of Informatics and Statistics of the University of Economics in Prague. She received her Ph.D. degree in 2001 at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague – the topic of her thesis was Computational processing of selected types of Czech word-forming devices. This is also her main field of activity, which is mainly concerned with automated computer processing of human speech and its subsequent analysis. Since 2015 she has been a researcher at the Institute of History of Medicine and Foreign Languages at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague. Between 2016-2021 she also worked at the Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague.

RNDr. Jiří Pfleger

member of the administrative council

He graduated in biophysics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, and completed his doctoral studies in physical chemistry at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, where he now works as head of the Department of Polymers for Electronics and Photonics and as coordinator of the OPTOEL Centre. He has authored or co-authored 119 articles in international impacted journals and a book chapter. In the last 10 years, he has been the principal investigator and co-investigator of 7 projects of the Czech Science Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Science, 2 projects of The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, co-investigator of two European projects and several smaller projects of foreign cooperation. He has completed foreign internships at the State University of New York in Buffalo, USA (1987-1988), at the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin (1990-1992), in 1995 as a visiting scientist at the City University of Hong Kong and in 2008-2009 as a visiting professor at the Technical University of Lodz. He is a lecturer at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague and at the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, he is also a lecturer at the UNESCO course of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of Czech Academy of Sciences and occasionally at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Lodz University of Technology.

RNDr. František Rypáček CSc.

member of the administrative council

He graduated in biophysics at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague. After 2 years he obtained his PhD in physiology at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He has been working at the Institute since 1971 as a researcher in the following positions: scientific aspirant, researcher, head of the Department of Biomaterials and Bioanalogical Polymer Systems, chairman of the Council of the Institute, director of the Institute of Chemical Chemistry of the CAS (2012-2016), and currently as an emeritus researcher. University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA: Kentucky and Commonwealth University, Richmond, State: Virginia. Between 2006-2016 he was a lecturer of the course Polymeric Biomaterials at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Applied Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic, and between 2008-2016 he was a lecturer of the course Bio-macromolecular Chemistry at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

Mgr. Barbora Vobořilová

member of the administrative council

She graduated in French for Economic Practice at Palacký University in Olomouc. In her professional career, she strives to improve the Czech education system – as secretary of the Permanent Conference of Associations in Education and in her work with EDUin. She has also been involved in education since 1999 as a volunteer in a Scout organization Junák.

Ing. Jana Pilařová

auditor of the administrative council

Graduate of the University of Economics in Prague. She started her professional career as a tax consultant at the auditing company Arthur Andersen. Subsequently, she worked in the American law firm White & Case and then as a country manager in the Dutch company Citco Trust Services, which provided international tax planning, accounting, tax and legal services for foreign clients. Since 2012, she has been in business – first as a sole trader, and in 2018 she founded the consulting company bizCON with her husband.