The Academy Assembly, the highest body of the ASCR responsible for the topmost priority decisions related to the ASCR, held its XXXVIII Meeting on April 21, 2011. Among invited guests were Alena Gajdůšková, 1st Vice-President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Stanislava Hronová and Vladimír Haasz, Vice-Chairpersons of the R&D Council and others. The main agenda item of this meeting was discussion the report of the Steering Committee of the Evaluation of Academy Institutes. Through the Committee's evaluation, the Academy Council is provided a full report of the research effectiveness of Academy Institutes. and Petr Ráb.
In this issue, we feature an essay by Professor Jaroslav Pánek from the Institute of History of the ASCR originally presented as an address a the University of Pardubice on the occasion of his receiving an honorary doctorate. In this essay, Professor Pánek presents his views on the increasing influence of Islam in Europe and highlights the role of Jan Amos Comenius, "the teacher of nations", whose consummate lifetime work is being recalled through an exhibition at the Pedagogical Museum of J. A. Comenius. and Jaroslav Pánek.
This issue presents complete preliminaries on voting for a new president of Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The new president will assume his office on March 25, 2013 and serve for four years. As head of the ASCR, he is its chief representative and also administrator of the Academy's budget. After his selection, he will be nominated to the post by the president of the Czech Republic. The candidate will be selected at the XLI Meeting of Academic Assembly. The list of proposed nominees for the members of Academic Board and Scientific Board of ASCR will be published in the second issue of Academic bulletin 2013.