ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC 2011 ANNUAL REPORT 2011 01 02 Introduction Scientifi c Activity 03 04 Educational The Academy of Sciences Activity and the Public THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC 05 06 Practical International Activity Cooperation 07 08 Research, Development Summary and Innovation Projects of the Management and Financial Means ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASCR 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS 01. Introduction 06 02. Scientifi c Activity 10 03. Educational Activity 40 04. The Academy of Sciences and the Public 46 05. Practical Activity 52 06. International Cooperation 56 07. Research, Development and Innovation Projects 62 08. Summary of the Management and Financial Means 66 09. Appendices 01. List of Research Plans Resolved by Workplaces of the ASCR in 2011 75 02.1 Overall Publication Results in the ASCR 82 02.2 Publication Results by Area of Science 82 03 Selected Examples of Cooperation Implemented within Joint Projects or Based on Economic Contracts 83 04.1 Overview of the International Scientifi c Cooperation of the Workplaces of the ASCR 87 04.2 Overview of the Important International Projects Resolved by the Workplaces of the ASCR 88 05. Overview of the Important Conferences with International Participation Organised 90 by the Workplaces of the ASCR 06. Overview of the Most Important Activities of the Cooperation of the ASCR with Higher Education Institutions 93 07.1 Number of Employees, Salary Means and Earnings in 2011 96 07.2 Number of Workplaces and Employees of the ASCR by Section 99 08.1 Economic Management of the Public Research Institutions of the ASCR in 2011 100 08.2 Investment Resources and Their Use in 2011 103 09. Signifi cant Awards for Researchers 106 10. The Annual Report of the Learned Society of the ASCR for 2011 109 11. The Activities of the Council of Scientifi c Societies and the Scientifi c Societies Associated within It 111 12. The Provision of Information according to Act No. 106/1999 Coll. 112 13. The Structure of the ASCR in 2011 113 14. Regional Distribution of the Workplaces of the ASCR 115 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASCR 2011 01 Introduction 066 INTRODUCTION comparable with the world’s best, which is not surprising for me personally. On the other hand, I would naturally be glad if there were even more of these global teams. One of the aims of the evaluation was to refl ect quality in the fi nancing of the institutes. Was that successful? I believe so, namely thanks to the fact that the evaluation this time took place all the way on the level of individual scientifi c teams and the results of the assessment were re- fl ected in the budgets of the institutes. It means that the in- stitutes with a higher number of excellent teams received more, naturally at the expense of those worse. Science needs fi nancial means. What does the stagnating institutional fi nancing mean for the Academy of Scienc- es? For a limited time, it is possible to face the unfavourable fi nancial situation with cuts, improvisations and postpone- ment of desirable investments. Further deepening of the investment debt particularly in instrument equipment of the institutes from the past years has already led to inhi- President of the ASCR Jiří Drahoš bition and limitation of a number of important research activities of the Academy of Sciences and to the serious endangerment of its competitiveness. The situation is An Interview with the President of the ASCR complicated also by the necessity to fi nance the prepara- tion of the projects of the operational programmes from How would you characterise 2011 from the perspective of the European Structural Funds. the Academy of Sciences? We have devoted the absolute majority of our time in the Even in spite of it all, the people at the Academy of Sci- last year to the evaluation of the research activities of our ences have managed to maintain a high level of research. institutes. If the Academy of Sciences is to defend its name What do you consider – also in connection with last year’s and position in the Czech and international scientifi c com- International Year of Chemistry – as the best result? munities, it cannot lower its requirements on high-quality scientifi c research. I am convinced that only in this way is In basic research, it is hard to foresee which result will have it possible to deal with the current diffi cult period of stag- the greatest practical impact and when that will happen. nating fi nancing and simultaneously create the necessary There are a large number of peak research results at the conditions for further generations of researchers to fi nd Academy of Sciences – the current ones are on our web- a reliable institutional basis at the Academy of Sciences site. If I had to choose not one specifi c result but some area and at its institutes. of research, I would mention the very promising results in the treatment of tumours: from substances blocking the The Academy of Sciences underwent as the only insti- vascular supply of tumours, which can no longer metas- tution a demanding evaluation, in which roughly 400 re- tasise without nutrients and die, through methods of the search teams were put to the test. Were you surprised by targeted transport of medicines to the tumours all the way anything either in a negative or positive sense? to more effective and less detrimental methods of chemo- Precisely the completed evaluation showed that the Acad- therapy, where the patient would not suffer from the side emy of Sciences is clearly the most effective scientifi c in- effects as much. stitution in the Czech Republic and has a number of teams 07 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASCR 2011 2012 will be an election year for the Academy of Sciences. The Academy of Sciences of the CR under the What is its vision for the next years? Microscope The Academy of Sciences wants to and must support pri- marily peak research. I have already mentioned that it is In 2011, the Academy of Sciences of the CR continued to possible only with diffi culty to foresee the later signifi - function as a highly effective component of our science cance of the current results in basic research. On the other and research which implements its objectives on a good hand, it is clear that important results can be expected pri- international level and with a number of valuable contribu- marily from outstanding teams – it is therefore necessary tions for the entire society. One of the indispensible pre- to support them as a priority whether they are excellent requisites of this successful scientifi c and research activity physicists or a peak team of historians or linguists – there- is its constant critical refl ection conducted all the way to fore the Academic Council and I are currently working on the level of the individual scientifi c teams and connected the strategy of the further development of the Academy with effective support of high-quality research and with the of Sciences which would support excellent research even identifi cation and suppression of the weak points. There- more. fore, one of the most important and demanding tasks of the ASCR in 2011 was the completion of the evaluation of the research activities of its institutes for 2005–2009 and the application of its results in determining the institution- al support of the institutes for 2012 and further years. In the total of 395 scientifi c units, fi fty-two research-orien- tated institutes of the ASCR were evaluated, of which 116 (29 %) at workplaces of the 1st Scientifi c Area, 201 (51 %) at workplaces of the 2nd Scientifi c Area and 78 (20 %) at workplaces of the 3rd Scientifi c Area. The assessment took place also at two infrastructure-focused workplaces. From a comparison of the quality of the scientifi c outputs with the previous round of evaluation of the institutes of the ASCR, it is clear that at the workplaces of the ASCR in the period of 2005–2009 there was a substantial increase of the measurable quality and amount of scientifi c and profes- sional outputs of the institutes. This conclusion arose from a bibliometric comparison, the conclusions of the evalua- tion commissions and the comments of the foreign evalu- ators. Despite the complexity and logistical diffi culty of the evaluation of the institutes of the ASCR implemented, it is possible to state that it provided for the leadership of the ASCR and the leadership of the institutes important back- ground materials for the further increasing of the quality of their work. On the other hand, the results of the evalu- ation showed the fact that the long-term underestimation of the amount of state institutional support of science and research is limiting for a comparison with the results of the workplaces of the peak global level. Based on the results of the complex assessment of the research and professional activities of the workplaces of 08 INTRODUCTION the ASCR, the Academic Council of the ASCR commenced work on the Strategy of the Development of the ASCR for the Period 2014–2020. The basic system of fi fty-three scientifi c institutes of the ASCR did not undergo any fundamental changes as a con- sequence of the conclusions of the evaluation of their re- search activities for 2005–2009 or for other reasons. As of 1 March 2011, there was only a change of the name of the Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology of the ASCR to the Global Change Research Centre of the ASCR, which more precisely expresses the basic research focus of the workplace.