In this issue, we feature an interview with the president of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AS CR), Prof. Jiří Drahoš. The interview focuses on funding science and research at AS CR and the methodology that has become the universal tool for distributing money to the whole Czech science as a whole. On the basis of this government-conceived tool, the institutional financial grant for the AS CR should be reduced by about 50 percent by 2012. and Marina Hužvárová.
Dr. Petr Jehlička, Snr Lecturer in Environmental Geography at the Open University in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, points out that some twenty-five years after the end of socialism, between one and two thirds of the East European middle classes still continue to grow some of the food consumed in their households - mostly not for economic reasons but primarily as their hobby. Nevertheless, social sciences in the West and a considerable part of scientific literature on home gardening in the global North continue to view this informal food production in Eastern Europe as an activity of mainly disadvantaged segments of society. He argues, moreover, that concepts generated in the Western context, where this activity is only marginal, are considered as universal knowledge, while data gathered in Eastern Europe, where household food production is dominant, are viewed as marginal and less interesting. He also describes ways in which Eastern Europe can contribute to broad international debates about this issue and various other topics in social sciences. and Jana Olivová.
Vede Výzkumné centrum Dvory a rezidence ve středověku, píše odborné knihy o životě na středověkých dvorech a překládá veršované eposy ze staré němčiny 13. století. Zároveň si však umí ušít středověké šaty dobovou technikou nebo vyzkoušet vaření podle dochovalých středověkých receptů. Bádání v historických pramenech i méně obvyklé experimentální přistupy pomáhají Daně Dvořáčkové-Malé z Historického ústavu AV ČR lépe pochopit vytyčený objekt věděckého zájmu - každodenní život panovníckých dvorů a obyvatel středověku. and Leona Matušková, Stanislava Kyselová, Václav Kořínek.
The Seventh Conference of the Czech Neuroscience Society together with the First Conference of the Slovak Society for Neuroscience was jointly convened in Prague November 1-4, 2009. The conference was held in conjunction with 7th International Stem School in Regenerative Medicine, which offered Ph.D. students and young researchers the opportunity to discuss with prominent scientists in the field of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine stands at the forefront of current medical research as scientists seek to better understand regenerative abilities of our cells and tissues and to use these abilities to enable the rescue and repair of damaged tissue resulting from injury or disease. and Luděk Svoboda.
We feature and interview with Professor Curt Rice, who is an American-born Norwegian linguist and the rector of Oslo and Akershus College. He is the first rector of his institution who was not elected; he began his rectorship on August 1, 2015. Professor Rice promotes gender equality, open access and other issues related to leadership in higher education. He will be the key speaker at the 4th national conference on gender and science, which is to take place on June 22, 2016. The conference is organized by the Centre for Gender and Science of the Isntitute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. and Naďa Straková.